An Appointment With Joe

Now he welcomes many customers who feel the same way. Bavaro says that most of his virtual-office regulars are members of the growing army of people who work out of their homes. “You may think a coffee shop has distractions, but multiply that by a million in a home office. Your personal bills are sitting there wanting attention, your dog is barking . . . . You need to remove yourself, and it’s either someplace like this or the college library. Here, you’ve got some energy around you.”

Energy and, even when it might seem just the opposite, privacy. One afternoon last fall, Elaine Millam and Diane Nimmer sat at a Brewberry’s patio table along Fairview Avenue. Both women run career-coaching companies out of their homes. The patio is a favorite spot for them. It’s more private than inside the shop, Nimmer says, and the traffic passing only yards away is like “white noise” that allows them to talk without being overheard. Brewberry’s also is ideal for their meetings, Nimmer says, because unlike most restaurants, where turning over tables quickly is the name of the game, Brewberry’s never gives them a sense that they ought to hurry up and clear out.

Bavaro says that’s because it isn’t like the working stiffs are crowding out his other customers: “We have a big shop,” he explains, with 32 tables. If five or six tables are occupied by people working on computers or lingering with clients, that rarely creates a waiting line. If he had less space, “that would be a different scenario.”

On the other hand, for their sheer numbers and for the repeat business they represent, it can be worthwhile to make room for business customers. Those who come in to do work make up 30 to 40 percent of the customer base at Dunn Brothers Coffee shops, with nearly half of those holding meeting with clients or colleagues, estimates Chris Eilers, president of Minneapolis-based Dunn Brothers. The latter group is mostly repeat customers, he says: “People will identify coffee shops where they like to conduct business throughout the metro so they don’t have to guess about where to meet” when making an appointment with someone.

Dunn Brothers actively recruits these customers and has 60 company-owned and franchise shops in the Twin Cities for them to choose among. Some Dunn Brothers franchises invite independent businesspeople to reserve a regular table for their evening work meetings. These customers can use their coffee “recharge card” to get special deals at night, when the shops typically are less busy. Dunn Brothers also offers coupon books to local businesses when it opens a new store.

Big national chains are going after this customer segment as well. Brooklyn Center–based Caribou Coffee operates 167 coffeehouses in the 11-county Twin Cities metro area and has 464 stores in 18 states, a store total that makes it the second-largest U.S. gourmet coffee chain, behind the much larger Starbucks. Caribou CEO Michael Coles says, “We’re seeing an overwhelming response of people holding meetings in our coffee shops . . . to the point where we now are building some shops with a meeting room” that features a conference table and a door to close for privacy.

“We’re the new bar where people go to hang out,” he adds. “Twenty years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to see people [conducting business] at their favorite watering hole. Today, it’s become the coffee shop where people meet and gather.”