American here: Do places like this exist en mass in European countries and this is something that's coming fresh to America? Most American restaurants seem to try and hustle you out, not invite you to stay for another meal.
From my experience, this is quite common in Europe. I can't think of a cafe that I have been to that I ever felt rushed. I have always needed to call the server over to get my check to leave.
The cafes are where people relax and people watch. No need to rush.
Yeah, it's a bit odd for me to realize that this is not a normal thing everywhere. I've spent quite a bit of my student years showing up at a restaurant/cafe at around 10:00, hanging out until 18:00 or so, friends of mine coming and going, and deciding to stay for dinner and possibly some singer-songwriter performance.
While cost kept me from doing it on a daily basis, I quite regularly ended up spending entire days (8+) hours at the hotspot-du-jour, only leaving for brief periods for some errands nearby.
As comfortable as this sounds for a customer, I must wonder how the business plan pans out for the café itself. Table turnover is important for wait staff who want to maximize their tips, and food service already works on very thin margins as it is. Making food items expensive to compensate for people sitting there for hours seems like it's not going to foster the idea of sitting around ordering drinks and meals all day.
I do rather like this idea in theory, but I'm not sure how the reality of it works out.
I think this is only for American culture. Where I’m from (Malaysia), we have these Indian restaurants called Mamak where it’s opened for 24hrs and people hangout there. It’s extremely popular. We don’t have tipping too.
I agree that this doesn't make sense for a crowded establishment, but a lot of cafes/restaurants inside of hotels sit empty during the day. If you have cooks in place already for room service and 1-2 waiters serving coffee, it could make sense to encourage this behavior. Having some customers would help attract more.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 32.5 ms ] threadThe cafes are where people relax and people watch. No need to rush.
While cost kept me from doing it on a daily basis, I quite regularly ended up spending entire days (8+) hours at the hotspot-du-jour, only leaving for brief periods for some errands nearby.
I do rather like this idea in theory, but I'm not sure how the reality of it works out.