The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Hemingway writing in journal Credit: Creative Commons: Wikipedia

“It was a Pleasant Cafe, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old water proof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a cafe au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

I found this quote at a recent cafe I was at. I think it is why we often head to cafes with books, journals and now laptops.

This is part two into the look at the wireless culture in Vancouver. You can read part one here.

When I need to work downtown I hit the Vancouver Public Library, which has one of the largest collections of free wireless internet in Vancouver. When its internet was down I used to head to Take 5 Cafe on Granville. I wasn’t exactly looking for quality coffee more than I was looking for a quality internet connection. With some extra instruction to the barista I received a decent $2 latte, certainly worth the money I paid for it.  No more, no less. They always have space and don’t mind if you spent most of the afternoon there.

They had extra power plugs installed and had a seating capacity of at least 100. When you compare that to a smaller cafe of 20 – 30 seats and you’ll need substantial more turn over, it all depends on your business model.

The Wilder Snail had an interesting solution to wireless internet. They only turn on the wireless after 2:00 pm. Owner Boyd Thomson says it was part of his plan to offer wireless to his customers, but he also has to cater to his lunch crowd which was quite busy last winter.

A different model

“We want people to spend all day in our cafes. We design our cafes with power plugs in mind and even the smaller kiosk stores have plug ins in the floor,” said Layla Osberg, Director or Training at Blenz Head Office.

Despite the quality of coffee the Blenz at Horseshoe Bay is a decent place to wait for a late ferry. But that is 90 per cent of their business.

Of course Blenz is a franchise-based organization and costs of wireless is up to each cafe owner. But when buying into the franchise you are also buying into the business model. Friends of mine have often commented that they have go to a wireless cafe to give roommates some room or to burn the midnight oil during the end of the term papers.

Personally I have enjoyed the Blenz at Horseshoe Bay more then a few times while waiting for the ferry. Their is such a high turn over of staff at the location the quality of any espresso drink will be completely random. I usually stick with the drip coffee at Blenz. It is far better then the vending machine in the ferry waiting room and the wireless allowed me to get some much needed work done. The first part of this look at wifi was written their while waiting for the ferry that was more then a hour behind schedule.

Wavey Wi-fi

Waves is another chain in Vancouver that has it’s entire business model centered around wireless laptop culture and 24-hour access. Without going into detail I did camp out at one 24-hour cafe for a group assignment that went horribly wrong. The only reason I headed to a cafe was if I went home I would have fallen asleep on the couch. I left at 4 am when I started to see less than desirable patrons sleeping next to me. I have never expected to get a decent cup of coffee from a place that markets itself as a wireless first and a cafe second and haven’t been disappointed.

Waves bases it's entire business model on the wifi customer

Return on Investment

Starbucks and Bell offer one free hour of wireless to anyone with a Starbucks Card. This approach helps to keep the Cafe Loafers at bay and if they want to spend all day they will have to purchase wireless from Bell to do it. I tried it out and it worked quite well for me when I needed a wireless cafe on a holiday monday in a small town. But there is a catch. You must have a balance on your card. I login in and then ordered my drink spending the balance of my card. I accidentally closed my laptop. I went to sign in again and had already been kicked out of the system for not having a balance on my starbucks card. All of this had transpired in just over half an hour. The bucks certainly has the return on investment dialed in, but the infrastructure need would be far more then any independent shop owner could do.

So what is a wondering wireless roamer to do? It all depends on what your looking for:

1. If you going to a smaller capacity cafe. Don’t expect to stay all day with out getting a few looks from the staff if you have over stayed your welcome.
2. If you headed to a 24-hour cafe with free all you can eat wifi. Don’t expect the World Barista Champion to be working the 3am shift.
3. If you can’t connect to the internet. Don’t blame the staff they can’t be held accountable for providing a “extra service”.
4. If your going the top award winning cafe in town expecting to find a wireless connection. Don’t be disgruntled when you find they don’t offer any.
5. Always be thankful to find a cafe that does offer wireless when your waiting for a ferry. Anything is better then the vending machine in the BC Ferries waiting room.