German Cafe Charges For Time, Not Coffee

When you go into a coffee shop, typically you buy your drink and then take a seat to relax and enjoy it. You might take out your computer, iPad or other device to do a little bit of work while you’re there, too, if the cafe has wifi. This pattern is the the same at just about every coffee shop there is, no matter where you are. Unless you happen to be at Slow Times, a café in Wiesbaden, Germany, where they charge you for the time spent in the cafe instead of for the coffee.

Founder Daria Volkova feels that this is a better way to monetize the cafe instead of charging for coffee, since the time inside is really what people are after most of the time. It’s not too expensive, either. It costs €2.00 (about $2.50) to enter and that covers the first 30 minutes of your visit. After that, you are charged €0.05 (about $.06) per minute for the rest of your stay. They don’t have a full, elaborate coffee bar pumping out Frappuccinos, but they do serve coffee and that coffee is completely free while you’re there. There is also WiFi that you can use while you do your work.

The concept sounds like it would make this a great place to get some work done and it’s an interesting option for cafe owners who feel like people are monopolizing their tables without buying enough (or any drinks at all, as I’ve seen at Starbucks a time or two). You don’t get all the coffee options, of course, but still a very interesting concept. They’re on Facebook for more information