A friend shared an interesting article with me the other day about a new type of caf\u00e9 that has opened in London \u2013 \u201cZiferblat\u201d. Ivan Mitin, an \u201centrepreneur\u201d (I use the word carefully as his quest seems to be more of an socially idealistic one as opposed to one driven solely by profit) has successfully opened a chain of what he calls \u201canti-caf\u00e9s\u201d in Russia and he has now turned his attention to trendy Shoreditch. His anti-caf\u00e9s provide people with a place where they can \u201cbuild a small world of their own where the \u2018stupid and artificial\u2019 rules of society don\u2019t work\u201d. So how do these anti-caf\u00e9\u2019s challenge societal norms? Well, they do not charge you \u00a32.60 for a chai latt\u00e9 and \u00a35.60 for a toasted, roasted vegetable flatbread I.e. the products that they have \u2018for sale\u2019. Instead, they charge you for the amount of time that you choose to spend in their establishment: relaxing, chatting and potentially planning social revolution. For \u00a31.35 you could spend 45 minutes in their environs, helping yourself to a hot drink, fixing yourself a snack from food in the cupboard and chatting to your friends on your laptop using their wifi.<\/p>\n
When I first read the article the initial \u2018oo\u2019 came from the prospect of a free, uninhibited, different kind of space that would be full of cool people being supercool, but as ever, my thoughts quickly turned to lean and the revelation that Ivan has created an enterprise around a completely different, untraditional perception of customer value. Indeed, he states \u201cIt feels like people [in London] are much more tired of consumption and really happy not to be “clients” anymore\u201d. He\u2019s empowering people to be in charge of themselves in the caf\u00e9 environment. The customer-supplier transaction that is taking place is merely providing the right kind of creative, comfortable space upon which \u201cclients\u201d can act however they like (I imagine, within reason!). Payment takes place aligned to customer value – the amount of time that people wish to be privy to this creative space.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s genius! When I think about what I value from a caf\u00e9, yes, it\u2019s great to have a well crafted cup of coffee, but actually, what I really appreciate is the time to stop, have a chat with a friend, to sit in a pleasant (for that read trendy.. however I realise that the very use of the word trendy somewhat raises an eyebrow on my ability to fit in with the hipster scene) and so paying \u2018by the minute\u2019 to be part of such an \u201canti\u201d space would be very appealing.<\/p>\n
Of course, I haven\u2019t seen Ivan\u2019s accounts, I haven\u2019t even visited one of his caf\u00e9s, so I cannot attest for the success of such a \u2018business model\u2019, but it definitely made me think.<\/p>\n
Within service, increasingly IT is used to provide the ability for customers to \u2018self serve\u2019 and Ivan is doing just that – providing a \u2018self serve\u2019 caf\u00e9 experience which puts the price on what people really value \u2013 time. Have a look at the service you provide. Are you putting a price on the superficial value visibly provided? Are you missing the identification of what customers actually care about from your offering? Can such a revelation help you to innovate within your business model? Is there an opportunity to provide more ability to \u201cself serve\u201d, empowering your customers to truly feel in control and a participant within the service?<\/p>\n