As more people start to work remotely, they will look for a restaurant coworking space that gives them places to accomplish tasks without going to offices. A recent survey shows that 55% of remote workers telecommute full time. Some of those people feel comfortable working from home. Many of them, though, don’t feel motivated in home offices. They also feel uncomfortable working from coffee shops.
How long will a neighbourhood cafe let you occupy a seat after buying a $5 drink? An hour or so after you sit down, the baristas will probably start giving you the evil eye because they want you to make room for new customers.
Employees and freelancers could choose to use typical coworking spaces. Finding an affordable coworking space in NYC and other cities, though, isn’t easy. The changing workforce gives you an opportunity to create a new revenue stream for your restaurant. Instead of letting tables sit empty during slow hours, you can advertise your business as a shared restaurant space that welcomes remote workers.
Turning Your Restaurant into a Coworking Space
Your restaurant probably has most of the features that people look for when choosing coworking spaces. For example, you can already give workers access to:
- Large tables
- Comfortable seats
- Attractive lighting that helps people focus
- Quiet spaces for deep work
- Drinks and snacks to keep remote workers fuelled
If your restaurant has multiple dining rooms, then you can designate one as a meeting room. Every great entrepreneur coworking space has an area where people can share ideas. To make your restaurant, consider adding power outlets so remote workers can charge their laptops.
You might also want to offer a small menu of snacks and drinks. You don’t need your whole kitchen and service team during the hours that you cater to remote workers. After all, you don’t want to spend more money than necessary on staffing. Then again, every freelancer knows that coffee and coworking spaces go perfectly together.
If you can sell enough drinks and food at the coworking space, then you might not need to charge people for using your tables.
Making Money From a Restaurant Coworking Space
Some restaurant coworking spaces charge membership fees. Depending on your city, you could charge anywhere from $25 to $100 per week. Charging membership fees can create a lot of hurdles that you don’t want to jump over, though.
If you charge membership fees, then you have to deal with things like:
- Tracking payments
- Managing contracts
- Checking membership cards when people come to work at your restaurant
An alternative to charging membership fees is to earn money through drink and food sales. By selling coffee, drinks, and food at your coworking space, you can attract customers during your restaurant’s slowest hours. You could even keep part of your dining room open to diners while giving freelancers and entrepreneurs access to a coworking bar.
Since so many coworking spaces charge high prices, you can use your free coworking space to attract more people. Instead of losing money during slow hours, you can make money by selling sandwiches, snacks, and beverages. Earning money from sales also relieves you from the headache of running a membership-based program.
Attracting More Remote Workers to Your Restaurant
Turning your restaurant into a free coworking space will automatically attract some people. You probably won’t reach your revenue goals, though, unless you reach out to the right customers. Here’s how you can do that.
Local SEO for Restaurant Coworking Spaces
You can start by creating a page on your website that describes your coworking space. Make sure you include the name of your city to help remote workers find you when they search for “free coworking spaces near me.”
When users search for free coworking spaces near them, their smartphones will show them top results and a map of coworking locations. If your site’s SEO doesn’t rank, then no one will know that they can come work at your restaurant for free.
In large cities, you should also include the name of your neighbourhood. When a potential customer looks for a coworking space in NYC, search engines might not display your restaurant as a result. If you include keyword phrases like coworking space in Brooklyn or coworking space in Midtown you can attract more people in your area.
Social Media for Restaurant Coworking Spaces
If you want to boost your restaurant earnings by selling food and drinks to remote workers, then you need to popularize your coworking space on social media.
Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram give you plenty of opportunities to share the benefits of your coworking space. During a peak time, you can post a picture of your busy dining room with a caption that says, “Come visit the most popular, free coworking space in Atlanta.”
Similarly, you can use social media to bring in more customers during slow times. Try using Facebook posts that say, “Our coworking space has plenty of room right now. Come enjoy a cup of coffee while you work.”
If you have a special menu during your coworking hours, you should create a website page that describes the foods and drinks that customers can buy. Using a web page template designed for menus makes it easy for you to update your coworking menu. Over time, you’ll learn more about what items people want to buy while working. Until then, you can experiment with different options.
Use Coworking Spaces to Make Your Restaurant More Profitable
Struggling restaurants need inventive ways to boost revenues and pay their bills. In today’s competitive marketplace, you have to find a unique way to stand out from the crowd of competitors. Turning your restaurant into a coworking space during the day is one of the ways that makes you more competitive.
Plus, the people using your restaurant as a coworking space may discover that they love your food. That will make them customers during dinner, too. When you have a restaurant coworking space, you eliminate slow hours, attract more customers, and boost your profits by adding a unique revenue source.
