Anticafé is a cozy space where you will feel at home
"Life is no longer a rigid chronology of steps to follow. Now it's quite possible not finish school, not get married , not finding a job for life (...) The world has changed. In the cities, rents have become the biggest expense of the monthly budget. You can afford one, but at the cost of having much less money to enjoy other types of spaces..."
Thus begins the anti-cafe manifesto , that more than an establishment, is everything a movement , a philosophy who understands that cafeterias have to be meeting places in which surfing the Internet, meeting friends, work in a group, he will play table games (they have more than a dozen), and even the to take a nap. That is, at least, what they offer: pay for the time you spend enjoying, instead of the drinks you consume or the breakfast you eat, which, in this case, can be infinite.
"While I was studying in Paris, I realized that I missed a coffee shop where I could just hang out , not to go for a drink and leave immediately afterwards", explains Leonid Goncharov, ideologue and founder of Anticafé. In fact, not finding any such establishment to be able to work with his colleagues, ended up convincing him: "One day, he was looking for a place to do a group project with some friends, and the only place we could go was to a McDonald's ... It served us well, but clearly it wasn't a place designed for that," he recalls.
That was the germ of the creation of Anticafé, which today has five locations in the French capital , one in Lyon, another in Bordeaux , another in Aix-en-Provence and even one more Rome . As if that were not enough, next year two new ones will open in Paris and one in Strasbourg, In addition to starting expansion plans in Brussels and Amsterdam , as well as in Switzerland and Spain.
But why does this new cafeteria concept dazzle its customers? In Leonid's words, everything is based on having a very open and honest relationship with them. The same, moreover, is very close because users "not only come to drink something or eat, simply, they spend some time here ". This, in his opinion, generates" a great difference in usage habits "Compared to any other establishment.
"Our most loyal customers are creators: entrepreneurs, freelancers, students, etc. Our model allows us to provide them with what you need without the pressure of having to either order a drink or leave the place. Plus, here's everything you need to get to work: printer, scanner, projector and of course wifi and many more sockets than in any other cafeteria," explains the owner.
"Finally, I think that what makes Anticafé special is our home atmosphere and the relationship we work every day to establish between our clients and the team, whom we ask to treat users as if they were guests in their own home. We put a lot of effort into creating a community", concludes Leonid, but not before adding that an important factor in his success is also the price range that they handle
In fact, the amount for dispose of the establishment as if it were your own recreational space can be of three euros an hour if you become a member, or five if you are not. And if you prefer to have 24-hour access to Anticafé, you only have to pay 24 euros . Will this business model change coffee shops as we have known them until now?