I happened to be at Iluma today and decided to get a cup of Chai Latte from Coffee Bean to strike out another item off my Drinks List. There was some 8-Day event there on 1st floor of the building with a crowd but The Coffee Bean is on the 2nd storey so I was a safe distance from the people.
I approached the counter with a maths worksheet in my hand (I was planning to work out some problems there while I sipped on the tea since I had some spare time on my hand and needed to exercise my mind) and made my order. The young man serving me immediately asked if I intended to sit around to study.
I commented that I’ll probably be around for half an hour and asked if it’ll be a problem. He replied that there’s an event downstairs and they anticipate a crowd so they discourage people from studying at the cafe. I kept quiet and took my receipt. I thought that the Large Chai Latte should at least buy me 30 minutes of time at the cafe.
Chai Latte from The Coffee Bean turns out to be pretty strong; I thought the milk was just okay but they could reduce the strength of the cinnamon a little. In any case, I took a seat and started drinking while working on my maths sums. They weren’t that difficult but I eventually took about 40 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, I was busy paying attention to the seats around me, careful to note if the seats are all taken – I decided that I’ve lingered long enough and if the cafe starts filling up, I’ll give up my seat voluntarily to any other customers who are interested for a drink. This opportunity never come, The Coffee Bean was only half filled at best, hardly any hint of the crowd the cafe was anticipating appeared.
Two question popped up in my head, which I quickly scribbled on a notepad I was using for the maths problems. 1) Where was the crowd the cafe was anticipating? 2) If a cafe wants to maximize their profits from a crowd and yet is limited by their available seats, how do they discourage people from studying there besides using attitude (which I assume is something I experienced)?
I decided to solve this 2 questions and I did discover the answer to the first one soon after. The 2nd question requires a little more pondering and discussion. I’ll be answering them over at ERPZ soon.
