Just about all of us have gotten used to the sight of people hard at work on their laptops in Starbucks and other cafes, especially since the explosion of remote work during the pandemic. But in South Korea, it’s apparently gotten a little out of hand.
The company has posted signs in all its stores across the country banning desktop computers, printers and power strips in the cafes. Also banned is the most egregious item of all — full-scale partitions carried in to create private mini-offices.
Customers are also reminded to take their things with them, and not leave them set up on cafe tables overnight or for long breaks and to share large tables where they exist. That reminder is because some had developed the habit of using chairs to hold their printers and files.
Korea’s coffee shop business doubled from about 51,000 in 2015 to over 100,000 by last year, but profit margins have been slim. Figures from the Korea Food Service Industry Research Institute indicate that the price of a cup of coffee covers about 90 minutes of seat time before it becomes unprofitable.
