Co-working spaces in cafes/restaurants are trending - Are you one of them?

If you are one of the café/restaurant owners paying fixed rental for your cafes/restaurants but more than half of seats are lying empty for most of day hours then the idea of establishing a co-working space out of your outlet is really attractive.

With so much focus on entrepreneurship in our country, several youths are now launching new startups (including my startup FreeG WiFi) every day and the first thing they need is to sit with their partners and discuss strategies, ideas, and also work together on products. While working from their apartments is one of the option for them but a professional environment is absolutely missing there. Renting out an office is also an economically viable option for many.

Normal office hours generally start from 8 am and ends around 6 pm in the evening while for restaurant/bar owners, majority of crowd arrive post office hours (5 5.30 pm) on weekdays and hence the restaurant space is completely underutilized for day hours (8 am to 5 pm). This situation makes a complete sense for owners to start offering their unoccupied real estate to co-workers during day hours without disturbing their usual business. The good part of starting a co-working space out of a café/bar is minimal investments in converting the ambiance into work-like environment. You might need to light up space some brighter and lower down the music level in day-time to ensure the professional experience while almost everything else is already present for e.g. air-conditioning, water, juice/coffee, desks, and internet connection.

I will be more focusing on importance of internet connection in setting up co-working space in this article as I believe this is the most crucial thing for any co-workers to visit any co-working space as he/she would want to be online to keep up-to-date with all communications with teams and clients.

Here are few tips on setting up a seamless internet experience to co-working community:-

1. Opt for optical fiber based internet connection from a reliable internet speed provider (it can be a local ISP too) with assurance of prompt services and minimum downtime.

2. Purchase a high-speed internet plan (10 mbps to 100 mbps) depending on number of co-workers. Never purchase FUP plans; you must take unlimited usages plans only.

To help you further on internet speed calculation, if you are expecting 25 co-workers on an average sitting in your outlet then take at least 15 mbps connection to ensure good surfing experience

Calculation:

25 co-workers = 25*3 wireless devices (1 laptop, either 2 mobiles or 1 mobile + 1 ipad)

Average speed required for a good surfing experience for each device = 200 kbps

Hence, the internet speed connection should be = 200*75/1000 = 15 mbps

Neither I am factoring in any super heavy usages from each user nor any internet usages from restaurant’s internet devices (for e.g. CCTV cameras, POS systems)

If you are not able to find a good ISP in your area providing high-speeds then you would have no option other than taking multiple 2mbps or 4mbps plans but this will surely be costly and less economically viable for your business.

Also, expect some fluctuation and downtime in internet speed in regular intervals, hence it is always recommended to purchase a separate internet plan from a different internet service provider to ensure a backup but this will largely depend on the types of co-workers and availability of multiple ISPs at that location.

1. Don’t compromise on quality of wireless access points (normally called as “routers”) as cheap devices get rebooted often and spoil internet experience. If you would want to provide a seamless wireless experience (which I believe you should) to your co-workers then you should definitely hire a network expert to set up wireless architecture otherwise you would be hearing a lot of compliant from co-workers on “Wi-Fi not working properly?” We can help you with this “FREE OF COST” at FreeG WiFi

2. Never keep your Wi-Fi open as it will attract free raiders from neighborhood deteriorating internet experience to co-workers.

3. You should install a secured Wi-Fi hotspot system to ensure a controlled access to co-workers with proper authentication system. For example, there will always be one co-worker sitting in your café wanting to download 50GB of software, movies, and TV series online and if you have no control over individuals using your Wi-Fi then even if you take 100 mbps connection then also you won’t be able to provide a smooth browsing experience to all co-workers.