Business after 8 PM!
Business after 8 PM!

Globally, the virtual and on- the- move office trend is gaining popularity. Technology has enabled us to efficiently do all the tasks that would usually require meetings and in- person brainstorming sessions. The whole landscape is changing. With commercial rentals hitting the roof, for many creative professionals and start-ups, cafes become the idyllic meeting and work space where they can build on business plans and unwind with a pint or two.

When formal meets informal

As people are hooking socially for business meet, restaurateurs are coming up with new trends that would garner good business to them. Business cafes are normally places that should be customers everyday pocket friendly bar, these should be the places where they can go every day and spend the money without digging hole in your pocket.

“We at Tamasha have interesting prices for corporate. My place Lutyens cocktail house is more for corporate, it is clean chic place that has formal yet modern seating with best of cocktails that will also help corporate to hold the conversation,” shared Priyank Sukhija, Owner, Lazeez Affaire Group.

Likewise, Molecule at Gurgaon which is owned by three partners Manish Sharma, Varun Puri and Vivek Bhargava was created out of the need that Gurgaon corporate required a nice bar cum cafe to hold their business meets.

“We feel and believe that the most intelligent decisions are made over drinks. Thus, we turn our normal cafés into business cafés by incorporating special deals, packages, separate PDR’s or we offer the space where staff would always be present to take the best care of your needs,” pointed the proud owners of Molecule.

Scaling on start-ups

However, these cafes are targeting a 20 years working professional to 70 year old CEO and Director of company. But, created at a time when start-up ecosystem is enlarging, they are an ideal place for these start-ups as there is no rental involved in it.

“Our target audience is young start ups, businessmen and professionals who find operating from The Beer Café’s nearest outlet easier than renting out their own space or working from a Home-office,” said Rahul Singh, Founder & CEO, The Beer Café who is coming up with co-working spaces at his cafes.

Meanwhile, located at the heart of Delhi, Informal gets the best footfall when it comes to catering to the corporate. “There are a lot of strong companies in the area and many of their employees are our customers. From companies of IT, finances or international journalists whose offices are based in Connaught Place everyone heads to us for a meeting,” shared Sharad Madan, Owner, Informal.

‘Say Cheers’

Umang Tewari, who owns some of the wackiest restaurants including 3 Pegs Down, Junkyard and Vault Cafe amongst others, has major revenue generation from post 8 meetings. Of the monthly sales, around 70% of business comes post 8.

“At Vault Cafe we created 7 PDR'S with capacity of holding 4 people to 25 people; the idea of this was to encourage meetings over personal bonding. We were very successful in this approach and Vault Cafe till date is evening meeting place for corporates. Similarly, Cafe Public Connection is inspired to encourage connection between people. We even went level ahead by creating PDR'S that are dedicated to business, industrial , sports field for people to bond over discussions,” said Tewari. However, according to Sukhija, he doesn’t measure revenue separately for this. These features contribute to their success on whole, though they can’t deny contribution as well. On the average basis they get around 2- tables a day like this which means 20% of total sales comes from corporate meetings.

“The best part of this kind of a business is that, one builds a permanent clientele which results in more business as they refer the place to a lot more people. Business meetings at the cafe leads to more people getting to know of the place and so there is less expenditure on the marketing as well,” added Aryan Singh, Promoter, Jugaad Cafe & Bar.

Normally there is very thin line of difference between normal cafés and business cafés. Business over beers is definitely more profitable then business of Coffees. 

“Our 50 percent revenue of total sales is dependent on business we do post 8 at our cafes. And, it is the business post 8 that makes or breaks the image of the outlet,” elaborated owners at Molecule.

Hence, we can say that gone are the days when there had to be too much of polite environment to do the business deals. But yes, we have to be sure about the service being offered for such meetings.

 
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