Latte and WiFi - tools of choice for the “new Bedouin”

The rapid growth of high street coffee and sandwich chains has attracted a new breed of out-of-office entrepreneurs named the “new Bedouin”.

The news in The Times that Starbucks and Costa Coffee are increasingly full of self-employed business people who stay most of the day rang a bell with me. If I’m in a city or town centre on business, I will often grab a latte, blueberry muffin and then sit for an hour or two working on the wifi-enabled laptop. It seems that I am not alone!

The Times reports that coffee shops in London have become crowded with businessmen who sit for hours using wireless Internet and buy only one or two drinks.

American media labeled the nomadic, coffee-drinking businessmen the “new Bedouin” after a trend originating in San Francisco coffee shops.

“We have 10 tables and if five of them are taken up with single people surfing the Internet and only buying a couple of drinks then we’re not making any money,” owner of London’s The Breakfast Club said.

During the past year, there reportedly has been a 160 percent growth in the number of locations offering wireless Internet service in London.

Some franchised coffee shop owners charge customers for Internet use, but many independently owned shops have lost business from Internet-using “sit in” customers, the Times said.

Businessmen reportedly claim they stay the coffee shops instead of their offices because it is a convenient, cheap and conducive space for them to get work done.

On balance, I feel the increased use of coffee shops by mobile workers is a positive outcome. There is plenty of evidence around that home-based entrepreneurs find it very hard to strike a satisfactory work-life balance. It is good to get out of the home - and I can’t think of a much better place than a warm Cafe Nero or a secluded corner in Starbucks. Time spent working in a coffee shop always seems to be so productive for me - a short 1-2 hour burst of intense activity, away from the distractions of the main office or home.

Of course the challenge for Starbucks and the rest is to find ways to increase the average customer spend during their stay!