>> Of course, this is what they should have been doing all along with the
>> Rowling and Salinger wannabes who hog the NY Times, take extra chairs
>> to keep their precious crap off the floor, and sit at the choice
>> tables for hours nursing an empty latte while reading Noam Chomsky. I
>> really don't care if you're surfing for p*rn, doing your French Lit
>> homework or writing the Great American Novel; drink your coffee, then
>> get the hell out.
> It's not quite so cut-and-dried. An empty business looks like an
> unpopular business. Having a few seats occupied, even if the people in
> the seats aren't buying, can make a coffee shop or restaurant look more
> popular, and thus increase sales.
Have you ever tried to get a seat in *$$ in any college town?
McDonald's is extremely popular, and yet is designed for maximum turnover (uncomfortable seating, garish colors and lighting, screaming children).
The trick is getting just the right number of seat-warmers without
> cutting into your sales capacity. If you get too many of them, you take
> down some of the flypaper, but not all of it.
The tables should be temperature sensitive. When your beverage cools to skin temperature or lower, a spotlight should go on over your head.
--Gene