Ziferblat and pay-per-minute coffee

There is a café that offers all-you-can-eat biscuits, endless brews and unlimited WiFi during your visit. It’s all too good to be true isn’t it?

Well, perhaps not.

The Ziferblat cafe has recently opened its doors in the Shoreditch area of London and chargers visiting patrons 3p a minute for their stay. Owner of Ziferblat, Ivan Mitin, is in charge of nine other branches which welcome around thirty-thousand customers a month in his native Russia.

The shop is filled with assorted pieces of furniture; plenty of books adorn bookcases and even an antique piano has worked its way inside. Mr. Mitin said that the cafe has, unsurprisingly, already drawn together a band of regulars.

Upon entrance, guests grab an alarm clock which is used to keep track of the time they have spent in the coffee shop and then they pay accordingly upon their departure. Customers are able to make their own drinks via a professional machine and there is also a kitchen area where they can prepare their own food or, if they wish to put their feet up, have some grub served up for them.

‘Londoners are prepared for such a concept; they [understood] the concept instantly.’ Born out of the owners utopian dream, the establishment located on the uber-trendy Old Street, has been described as a somewhat of a social experiment.

Time Out have already declared it ‘a contender for [the] best opening of the year’ – nine days into 2014.

The nature of a pay-per-minute café may be a novel one, but a good idea spreads fast – The Korean Herald has reported its model may well be copied by businesses in the booming Asian country.

Lingering customers provide one of the biggest problems for coffee shops in South Korea and the Ziferblat philosophy may be the answer.

Local media suggest that small outlets located in packed residential areas are suffering from poor sales as an influx of individuals take up residence to study, talk and dream away hours.

‘It is difficult to sustain the café with customers taking up the few available seats for long hours’ says a southern-Seoul coffee shop owner. And that problem, we suspect, is not solely limited to South Korea. Similar scenes can be spotted across the world.

A novelty idea at the moment, pay-per-minute establishments could provide an economically interesting proposition too.

Do you see the idea catching on? Is £1.80 p/hour a good price to pay, or could the fee be increased? Let us know via the comment box below or on social media. We look forward to reading your opinions.