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Just five years ago, only about 5.7% of U.S. employees worked from home. But today, according to McKinsey’s American Opportunity Survey, 58% of Americans — approximately 92 million people — have the opportunity to work from home at least once per week, and 35% of respondents say they can work from home five days a week.
Remote work is the new norm — but it also carries new challenges. Despite all the ways to virtually connect, many employees miss the camaraderie of working alongside others in an office, especially recent graduates and younger workers who are eager to make friends. In addition, some workers don’t have adequate space in their home or apartment for a true home office, leaving them to work from their couch or bed.
For these workers, there’s a clear solution: working from a coffee shop, where they can enjoy a quiet working environment, interaction with other patrons, and convenient food and drink options. Research finds that 25% of remote workers said they prefer working from a coffee shop of restaurant.
For coffee shop owners, however, that represents both an opportunity and a challenge. On one hand, workers who camp out at their tables tend to stay longer, which means they are more likely to spend money on food and drink. At the same time, owners worry that workers will occupy tables for too long, without making enough purchases to make up for the lack of table turnover.
Coffee shop owners can use the following strategies to take advantage of the trend of remote work to boost sales, foster loyalty, and attract more customers.
4 Strategies to Monetize Remote Workers
How do you make sure that the workers who occupy your tables aren’t bad for business? Use the following strategies to help boost revenue and customer satisfaction.
1. Loyalty Programs
Just a 5% increase in customer loyalty can dramatically raise profits. Research shows that repeat customers spend 65% more than new customers, providing coffee shops with more reliable cash flow.
When guests sign up for a loyalty program, they can earn points or incentives each time they purchase something from your establishment. The more they spend, the more perks they can earn, whether that’s discounts, free items, or merchandise. And those perks are motivating — 43% of remote workers said that loyalty program discounts would encourage them to order from a restaurant or café during the workday.
Plus, with a loyalty program that’s integrated with your point-of-sale (POS) system, you can track data to see how the program has impacted sales, as well as customer preferences like popular menu items, so you can create promotions based on your patrons’ spending habits.
2. Subscription Programs
In 2020, Panera Bread introduced a coffee subscription program, which was later expanded to include additional beverages, including tea and soft drinks. For just about $15 per month, members can enjoy any size beverage every two hours while the cafe is open.
Initially, this could seem like an easy way to lose money, but especially for coffee shops that offer food and snacks, this kind of subscription program can actually encourage customers to purchase additional — and often higher dollar — items. Panera, for instance, found that its subscribers added breakfast sandwiches or pastries to their orders about 30% of the time. By getting customers in the door with the promise of unlimited coffee or tea, you can likely boost food orders and help customers find new items they otherwise might have overlooked.
3. More Robust Food Offerings
While coffee is great to get workers going in the morning, they’re eventually going to get hungry. According to one survey, 75% of work-from-home workers say they get lunch out at least once during the workweek, and 31% eat lunch out three times per week.
If your café only offers pastries and snacks, consider offering more robust food options — like sandwiches, salads, or soups — to keep your customers in your store when that hunger hits.
4. Food and Drink Promotions
Strategically timed food and drink promotions can also encourage customers to make additional purchases during the time they spend working. For instance, 47% of remote workers say that buy-one, get-one deals would encourage them to visit during the workday.
But think strategically about when you offer BOGO or similar deals. For instance, maybe there are periods of downtime when patrons working from your coffee shop don’t typically make purchases, like the early afternoon when they are still full from lunch. Consider offering a deal only for the hours of 1 p.m.-3 p.m. to boost sales during that time.
With these strategies, you can make your coffee shop a welcoming place for the work-from-home crowd without losing out on revenue. And this is even easier with an advanced POS system that allows you to integrate your loyalty program, collect customer data, and offer well-timed and highly desirable promotions. To learn more about how a POS system can enhance your success, download our eBook, “How to Use Your POS to Increase Profitability.”