The Poetry Behind the Pay-Per-Minute Coffee Shop
Photo credit (all): Courtesy of Ziferblat
Ziferblat is the word on the Internet’s lips this week. It’s a London coffee shop where the coffee and snacks are free, or rather, as Ziferblat’s website clarifies, “everything is free inside except the time you spend there.”
Eater broke down the cost: ”The going rate is £1.80 ($2.95) per hour. By way of comparison, Time Out London points out, an Americano at the nearest coffee chain is £2.25 ($3.69), or about an hour and 15 minutes worth of time at Ziferblat.”
The café, which has multiple locations in Russia and opened in London at the end of November last year, also offers tea and “seven to ten typesof different fruits and vegetables,” founder Ivan Mitin told us. All free. Which makes us wonder:
Don’t people take advantage? (We feel like jerks for assuming they would, but, you know, people can be jerks.)
Ivan Mitin: There is no such problem. It’s quite hard to do this. If someone would like to drink ten cappuccinos in ten minutes, they can, but the damage is that his heart won’t survive and he will die because it’s too much.
Coffee doesn’t cost that much. Even when you buy fresh, nicely roasted coffee from a local roaster, which is not cheap—we think people should drink nice coffee—still, one cup would cost maybe a handful of pounds. I don’t think someone can drink more than one cup in three minutes. The main damage is such kind of attitude will break the attitude [of the place].
Still, are there certain parameters? Any rules barring from people taking, say, 10 cookies within an hour’s time?
IM: [Laughs] No. No rules.
I always have this prediction that people come and eat as much as they can, like perhaps two kilograms [about four pounds] of cookies and go away. But it’s not like that. I think you should be quite a strange person to come to spend so much time and effort to come here just to cheat us a few pounds. In reality, it doesn’t cost that much; we don’t serve truffles or frog legs or something like that. It’s also not good for health. You can’t eat so much cookies and drink so much coffee in a day.
Do you serve anything other than cookies and fruits?
IM: On Christmas Eve we had a mulled cider party. We made a lot of mulled cider and there was live music. But there is no thing that it’s special and they pay more. We try to keep this rule that everyone pays the same.
Maybe we will charge in the future for some things. If we work with farmers, whose vegetables are more expensive, maybe we will buy it and put it in our kitchen and just write a sign that says “We bought this cucumber for one pound. You can eat this and leave as much as you want for this.”
So what’s your story? What did you do before you opened Ziferblat?
IM: I tried myself in many different styles of art—music, literature, theater—and I didn’t find myself talented enough to do that. Then I had this project called Pocket Poetry. I would make small cards with poetry on them and stow them all around Moscow, so people could find poetry and remember that it’s in the world. People liked it so much and they wanted to participate and help me prepare these cards. So I organized a place where we could drink some tea, eat cookies, and work together. I realized I have this talent to gather people and create a cozy, open atmosphere. That’s why I started Ziferblat.
Will you try to bring it to the States?
I have a plan to open it everywhere and of course in the States, too. I was choosing between London and New York [for this one] and I chose London because it’s nearer to Moscow. But the idea to open in New York is always with me. Normally we are looking for partners all around the world who have the same values we have. When they stress their desire to work with us, they can contact us and we can talk.
