“Usual” customers at coffee shops.

[caulkheaded]

If you go into chair coffee shops, is there a “usual” customer? I’m waiting for my car at the garage and it made me think about who I often see in each cafe.

I’m in Caffè Nero. The majority of tables are middle aged men, sitting alone.

A few days ago I went to costa and it was mostly women aged under 30ish sitting in pairs.

Local Starbucks is often couples and teens.

What’s it like where you are? None of these are in the village I live in so I tend to only go in sporadically.

Costa is usually Mum’s either meeting with other Mum’s or just in there alone with their toddler. I don’t go to Caffè Nero because the coffee tastes like death. Starbucks tends to be quiet and filled with people on laptops.

The layout and position of the store must affect the clientele - I love a cafe that's kid I friendly. Our local Caffè Nero is not pushchair friendly at all which is perfect from my point of view 😅

There is another lovely cafe that I would
go to but it allows dogs and it allows customers to let their dogs sit on the sofas 🤮. So I won't ever go in there.

Cafe Nero has the best atmosphere but I prefer the mugs and coffee at SB. I hate loud music which SB is often guilty off. I don't like anything about costa really. I generally avoid independents as they often don't have skimmed milk and use tiny mugs.

I'm fussy.

I think clientele is more about time of day then certain folks gravitating to certain places though.

@Ghoulestofmums Yep - and I found the best music (r&b or upbeat alt) was late at night, when most stores were shut! Always wondered if the music team (we were told it was 2 guys?) did that to cheer up the morale of the closers

OP, in general I found there was a mix of customers, and it really depended more on the time of day etc. But one store definitely leaned more towards ‘yummy mummy’s’ than others, because of the area it was in, whereas I served what appeared to be all the Italian men of the city in another (located central, in ‘posh’ - not hip - retail & dining district). I did think younger teens went for Costa and Starbucks more, however, because their ice drinks range was more elaborate and varied at the time.

I miss the old Starbucks that used to be in our city centre. The staff were ace, and the music tended to be chill classical or jazz. Would often find myself humming along to Ella or Nina.

@voiceoverlady I thought people only met in coffee shops in romance novels! That’s so cute ☺️❤️

I live in South Australia where they're so snobbish about good coffee that this is one of the few cities where Starbucks failed.

Most coffee shops here are independent....but we still have types.

My preferred shop is a bit of a deli too...and it's in a lovely stone cottage. The demographic is middle aged men and women both.

The kids go to the hipper place with milkshakes on offer and not so good coffee.