The Dallas Observer's Lauren Drewes Daniels spends a lot of time in coffee shops. As a food and drink writer, she often uses them as places to write.
Who isn’t looking for a quiet, creative “third space” away from home and the office? But while Lauren makes a point to buy coffee if she stays awhile, she noticed that not everyone approaches these shared spaces the same way.
That became the starting point for her recent Observer article, "Cafe camping: How to kill the mood one latte at a time." In it, she examines what one Dallas cafe owner calls "space entitlement."
Tiffany Kocsis is the owner of East Dallas Middle Ground Coffee near White Rock Lake, a small cafe with roughly a dozen tables. She told Drewes Daniels that "space entitlement" is the assumption that customers are allowed virtually unlimited use of the space. It's the same as the concept of cafe camping — the idea that a customer has a right to take up space in an establishment, even if they haven't bought anything.
Corporate coffee brands, like Starbucks, have multiple streams of revenue outside their cafe, like the drive-thru, pick up orders and merch. Small mom-and-pops don’t always have that benefit.
Even customers who do purchase coffee or a meal, it's become increasingly common to settle in for hours — taking phone calls, holding virtual meetings and, in one memorable case that Drewes Daniels outlines in her story, having an hour-long therapy session within earshot of the entire cafe.
Drewes Daniels said the challenge is preserving the very thing that makes these places appealing, while remembering someone is trying to make a living.
These interview highlights have been edited for length and clarity. To hear the conversation in full, click the 'listen' button above.
Ron Corning is a co-host of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
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