This Coffee Shop is Brewing Coffee and Kindness!
Remote work has become more and more popular over the years, Covid restrictions have pushed people out of the office and into their homes. However, working from home can limit your abilities, maybe there’s too much noise, maybe you don’t have a place to work, or maybe you just work better surrounded by other people.
That’s the great thing about remote work; the freedom. You can work anywhere with a stable internet connection.
One such place is a coffee shop in Johannesburg, Dc Coffee Co, which is a non-profit coffee shop with many unique aspects. One of which being that it’s designed for remote work, even before lockdown made it fashionable. Being so prepared for remote workers helped lots of people who had to start working from home and didn’t have the proper space to do so.
Did you see more remote workers during lockdown?
“Yes, we did. During hard lock we made our internet connection available to the remote workers. People could work in their cars parked in front of our store and connect to our internet.”
The aim of this shop was “to create an environment that felt like home” for the people coming in, and customers would agree that this has been a success. With a range of customers coming in from parents waiting for their children to get out of class to graphic designers coming in for a quiet place to work, this coffee shop works for everyone.
When did you start getting remote workers?
“When we launched our physical store in Pineslopes we wanted to create an environment that felt like home and run a business that had deep roots in the community, focusing on being a blessing to our community. The physical store had a lot of rooms, one was then turned into a space for remote workers, which fitted perfectly for us. Our purpose was focused around ‘Brewing Kindness’. The store is based on 3 key pillars: Coffee, Community and Conversation.”
Do you think it’s better to work remotely where possible?
“Yes, I have worked with a lot of start up companies, most of which were international companies. This led to me being away from the office and working remotely. I have always been pushing remote working, it is more productive than working from the office.”
This isn’t the only aspect of this place that stands out, the materials used are recycled as is the furniture. Including a special counter that’s been revamped and used as part of a unique system. This system allows customers to pay for a drink for someone else by putting orders up on a wall for other customers to pick up. Even this is used from a recycled material “The wall/paypoint counter was donated, it’s an old counter we have revamped and made it homely and to fit with our other recycled furniture”. This wall was the inspiration behind the donation system.
What started as a campaign called “Free Coffee Friday'' quickly snowballed into something much bigger. Originally, this concept had a category of people being nominated for a free coffee that the business would pay for. This category was vast, there was no real system of choosing who would be nominated, just people they felt needed an act of kindness. This included Frontline Workers, people recently out of work, small business owners etc.
This evolved when regular customers came forward and began volunteering to personally pay forward to some people in need, they wanted to contribute to the system the same way the shop had been doing. There was potential for this system to be taken advantage of, but in order to brew kindness to as many people as possible they would have to take this chance.
Did you see a lot of people using this initial system?
“Yes, and then other people also wanted to put up vouchers for strangers as we had been doing. They wanted no recognition for it, but merely the opportunity to bless someone else in need. Word spread and so the acts of kindness and partnership with other contributors grew.”
Did you worry that people would take advantage of this system?
“It was a risk, we were worried people would abuse the act of kindness but ironically they never did. It was, however, a risk we were happy to take and brewing kindness to as many as we could is what mattered most.”
These aren't the only unique aspects of this coffee shop; it’s also dog friendly. There’s a range of drinks and treats offered for your dogs, all made from organic ingredients. And all the profit goes to Dogtown South Africa! With special treats for you and your pup, it’s the perfect place to get some work done with a pleasant atmosphere.
With so many unique features this coffee place is setting the bar high, and creating a great place for remote workers to be able to focus on their work while satisfying their thirst with some great coffee. It’s hard to find places that are so in tune with the needs of remote workers, and so ready to provide the work space that they need. Work is ever changing, more and more places have started catering more towards remote workers during the recent pandemic.
Have you ever been to a place set up specifically with remote workers in mind?
