Drew's View

Coffee Shops Pulling the Plug on Laptop Users

As a mobile professional, I am in different places almost every day of the week. I think I know just about every coffee shop in the San Francisco Bay Area that has free WiFi (well, at least on the peninsula). I often have slices of time to kill between meetings, and being able to get online can help keep me productive. I always make sure to buy something, and I rarely stay for more than an hour. There are a few places where I have become a "regular," greeted by name, served my 'usual' drink and welcomed warmly. I must be considered a good customer. According to the Wall Street Journal, not everyone has the same experience:

Amid the economic downturn, there are fewer places in New York to plug in computers. As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables -- nursing a single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for hours -- and as shop owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is fading. In some places, customers just get cold looks, but in a growing number of small coffee shops, firm restrictions on laptop use have been imposed and electric outlets have been locked. The laptop backlash may predate the recession, but the recession clearly has accelerated it.

"You don't want to discourage it, it's a wonderful tradition," says Naidre's owner Janice Pullicino, 53 years old. A former partner in a computer-graphics business, Ms. Pullicino insists she loves technology and hates to limit its use. But when she realized that people with laptops were taking up seats and driving away the more lucrative lunch crowd, she put up the sign. Last fall, she covered up some of the outlets, describing that as a "cost-cutting measure" to save electricity.

It's a shame that people will take advantage of free offerings to the detriment of others./

P.S. I am writing this from a coffee shop.

ARTICLE: Wall Street Journal: No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users

In-n-Out. That's What a Hamburger's All About

BusinessWeek writer Stacy Perman has written a book about the western fast-food chain In-n-Out Burger. In-n-Out is a California tradition, and by far the best fast food that exists.

Perman observes that In-N-Out has prospered by hewing close to the stolid principles of controlled growth, limited menu, fresh food and regional focus -- with the exception of one store in Utah, its 232 locations are all in California, Nevada or Arizona -- set in stone by its founders, like commandments. (Harry died in 1976, his widow in 2006.) As a private company, In-N-Out doesn't release financial figures, though the trade press estimated sales in 2005 at $370 million -- a healthy sum for a small chain.

The intrigue is the machinations of the very-private family that owns the closely held company. 

The Snyders established a line of succession skipping over their older son, Guy, in favor of the more stable Richard. That well-laid plan dissolved with Richard's death in a 1993 plane crash. The inheritance passed to Guy, who had a history of drug abuse and died from an overdose of a prescription painkiller in 1999. With Esther's death seven years later, majority control became vested in two family trusts. It will pass after 2011 to Guy's only natural child, his daughter Lynsi Martinez, 27.

What little has been said about Martinez for public consumption comes from the 2006 court battle between the company and Richard Boyd, a former executive who said he had grown close to Esther, only to be shouldered aside by Lynsi and In-N-Out Chief Executive Mark Taylor, the husband of one of her half-sisters.

Sounds fascinating. I just hope it never effects the quality of the food. I might have to go get a Double-Double today.

Review: Los Angeles Times: In-N-Out: Can perfection survive?

Book: In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules by Stacy Perman

Fictional Restaurant wins a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence

Robin Goldstein pulled one over on Wine Spectator magazine. Robin was curious about how Wine Spectator magazine selected the winners of its Awards of Excellence for the world’s best wine restaurants.

Robin submitted an application for a fictional restaurant called "Osteria L’Intrepido," including a cover letter, menu, wine list, and the $250 application fee. Osteria L’Intrepido won the Award of Excellence, was published in the August 2008 issue of Wine Spectator, and subsequently got a call from the magazine's ad sales department.

Wine Spectator was clearly fooled by what could be called an elaborate hoax. But the facts remain that the magazine never visited the restaurant or verified the contents of their wine cellar. Perhaps most embarrassingly, the wine list Robin submitted included a reserve list comprised of some of the worst-reviewed wines from the magazine.

Unsurprisingly, the fake restaurant has since been removed from the Wine Spectator website and the editor has posted their side of the story.

This blog makes me hungry

My friend Diana has embarked on a new obsession: Cake decorating. Follow her on her journey at Mad Frosting.

Below is my favorite one so far, but I am hoping for more cupcakes. Cupcakes RULE.

No baskets, please.

Research think tank Z+ Partners is challenging the corporate practice of sending gift baskets full of stuff nobody really wants. Their microsite No Baskets, Please suggests several more responsible and/or charitable gift ideas.

Al Gore wants a party at your house!

Al Gore's new website has a mechanism to find or plan a viewing party for An Inconvenient Truth on DVD. I've already registered with The Climate Project to host viewing parties as part of their Phase Two effort. (I'm also still hoping to get into one of their presenter trainings...)

Does "Green" mean green?

An article on PlanetSave.com points out that regulation is needed on product packaging. While certain terms like "organic" are starting to be regulated, others like "natural" and "environmentally friendly" are not. This can lull people into buying products and thinking they are being green, when they are really only falling for false claims.

It seems that the best advice is to buy locally, choose trusted brands, and reduce--don't let a green label help you justify unnecessary consumption.