Myself, the fella and the dog are moving to San Francisco in a couple of months and as a result I am joining all kinds of networking groups related to the fashion industry. One in particular Fashiontechsf is looking promising for social and business gatherings (but more of the later).

This group is part of the Meetup formula that so many cities have….. looking through the list of events is pretty funny to be honest but at least they cover every demographic, age and interest, so no complaints. For sure there is a blog post on this in the making.

One that popped up in my inbox this week was SF Bay Area Biz Cafes.

The guy who’s organising it, Stephen Gordon, starts with an interesting quote “In the Future Everything Will Be A Coffee Shop”. His prediction is that in the future, everything will revolve around coffee. Universities will become coffee shops with online lectures, book stores will be e-book areas with an espresso on the side and offices will become more social zones for work and meetings.

Now this I like for the several reasons:

Firstly, I am a big coffee fan, I like it black, dash of hot water, large sugar… 2 of these in the morning and I’m good to go so to have everything as a coffee shop is a good start for me. But his view is that eventually the coffee shop will take over as a social space for more than just a beverage. What do we think about this?

If we think about the work environment, how much more effective would this be if it was more social in its set up? As a freelancer and a ‘work from home’ person I need to have social interaction from time to time otherwise I am liable to go nuts, and those communal work zones are just to formulaic and contrived for my liking. They are kited out as a social space with free (weak) coffee and a photocopier all for the price of 50e/$ a week……Um, I personally don’t buy it. And lets face it, as a freelancer I can’t afford to ‘buy this’.

However, to go to a coffee shop (a place that sells coffee and not an Amsterdam ‘Coffeeshop’) with a separate space out back to work, brainstorm or meet is ideal. Regular custom for the owners and a less contrived space for workers. For me, it’s a winner! I know this is not a new concept as many coffee zones are already providing this but how will this grow and how quickly? I suppose it depends on the location and the need – just thinking out loud.  I have no idea how the university option would work but you have to imagine that with rising tuition costs, there will have to be a more practical and social solution in the future…

I don’t know, makes you think though. Well it does me.