Working dine to five: eateries rent tables to entrepreneurs

VANCOUVER— Restaurants turned co-working spaces have spread from San Francisco to New York, and the trend is exciting tech workers and “solopreneurs” in Vancouver, too.

For Ron Oliver, owner of Mamie Taylor’s in Vancouver’s Chinatown, the idea of turning his restaurant into a co-working space during the day, when it’s closed until dinnertime service, was worth exploring because of how expensive it is to operate in the city.

“When rents are extremely high as they are in San Francisco, Vancouver and New York, they’re sort of a way for restaurants to have people in them and to generate a little bit of a revenue when otherwise they’d be closed,” Oliver said.

Those in the restaurant and food industry often feel the financial squeeze, as small profit margins ranging from 3 to 4 per cent before taxes are the norm. Property taxes went up by 42 per cent from 2006 to 2016. Mamie Taylor’s — which serves American-style meals such as fried chicken and short ribs — is one of three restaurants that have opened their doors to users of FreeSpace, a company currently conducting a pilot project to test the business model.

Oliver said the combination of a labour shortage and a lack of business during the day means it makes more financial sense to close during the morning and afternoon and open from 5 p.m. for dinner.

“There’s not a lot of lunch business in Chinatown for a restaurant such as mine. If I was selling $5 noodle bowls, it might be a little bit different. But to operate at the level that we do, there just isn’t the business for us to consider opening for lunch.”

Mangos Lounge in Yaletown and The Ellis in Kitsilano are also part of the “network” of FreeSpace locations.

One frequent user is solopre- neur Lucas Gaudette. For 15 years, he’s worked in cafés and occasionally in restaurants doing web development and fine art on his computer. Working from home is not an option for Gaudette, as there’s a “billion distractions.”

“I’m totally ADD when it comes to being in one place and having something too much the same all the time. I really need to mix it up and keep things interesting so I stay engaged.”

Having used FreeSpace for a month, he said co-working in a restaurant means he doesn’t need to face some of the “etiquette” issues present in cafés.

“You don’t want to be inconsiderate by working in a place too long without ordering more food or coffee or whatnot,” Gaudette said.

James Komenda, founder of FreeSpace, said there are hundreds of users registered, and an undisclosed percentage are turning into paid members. Membership fees are $50 a month.