Indy Hall in Numbers 2012

[Alex Hillman]

I spent some time last night summarizing some figures from our 2012 P&L along with some insights and interpretations related to the numbers that people might find valuable for doing their own analysis & projections.

For reference, 2012 was Indy Hall's 5th full year of operation, and included the 3rd major expansion of our workspace.

Enjoy!

http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2013/02/indy-hall-2012-reviewing-our-coworking-community-by-the-numbers/

-Alex

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/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

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/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

[Jonah]

Hey Alex,

Thanks for sharing this, insightful and great to see Indy Hall continuing to lead the charge! Look forward to connecting at the CoWorking Australia conference later in the year..

Cheers,

Jonah

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Jonah Merchant

Co Founder, BizDojo

Auckland | Wellington | New Zealand

bizdojo.com

[Tom Lewis]

Wow, thanks Alex, this kind of sharing is so valuable, particularly for those of us who are still nervously tweaking the business plan

[Tom Lewis]

Sorry for the double post but looking through your cost figures reminded me of something.  One of the scary big numbers on our business plan is for coffee (and tea, hey we're Brits!)- could you give us an idea of how much coffee people drink per day on average (I could ask you for your total spend, but from what I remember the cost of coffee differs a fair bit over there)?

As an aside, one of my key principles in attracting people to want to join the space we're building is the promise that no membership will ever cost more per hour than a cup of coffee from Starbucks (and who wants to work there?).  So even at the drop in/associate level at £20/day or £49/month for 28 hours), it's still no more than £2 an hour for membership

Still, the coffee cost does worry me, and I used to sell coffee for a living, though that was low end vending machine instant so not much use in these calculations!

On Tuesday, 5 February 2013 16:31:25 UTC, Alex Hillman wrote:

[Alex Hillman]

I answered a "how" we provide coffee question here a while back:

http://www.quora.com/Coworking/Whats-the-best-way-of-providing-coffee-in-my-new-coworking-space/answer/Alex-Hillman?srid=xym&st=ns

We've since added a new Chemex pourover, and an espresso machine that gets daily use, but not a lot.

But as I mention in my Quora post, it's the beans that are worth spending the money on. Almost daily we get comments about how great our coffee is, even the stuff that just comes out of the commercial drip setup. It comes down to 1) a decent water filter + 2) the best local, fresh roasted beans you can buy, ground to use. We picked up a commercial coffee grinder like the ones you see in a grocery store last year after killing a bunch of consumer burr grinders and it's been awesome.

But back to your question about budgeting for coffee, we spent $5600 in 2012 on beans and related supplies, up from $3500 in 2011. That's $110/week on average. I hesitate to crunch that number down to the individual day or even person, because it would not be representative of anything worth making decisions based upon. 

But I'd also urge you to rethink your strategy about comparing your membership costs to cups of coffee at Starbucks. You're selling something that Starbucks can't offer (and I'm not talking about the space), so price fixing against them (and worse, below them) for the sake of marketing sounds like a decision that you'll regret before long. 

Think about the value you're offering. It should be a LOT more than the coffee. Why price yourself below coffee costs?

Furthermore, anyone drinking 10 cups of coffee in a day is likely to be a short term member, given the likelihood that their heart explodes from over-caffeination ;)

Bottom line takeaways: 

1) Buy the best coffee you can afford. Buy fresh, local beans. Grind every pot fresh. Your members will thank you, and tell their friends.

2) Price on value, not on your "competition". Starbucks probably isn't your competition.  

-Alex

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/ah

indyhall.org

coworking in philadelphia

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[Rena Tom]

are we the only coworking space that *doesn't* provide free coffee to members? is this a super-important thing for people to decide to choose a space?

reasons why i'm not offering it:

1) space - we have 1000 sq ft total, and a galley kitchenette. we have hot water, boxes of tea, etc.

2) location - we're surrounded by restaurants and cafes. the best coffee companies in the city are literally a block and half in any direction.

3) noise/mess

anyway, i'm curious what other spaces consider "must have" features...

rena / makeshift society

[Alex Hillman]

> 1) space - we have 1000 sq ft total, and a galley kitchenette. we have hot water, boxes of tea, etc.
> 2) location - we're surrounded by restaurants and cafes. the best coffee companies in the city are literally a block and half in any direction.
> 3) noise/mess

When we started (1800 square feet) we had a basic coffee pot in a galley kitchenette was well. It barely got used, and there was a great cafe a half block away.

We upgraded as we grew to fill that space, and were making many group trips a day to the cafe. We realized that we could make the experience better.

The coffee pot has become more valuable over time, and in more ways than just liquid fuel for our members.

It's a gathering place, and it's one of the first "initiation" traditions, where a new member learns to make coffee from an existing member. Believe it or not…the simple act of learning to make coffee at Indy Hall is often one of the things that first makes people feel like they're a part of the community. :)

At your scale, I'd say skip it until it's asked for and at that point, figure out the best way to offer it together!

-Alex

[Tom Brandt]

We (Workantile) don't offer free coffee either, but it's not very expensive at $0.75/cup. We have coffee, pop, and snacks for sale. At the end of year, the surplus in the snack fund pays for the holiday party.

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[Jerome Chang]

We offer the k-cup stuff for free.  I've always thought this was the best balance of choice and end-to-end cost for coffee (cost to clean up beans, machines, etc.).

Jerome
______________
BLANKSPACES
"work FOR yourself, not BY yourself"

www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)

[Tripp Baltz]

We provide coffee and tea for free at Scrib Coworking in Boulder. Thank you to our excellent sponsors who provide us with yummy product, Atlas Purveyors and The Tea Spot.

Tripp

[Daniel Dudley]

I would definitely second the idea of going for high quality local coffee (if you can). We have a great artisan company called Rising Star (a small batch roaster) which we use for all our coffee. In my experience, not only does this have an instantly visible value-added effect on people when come to events but it also gives them a reason to stay around because they enjoy the coffee and don't just slam it back as an efficient source caffeine.

 - DAniel
[founder] LakeworkSpaces
cleveland, oh