What do ye want in Cork City?

boardy

"Pie and Wi-Fi" ........ that's genius.

dudara

Make sure to give D-Generate royalties from that. It'll help him now that he's going to be a poor college student

Dizzyblabla

one suggestion... don't put the prices up every few weeks, and don't make the portions smaller... it doesn't go down too well at all... (well, it didn't with me and Tribes anyway)

parsi

Make it a kid-free zone but make exceptions for parents who look at the end of their tether and dying for some caffeine...if need be I'll supply photos of how that actually looks in real-life.

boardy

No need for photos parsi .... got a mental image going on (and it's frightening so the first coffee is free for those afflicted).

And I agree Dizzyblabla about the prices. I was consistently going into Gloria Jeans until the prices went over 4 Euros for an ice-coffee mix. Stopped going in there to protest the unreasonable prices. I know the rents are crazy in Patricks Street, but I'm not paying it for Gloria Jeans all by myself.

smileygal

Decent fresh cakes,
comfy seats
and staff with personality - such a rare thing
& proper staff training too - quite rare.

Oh and a bathroom bigger than O'Brien's coffin 'toilets'

simu

smileygal wrote:

Oh and a bathroom bigger than O'Brien's coffin 'toilets'

Yeah - and with hooks on the doors so you can hang your bag there.

dudara

simu wrote:

Yeah - and with hooks on the doors so you can hang your bag there.

Amazing how many places don't have this!

simu

dudara wrote:

Amazing how many places don't have this!

I know - it's such a simple thing to do and it makes life so much easier!

reic

Freshly brewed coffee, free WiFi, Hooters girls, kids-free, fresh cakes with real cream, Nina Simone singing in the background.......























Carlsberg don't do cafés, but if they did...........

~Rebel~

This all sounds fantastic, perhaps a place where i might actually hear some Django Rheinhardt without actually putting it on myself!

Good coffee's, tea's, (oh oh especially some hot chai tea, love it and can only get it in college), ice cream and tasty tasty cake. scones/soup as well incase people are conscious of health etc..

Would love the idea of being able to buy some wine at a reasonable price. Like maybe if you just had a bottle of red and white of reasonable quality (decent 8euro-ish bottles) open so people can have a glass for say 2.50 and you still make a slight profit. So long as the wine was nice i dont think people would mind not having the choice, would be up to you as host, and would also hopefully stop the place turning into an all out people getting drunk place instead making it more a quiet glass or 2 kinda thing.. maybe have the wine only available from 6 on or something so as not to have too much emphesis on drink. no idea what story is with licensing though.

the one thing that would slightly worry me about wi-fi is that you might get some of those scary looking kids from places like Area51 camping in there playing games nerding the place up, so maybe something like an over 16/17 rule unless accompanied by adults or something?

Just ideas, on the whole love the direction this is going, so when's it opening?

solice

Im still thinkin that people will abuse the free Wi-Fi. Its a great thing and it will attract alot of customers but it will also attract people who just want to sit down, take up space and put nothing in the till.

Are there going to be computer terminals or would it be "bring your own laptop"? If you will have pcs there put them in the corner away from the couches and tables and chairs and the music and the coffee and the cake. I dont think people enjoying their cuppa and listening to good music need to hear half life in the background. Showing im old before my time.

Temperature. Dont let it get too hot. Idaho gets way too hot and cos its small its incredibly uncomfortable. Stone walls with really heavy wodden tables, windows with little squares. Some walls plastered with funky colours, pillars, arches, a coat rack (just a little one that people can hang their wet coats on in winter), wooden floor.

netron

solice wrote:

Im still thinkin that people will abuse the free Wi-Fi. Its a great thing and it will attract alot of customers but it will also attract people who just want to sit down, take up space and put nothing in the till.

if you have dhcp leasing , people would be disconnected after an hour. to get reconnected, they'd have to buy another cup of coffee. which is fair enough in my view. you could also impose bandwidth restrictions so that people arent downloading entire DVD images - use up your meg, and thats it for the entire day. you dont get reconnected.

Are there going to be computer terminals or would it be "bring your own laptop"? If you will have pcs there put them in the corner away from the couches and tables and chairs and the music and the coffee and the cake. I dont think people enjoying their cuppa and listening to good music need to hear half life in the background. Showing im old before my time.

i'll be just ssh'ing into my webservers , so no half-life sounds from me.

but seriously , you could have a rule that says - "switch off audio" on a notice board. or even "no games" maybe.

naughtyadam

I meant to add a couple days ago: I was drinking with a buddy in the business over the weekend and he reckoned that there are devices specific to this purpose out there (although they might be a bit pricey), and devices not meant specifically for this purpose, but that would have most functionality you'd be looking for (although I'm not sure about the filtering). It's probably worth taking a look around the web before you consider a custom jobbie.

adam

MrsA

Correct me if I am wrong (which I probably am) but AFAIK there is nowhere to get decent waffles around the place. I was in Lanzarote last week and there was a cafe that did fresh belgian waffles with a miriad of toppings. My particular favourite was chocolate sauce and whipped cream - imagine that on top of a piping hot waffle and your have yourself a dream come true!!
Make me some of those please?

I have always thought the idea of "discussion nights" to be a good one as well - a general discussion on either a given topic or whatever is generated could work. Obviously people would not "have" to get involved but it could be a great way for people to mix and meet new friends.

I know it has been mentioned already but Staff are a huge issue - never have sneering staff(we all know the sort) - have staff willing to give suggestions as to what is good on the menu, get them to smile, try to hold onto them so they can develop a raport with regular customers.

Best of luck with it all - keep us informed.
MPA

Dizzyblabla

ooh waffles is such a good idea!! those and crepes... just like in Paris... perfect!!

Judes

Been a busy girl, so only got onto Boards today - Please, Please, Please - I'm begging - just open the coffee/tea shop with scrummy edibles. Forget the alcohol!

Yes, I'd love a wine bar/cafe (well several actually) to open - but that is not going to happen for a while - remember our dear Ministers put a stop on that one! So if there are others reading this involved in the alcho trade - let them open the cool, relaxing wine bars we crave - and let the coffee shops be just that. When you've had a good night out ( I don't mean sloshed in a pub) at a concert, theatre, cinema and you don't want to go home there is nowhere to go. I'm sick of the whole pub scene here. It's wonderful when you're in another city/country and you're able to stroll around late and stop off for a coffee, it's all so sociable.

I was in France recently and the one thing I noticed were no teenagers or people stumbling around drunk. The locals were hanging around cafes with friends and just chatting - it was all so sociable and civilised. And we need to introduce that mindset into our culture. I'm sick of hearing "Irish people, they can hold their drink" - oh no they can't - and that's pretty obvious!!! So I'm getting down on bended knees now and praying - "OPEN THAT COFFEE SHOP/CHAIN OF COFFEE SHOPS" now................. And Good Luck!!! J

damien

Idaho does waffles. Yum Yum Yum.

solice

Idaho is my favourite place in cork. Its got great coffee and the food is good and very reasonable but not filling, u wouldnt want to be starving going in there. But its small and cramped. Still i just love sitting at the big round table straight in the door and drinking coffee there. They also serve wine and i think they do beer but have never had them.

MrsA

Where is Idaho?
MPA

damien

Behind Brown Thomas on the corner with Maylor Street.

MrsA

^^
Thanks - BT and Waffles could be the best day of my life
MPA

deRanged

I think if you crossed Idaho with space like the Bodega had you'd be on to something.

boardy

I see that the Gingerbread House is for sale, as is at least 3 other cafes in the area.

Fysh

The Gingerbread House has a good location and a decent amount of space, and back in the days when it was open late I quite liked the place. The problem is that it needs a bit of a revamp, and the food is rank. I'd happily go there for coffee or tea, but I'd never have any of their food.

solice

It has a great location, its a good size. Its cold, its food is manky and the seats are uncomfortable

boardy

And unaffordable due to the high rent/rates/lease costs …...

SparkyLarks

Cafe Idaho is Brilliant.
Except it's very small
and is closed alot.

Somewher like that, but bigger and open longer and more often.

nice sambo's cakes and coffee will bring peoplein more than Wi-Fi, IMHO

solice

boardy wrote:

And unaffordable due to the high rent/rates/lease costs …...

I hear ya. For the members of this board this might not be the best suggestion but is there anywhere outside of the city that would be a more affordable location? Middleton, Maccroom, Skibb, Mallow? Or are all these places too small and probably over run with cafés anyway

boardy

Or recommendations for other areas besides the city centre? Has anyone seen the Costa cafe in Blackpool? Now that's the type of place I'm interested in.

There seems to be a lot of turnover of cafes in the city centre, and as soon as one becomes available it gets snapped up.

Fermoy, Mitchelstown, Charleville etc. have all shopping centre developments in the works but the type of cafes in these developments do not interest me.

"An alternative to the pub" is what I have in mind.
Anyway, the search continues.