Taste of the Anti-Cafe

EVER heard of the "anti-cafe"? It's an unusual cafe concept that has proven popular in cities such as Moscow and London, where almost everything in the cafe is free. The coffee, the food, the facilities, and of course the WiFi. What's not free, however, is the time you spend there.

In Singapore, this anti-cafe (or timed cafe) concept is still a novel one, as the first only opened at Clarke Quay in May last year. Called Coffeemin, it was started by the Lockdown Group, which also runs a chain of escape room venues. So far, business has been good enough for them to open a second outlet in Suntec City in August, and they are even considering a third location, says its co-founder Jonathan Ye.

At Coffeemin, customers are charged S$6 for the first hour and S$1 for every subsequent 10 minutes, but this is capped at S$30 for a full day. The fee covers access to unlimited snacks and drinks, plus the cafe's facilities such as computers, WiFi, board games, Xbox games, plus a pool table. The only chargeable item is their Korean soft-serve ice cream DanmiSoft, which is only available at the Suntec branch.