Restaurant operators around the world that are only open for dinner might be gaining a new opportunity to drive daytime revenues in the wake of the acquisition of drop-in workspace provider Spacious Technologies.
New York-based Spacious leases restaurant dining rooms in New York and San Francisco for its members to use as makeshift offices during the day, before the restaurants open for dinner. Its acquisition by The We Co., the parent of office co-working space provider WeWork, also based in New York, could open the door for Spacious to expand to new markets across the U.S. and beyond.
“In WeWork, we have found much natural alignment across our visions for the integration of work, technology, and physical space,” said Preston Pesek, CEO of Spacious, in a letter to members.
“Spacious’s service delivers a distributed network of walk-in, on-demand workspaces, wrapped in an experience of stylish hospitality,” he said. “By joining WeWork, we’re taking the next step in providing easy access to on-demand workspaces across the world.”
Spacious was not available for further comment, and The We Co. declined to comment. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Spacious members pay a fee — ranging from $20 per day to $1,548 per year, with monthly and quarterly options available as well — for the ability to work in the dining areas of any of the restaurants that Spacious has partnerships with. Spacious provides wi-fi access and power strips spread throughout the restaurants for workers to plug in their laptops, plus free water, coffee, and tea. The company has also built out a couple of drop-in workspaces that are not restaurants, which operate the same way but stay open later, as members don’t have to pack up when dinner service begins.
WeWork, which is preparing for an initial public offering, operates more than 528 locations in 111 cities around the world, where its members can use single desks or office space. The company began by offering space primarily to freelancers and small start-up businesses, but its clientele now includes many large corporations that need temporary or flexible workspace options.
Spacious is not WeWork’s first restaurant-related partnership—last year WeWork partnered with salad chain Sweetgreen to provide free delivery of Sweetgreen meals to more than 50 WeWork locations around the U.S.
As WeWork has diversified its business in recent years, it has also become involved in the food industry in other ways. Earlier this year the company announced the formation of WeWork Food Labs, which it describes as “a workspace and global platform dedicated to startups impacting the future of sustainable food.” The company said the goal of WeWork Food Labs is to support innovative start-ups “across the food ecosystem,” including companies working on food sustainability issues using artificial intelligence, robotics, kitchen appliances, agriculture technology, distribution software, consumer goods, hospitality and other areas.
Last year, WeWork also launched WeMRKT, in-house retail kiosks that merchandise snack foods and other products created by its member companies. Among the food producers that had their products on WeMRKT’s shelves at last year’s launch were yogurt marker Icelandic Provisions; plantain chip maker Barnana; cold-press juice company Misfit Juicery; and fortified coffee maker Sunniva Super Coffee.
WeWork, which also operates its own self-serve Honesty Market snack kiosks in its co-working spaces, said last fall that it planned to expand the WeMRKT stores to 500 locations.
Related: WeWork Launches Food Tech Startup Program; Investors Eye Dairy, Meat Alternatives.
from Industry Operations https://ift.tt/306InBT
No comments: