Influx

Le Pain Quotidien is Belgian bakery/restaurant chain with around 60 stores worldwide, it has US locations in New York and Los Angeles. Apart from bringing the European bakery tradition to the US, it also places a large emphasis on its communal table. The giant tables are focal points for the stores and are embedded in the brand’s philosophy.

“It has immediate appeal as it embraces customers- whether total strangers or close friends. It welcomes everybody, allowing everyone to relax enjoy the unique atmosphere.”

Communal tables are not new, but they have mainly been used in fancy restaurants, rather than cafes. They are also playing a role in the workplace. UK communication agency Michelades and Bednash was one of the pioneers of the trend, where every employee sits around the same table. Fifteen years later, there are now over 20,000 businesses in the UK that have similar benches.

The communal table might be something Starbucks should look into. The brand has been an obvious beneficiary of the desire for a “Third Place”, but take a look inside any Starbucks and you see a lot of individuals in their own private “bubbles”, there seems to be little or no social interaction. The environment doesn’t really facilitate it. With 32% of US households now single, people are going to be looking for places that instead of just providing them with the chance to be “around” others, enable and encourage interaction.

In the workplace, where innovation and ideas are becoming increasingly important, environments that encourage collaboration and idea generation are going to be needed. The bench or table trend has yet to hit the US workplace, but it is surely this is just a matter of time.