Oakland Cafe Popular With Digital Nomads Bans Laptops On Nights And Weekends - And Survives
OAKLAND (KPIX) -- When the Actual Café first opened in Oakland, the staff noticed something alarming -- people weren't talking to each other.
"We would be working behind the counter and look out into the dining room at a sea of laptops," cafe owner Sal Bednarz lamented.
People sat here alone, didn't order much and took up most of the seats.
Actual Cafe regular Chris Ramer says the vibe was a little off-putting. "I felt like I was out of place trying to have food here," she laughed.
So, five years ago, the cafe did something almost unthinkable in tech-crazed Bay Area -- they imposed a no-laptops policy on weekends.
"What we ended up with was a much livelier dining room and the opportunity to give people a different menu and a different experience," Bednarz explained.
People began talking again and ordering more food.
That break from technology was so successful that, three weeks ago, the café began banning laptops during weekday dinner hours as well. Surprisingly, they haven't received a lot of complaints over it. In fact some of the technophiles at Actual actually seem grateful for the forced break from their keyboards.
"It's not exactly a virtue to be self-obsessed, but it's also very human. Like, of course we're gonna do it if we have the option," customer Beryl Baker admitted.
"I'm glad he does... [it] helps me to stop being sucked into a screen," Monica Rocha said.
Owner Bednarz is pretty satisfied with his experiment in forced civility.
"It's good to be reminded that there are times when it's just nice to look somebody in the eye and have a conversation," he says.
