At Ziferblat, It’s Pay by the Minute

With its cheery polka-dot wallpaper, wooden floors, and assemblage of mismatched tables and chairs, the Ziferblat cafe in the trendy London suburb of Shoreditch could pass for any bohemian coffeehouse. The clocks, however, are a clue to the shop’s unique business model: They’re everywhere, jostling for space on a mantelpiece, parked alongside laptops on tables. Ziferblat means clock-face in Russian and German, a fitting name for an establishment where the coffee, tea, and cookies are free, but patrons pay by the minute to linger.

The first Ziferblat cafe opened in Moscow five years ago. Today there are 13 in Russia, Slovenia, the U.K., and Ukraine. A Prague outpost will open this summer, and more are planned in British cities. Founder Ivan Mitin, a 30-year-old Russian with a well-tended handlebar mustache, has ambitions to take his metered cafe concept global. “This project will be really successful everywhere,” he says during an interview at the original Ziferblat in Moscow.