Ebeltoft café lets customers choose membership fee

Go’ Kaffe in Ebeltoft is introducing a membership scheme in which customers choose how much they want to pay, DR reports. Members can then drink as much coffee as they like at the café’s cost price.

Café owner Bjarke Mathias Jensen has been testing the model and now wants to make it permanent. He says the aim is to make the café affordable for people with less money, while allowing those who can afford it to contribute more.

“We are trying to create an opportunity for those who are less well-off to come here cheaply. Those who have a little more can pay for it,” Jensen says.

Go’ Kaffe also operates a bakery, where sourdough bread and cardamom buns are made. The café’s finances cover its costs, and Jensen says he can pay himself and his employees.

“The café was not created to make money. For me, success means contributing to a world where we think as much about each other as we do about ourselves, rather than focusing on big figures on the bottom line,” he says.

Customers support different contributions

Regular customers Birgitte and Bjarne Adamsen paid 500 kroner each for membership during the trial. Birgitte Adamsen, 71, says she has no problem with other customers paying as little as 30 kroner a month.

“Otherwise, so many people would not come. It is important that different people come and that everyone can afford it,” she says.

Her husband says it is also reassuring to know that Jensen’s fixed costs are covered.

Another regular, Noa England Skovdal, became a member with his partner for a total of around 300 to 400 kroner. They have three young children, and that was what the family could afford.

He says membership encourages people to visit more often and become part of the community. He also believes it is fair for some customers to pay more than others.

“In many ways, that is also how we have organised our society. Those who have the most contribute more, and vice versa,” he says.

No date has been set for the membership model to become permanent, but Jensen hopes to introduce it during the autumn.