Spoiled consumers? Dining out at a café with bubble tea and fried chicken

▲Knock Knock Café will introduce new store policies starting June. (Photo / fromKnock Knock CaféFacebook)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

Are Taiwanese consumers getting too spoiled? Knock Knock Café in Taipei has been warmly welcoming customers for over a year, but manager Amber recently noticed that patrons have shown less “respect” for the shop. They’ll order a single coffee and stay from 1 pm until closing time,or an entire family might order just one plate of pasta but then pull out bread, bubble tea, and even fried chicken,Faced with an increasing number of customers showing little regard for the business, Knock Knock Café has decided to establish new house rules, set to take effect in June.

Knock Knock Café originally supported the idea that restaurants shouldn’t impose time limits, but it often happens that someone orders a NT$160 drink, plugs in their laptop and speakers, and starts blasting Korean or American dramas loudly from 1 pm until closing. Or they order a drink and use the space to hold multi-level direct sales travel seminars—sometimes even two sessions a day. Amber said a Japanese friend once told her that Japanese people usually leave after enjoying their coffee, but Taiwanese tend to stay for a very long time. Amber wonders when Taiwanese developed this habit.

Amber explained that for a business to survive, it needs customers, but having someone occupy a table all day is troublesome because it takes up space and reduces the shop’s revenue. When they first opened, they strongly believed that restaurants shouldn’t enforce time limits. But as these situations became more frequent, they had no choice but to start calculating usage in two-hour blocks to limit dining time.

In addition to customers who overstay their welcome and blatantly bring outside food, Amber also mentioned on the Knock Knock Café KNOCK KAFE Facebook page issues like unruly children damaging the café’s property—breaking eggs, pulling apart dried flower arrangements, or even playing with onions like balls and hitting other guests. There were also cases where multiple people made reservations but never showed up, later claiming they’d booked too many places and forgot about Knock Knock Café.

To address all these problems and prevent staff from continuing to be wronged, Knock Knock Café has decided to redraw its house rules. These include a minimum spend of NT$200 per person, a two-hour time limit per meal, a 10% surcharge for repeated outside food violations, full compensation for any broken or damaged items, and no longer accepting phone reservations for groups of eight or more from unfamiliar customers.

Knock Knock Café
Address: No. 10, Lane 126, Yanji Street, Da’an District, Taipei City
Phone: 02-87717672
Business Hours: 11:00–21:30

Knock Knock Café Facebook post

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