This new company is turning Charlotte restaurants, breweries into flexible workspaces

Jennings Cool
·2 min read

During the workday, taprooms, restaurants and bars sit empty all across Charlotte, waiting patiently for patrons to show up after work for cocktails. Chairs sit empty, tables are wiped down and cleared off, rooms are quiet.

Until now, anyway.

Recess is a new Charlotte company that turns bars, breweries and restaurants into workspaces during the day. Recess is “flipping the coffee shop on its head by creating a welcoming and productive space to work,” according to its website. No more running from coffee shop to coffee shop hunting for a quiet place to hold Zoom meetings and phone interviews.

Its first transformation is Wooden Robot Brewery’s South End location. Starting March 15, you’ll be able to work, then celebrate happy hour without ever leaving your seat. Recess is also planning a partnership with Elsewhere, a cocktail lounge in South End, to be used as a private meeting space.

It’s an easy pairing between Recess and the bars with underutilized spaces during certain hours of the day. “Recess began with the goal to create additional revenue streams for local restaurants and bars in the community and to provide additional shifts for their staff members,” said Jay Schaeffer, Founder of Recess.

Recess turns Charlotte breweries, bars and restaurants into coworking spaces, including Wooden Robot’s South End location.
Recess turns Charlotte breweries, bars and restaurants into coworking spaces, including Wooden Robot’s South End location.

While providing a place for creators and entrepreneurs to spend their workdays, the company states its purpose is to help support local businesses, such as Wooden Robot.

“We are not currently utilizing our taproom space during the day, so offering a flexible workspace by day and a brewery by night seems like the perfect fit,” Josh Patton, CEO and co-founder of Wooden Robot, told CharlotteFive.

With COVID-19 inflicted cutbacks and profit loss, Patton said he sees Recess as an opportunity to add another revenue line to the business — and offer extra shifts to his employees.

How it works

Recess is a membership-based service for $99 a month, offering fast and secure WiFi, unlimited coffee roasted locally by Jagshead Coffee, unlimited access to every Recess location, six visitor passes per month and a few other perks. Day passes are available for $15 and include full access to a Recess space for one day, complimentary coffee and free WiFi.

“As we all know after the last year, people crave human interactions, and we plan to foster that in each of our locations,” Schaeffer said. Members will also receive exclusive access to speaker series, roundtables, networking opportunities and happy hours.

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