The Apartment Coffee Shop: What it can show us about shifts in at-home socialising
Over the summer, we hosted our first (and definitely not last) 'apartment coffee shop' event in our flat to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We picked up some really good pastries from a nearby bakery, bought a couple of bags of excellent coffee beans, descaled the Sage, baked gooey chocolate chip cookies and a carrot cake, and invited our friends over at 10 am. We had a great time with about a dozen friends dropping in throughout the morning. While cosplaying as a barista might seem a bit eccentric, we were not alone – Apartment or Saturday Coffee Shops have emerged as a trend on social media and have seen people transforming their living spaces into mini cafés. Some hosts go to great lengths with branded menus and takeaway cups, and others have been so successful they received sponsorship or have gone on to host pop-ups in actual cafes. We just wrote our menu on brown paper and used our best mugs!
Ten years ago, it felt like the big thing in home entertaining was supper clubs and dinner parties, so it is fascinating to see this shift away from spending days planning elaborate three-course meals and a stressful evening of hosting towards something more casual.
So what's driving this change?
For us and for many who host apartment coffee shops, I think it just feels so much more accessible. Making good coffee and picking up some pastries definitely feels less intimidating to me than preparing a full dinner menu. There's less pressure, less clean-up, less expense, and I was able to host more people than my kitchen could fit for a sit-down meal.
It works well with our changing social rhythms and priorities. In our friends group, an 8 pm dinner doesn't always work – people are tired, they have childcare responsibilities or pets to get home to. A casual coffee catch-up on a weekend morning can leave the rest of the day and as the host, I don’t have time to spend days prepping only to be running around in the evening unable to spend that time actually relaxing with my friends.
The aesthetic plays a part of the Kitchen Coffee Shop trend too. Pinterest named Coffee-Shop Core one of their key trends for 2024, and we have definitely seen that play out in the way that people are styling their homes – e.g. creating coffee corners in kitchens. You don’t need tons of space or a massive dining table, but there is something nice about getting out your favourite mugs and setting down a vase of flowers. It feels cute but obtainable, and worth sharing on social media.
But for me, what is particularly interesting is how this trend blurs the line between public and private spaces. We're recreating the cafe experience - traditionally a public, commercial space - within our homes. It feels like we are seeking the comfort and casualness of what a ‘third place’ should be but with the intimacy and control of our own four walls.
For brands in the food and drink space, I think there are some clear lessons here. We're seeing a real desire for:
Making at-home hosting more accessible - I think there is a desire for things that help people become hosts without needing to be brilliant chefs or having a huge budget
Flexible socialising that works around complex schedules – more daytime events, please!
Experiences that feel both special and relaxed
Moments designed to be primarily about in-person community, but also feel worth posting about online
The whole apartment coffee shop might just be another TikTok trend, but I think it signals a meaningful shift in how we're choosing to connect with each other and how we are looking for new ways to socialise at home.
