What about an automated coffee shop? A machine that remakes coffee when it gets low with a reserve of beans it grinds automatically, dispensed in different sizes by coin or bill. Have a machine on the inside and on the outside, facing the street. So you can have your romantic atmosphere and make a lot of money selling coffee quickly to people on the go for the mere cost of a machine.
But there is only so much space for romantic atmosphere inside a shop (the main issue, really), and existing automated coffee machines are..limited (then again, most people would probably just get ordinary coffee). On the other hand, that sounds like an interesting thing to hack together for home if only I wasn't in love with my french press :)
Also when a similar topic came up last week, there was mention of charging a fee (i.e. $20/day) for use of the table, wifi and a bottomless cup of coffee.
It would be interesting to see both of these implemented in an actual coffee shop, cause they're not necessarily something I have seen and are certainly one way to approach the problem.
