Skip Navigation
Megan McArdle

Megan McArdle - Megan McArdle is a senior editor for The Atlantic who writes about business and economics. She has worked at three start-ups, a consulting firm, an investment bank, a disaster recovery firm at Ground Zero, and The Economist. She is currently on leave.
More

Megan was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and yes, she does enjoy her lattes, as well as the occasional extra-dry skim-milk cappuccino. Her checkered work history includes three start-ups, four years as a technology project manager for a boutique consulting firm, a summer as an associate at an investment bank, and a year spent as sort of an executive copy girl for one of the disaster-recovery firms at Ground Zero � all before the age of 30.

While working at Ground Zero, Megan started Live From the WTC, a blog focused on economics, business, and cooking. She may or may not have been the first major economics blogger, depending on whether we are allowed to throw outlying variables such as Brad Delong out of the set. From there it was but a few steps down the slippery slope to freelance journalism. She has worked in various capacities for The Economist, where she wrote about economics and oversaw the founding of Free Exchange, the magazine's economics blog. She has also maintained her own blog, Asymmetrical Information, which moved to The Atlantic, along with its owner, in August 2007.

Megan holds a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. After a lifetime as a New Yorker, she now resides in northwest Washington, D.C., where she is still trying to figure out what one does with an apartment larger than 400 square feet.
« Previous McArdle | Next McArdle » Email Email Print Print

Real Business: No Customers Need Apply

By Megan McArdle

Apr 15 2009, 11:36 AM ET Comment

Every so often, you come across a business that is real, and amazing.  That is, it's amazing that it's a real business, one that some blithe soul expects to make money off of.  Readers are, of course, encouraged to submit their own examples.

Today I give you:  The Sufi Coffee Shop.
 

Yesterday, a friend dragged me to a place called Sufi Coffee Shop in Mountain View (El Camino just north of Castro). The coffee was actually quite good -- it had better be quite good, the cheapest cup of drip -- of drip was $3.50. (The most expensive was $6.75. Admittedly, it was Blue Mountain.)

But the attitude. Wow, the attitude. The place is covered from wall-to-wall with angry signs admonishing the customers for various sorts of misbehavior. I took a photo of the first one, and the owner turned around, sternly instructed me "no photos!," and then demanded, as an implicit condition of selling me any coffee, that I delete the one I had taken. 

Fortunately, the owner isn't terribly iphone-literate, and so, well, suffice it to say that not only did I not delete the first photo, but I took numerous more besides.

That's just the teaser.  You really need to click through and gawk at the pictures. 

Study Question:  Is the Sufi Coffee Shop primarily selling coffee, or abuse?

Presented by

More at The Atlantic

Buying a Piece of America: Why Chinese Shoppers Love U.S. Brands Why Chinese Shoppers Love American Brands
The '7 Dirty Words' Turn 40, but They're Still Dirty The '7 Dirty Words' Turn 40
The Controversial German Book Linking the Euro to Holocaust Guilt Holocaust Guilt Is to Blame for the Euro
How the Global Middle Class Can Save the American Middle Class How the Global Middle Class Can Save America's Middle Class
Does the Supreme Court Believe in Double Jeopardy Protections? Does the Supreme Court Believe in Double Jeopardy Protections?

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus

Correspondents

View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

Where in the World? Part 3: A Google Earth Puzzle

May 25, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

Megan McArdle
from the Magazine

Why You Can’t Get a Taxi

And how an upstart company may change that

Europe’s Real Crisis

The Continent’s problems are as much demographic as financial. They won’t go away soon.

Why Companies Fail

GM’s stock price has sunk by a third since its IPO. Why is corporate turnaround so difficult…