More and more, stop at a café, particularly a national chain, and an Internet connection is expected to accompany that simple cup of Joe.
For the customer with a laptop, it means the convenience of connecting to the Internet via a wireless network that uses radio waves, just like cell phones, televisions and radios do. For the café, it means customers spend more time in the store, hopefully ordering more food.
Some café chains offer the service for free, some charge a fee.
Panera Bread is the newest café-bakery chain with free Wi-Fi in Chester County, opening a 5,200-square-foot operation in the Town & Country Shopping Center on West Chester Pike in West Goshen on Dec. 23.
"All the Paneras have free WiFi," said Tammy Dwyer, spokeswoman for American Bread Co. of Trevose, a franchisee of Panera Bread that operates 16 cafés in the Delaware Valley.
"Business people come in specifically for it. People can come in, sit down and enjoy the food. It's a concept that fits into the area."
On-site bakers will work throughout the night at each location that also features soup, sandwiches and salads. Headquartered in Richmond Heights, Mo., Panera Bread has nearly 1,000 locations across the country.
Customer Jennifer McKissic of East Goshen maps out all the Paneras in the area so she will never be far from free Wi-Fi, she said.
"I could go to the library but there is nothing to drink there," said the technology consultant seated at the new cafe using her laptop. "I eat here, meet clients here, do work for myself here. It's my home office, only it's in Panera's home."
At home there are too many distractions such as dishes in the sink and laundry. Panera is like a large office, with people talking and creating background noise, McKissic said.
Café Wi-Fi hot spots have been popping up nationwide and locally for a few years.
In 2002, coffee giant Starbucks launched a nationwide campaign to put wireless access with T1 speeds in its coffee houses. The project was part of a three-way deal between Starbucks, T-Mobile and Hewlett-Packard. Users pay a T-Mobile HotSpot fee.
Atlanta Bread, which has a location in Main Street at Exton, has free Wi-Fi.
It's a good marketing tool to get customers through the door, said Raj Chandran, vice dean of Fox School of Marketing at Temple University in Philadelphia.
"I know I'd be more inclined to go to a place where I can check my e-mail while I have a cup of coffee," Chandran said in a phone interview from his office at the university.
Cafés were not the first to offer the technology. Hotels have been doing it for a while, and marketing it successfully. People now choose hotels according to who has the service, according to Chandran.
The coming generation is extremely mobile and will demand the service more and more, the professor said. The key for businesses is to advertise the service so customers know where it is available.
As for Starbucks, Chandran said he thinks that the company will have to stop charging for the service if it wants to keep up with its competition.
"If (customers) can't get it there for free, they'll go somewhere else," Chandran said.
According to www.wififreespot.com, there are roughly a dozen free Wi-Fi hot spots in Chester County. Some are unlikely places like cafés in supermarkets: The Giant supermarket in the Bradford Plaza in East Bradford and Wegmans in Brandywine Square in East Caln each have one.
The Flying Machine Café at Chester County/G.O.Carlson Airport in Valley has offered free WiFi for a couple of years, said the restaurant's owner, Michael Bem.
"We have a lot of customers through here that fly in and are pilots and people from local businesses that have laptops," Bem said. With the Wi-Fi, "they can have lunch and check their e-mail. It's convenient for our customers and the airport's customers."
To contact Gretchen Metz, send an e-mail to gmetz@dailylocal.com.