The brainchild of communications experts Kit Gallo-way and Sherrie Rabinowitz, the cafe offers both an assortment of food and drinks and a smorgasbord of teleconferencing equipment. Fax machines, picture phones, computers and telephones allow diners to exchange information with associates around the world. On New Year’s Eve patrons raised glasses with revelers in Tokyo, cheered with 400,000 Germans as the clock on the Brandenburg Gate struck midnight and talked with ham-radio buffs worldwide.
The pair first concocted the menu of electronic gadgets as an art exhibit, then turned it into a business last year. For now the cafe is nonprofit, funded by grants and donations. But the owners plan to franchise a for-profit network of cafes from Wyoming to West Africa. “In Gambia, if you give somebody a videophone, a cellular telephone and a Mr. Coffee, they’re an electronic cafe,” says Rabinowitz. Bon appetit.
