No Cash Needed At This Cafe. Students Pay The Tab With Their Personal Data

Chaiel Schaffel:

Ferris will turn away customers if they’re not college students or faculty members. The cafe allows professors to pay, but students have something else the shop wants: their personal information.

To get the free coffee, university students must give away their names, phone numbers, email addresses and majors, or in Brown’s lingo, concentrations. Students also provide dates of birth and professional interests, entering all of the information in an online form. By doing so, the students also open themselves up to receiving information from corporate sponsors who pay the cafe to reach its clientele through logos, apps, digital advertisements on screens in stores and on mobile devices, signs, surveys and even baristas.

According to Shiru’s website: “We have specially trained staff members who give students additional information about our sponsors while they enjoy their coffee.”

The website for the Japanese-owned cafe also explains Shiru’s mission and philosophy: “Through a free drink we try to give students some information which sponsor company would like to inform exclusively for university students to diverse the choices of their future career.”