The third episode of our cafe culture podcast discusses the question we all are eager to find out the answer to, the ‘why’. Shawn takes a look into why the Third Wave cafes are so popular. These cafes are constantly popping up, it almost feels overwhelming with the amount of cafes that are available just waiting for us to dine in any of them, and that’s just the cafes in KL! After going on a multitude of tinder dates to cafes, Shawn has always pondered about the question, wondering why the Third Wave cafes are so popular despite the food that they offer being disappointingly mediocre and overpriced, in comparison to his humble yet tasty kopitiam. Traditionally, if a restaurant’s food is not tasty it won’t be popular and business will close down very soon, however in the case of Third Wave cafes, Shawn discovers that this is not the reality. The customers that go to Third Wave cafes are of course subjective to their own taste and liking, some go for the food, while others go for the ambience. The popularity of Third Wave cafes nowadays heavily depends on how ‘Instagramable’ the cafe is. As we are living in the day and age of social media, it has as a result transformed Kopitiams into newer, better looking and trendier Third Wave cafes. It then brings the argument of identity, where people are in search of having a sense of belonging to a group. Identity is a big part of what makes a person, one must go and explore to find their identity, their true self. Which as a result leads to customers going to these Third wave cafes despite their mediocre and underwhelming food, the whole incentive could be to be a part of cafe culture and to find their identity. In addition, Shawn in his detective mode has found that the constant attention and showcasing received from the FnB industry plays a major role to how these cafes are discovered. There are websites and social media accounts such as ‘KL foodie’ that promote cafes and anything FnB related that are new and trendy. The food reviews themselves usually don’t review the food, rather directs the focus more towards the ambience of the cafe or how ‘Instagrammable’ it can be, which could be a reason why these cafes are popular.
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