Restaurants become coworking spaces

Restaurants often face challenges staying afloat in an expensive city such as New York. Businesses battle rising rents and a lot of competition. But as of late, some apps are changing the game.

"You're going to be able to find an outlet, comfortable seating or fast Wi-Fi—we take care of all the essentials," said Andrew a Levy, co-founder of KettleSpace.

KettleSpace launched about six months ago. It works with restaurants and bars to open their dining rooms to freelancers and entrepreneurs during the off hours.

"At your local coffee shop, you don't have a community, it's very challenging to connect with other people," Levy said. "You have to pay for the coffee. With us, coffee, tea, and snacks are included. You also get access to a network of spaces designed to be productive workspaces."

Nick Thelemaque is an indie film producer who has a monthly KettleSpace subscription at Distilled on West Broadway. A monthly membership costs $99, significantly cheaper than a WeWork space.

"Here you have a lot of folks, some have raised capital for another business, some have sold a business, some have done something else in an industry, and now they're going to another venture," Thelemaque said.

The restaurant Pennsylvania 6, near Penn Station, uses the service BagBNB to make extra money. The app is like Airbnb for suitcases. Tourists can store their luggage at participating spaces for different periods of time. Pennsylvania 6 brings in a few thousand bucks a month just with storage. 

"It kind of makes a lot of sense for us," Pennsylvania 6 general manager Craig Hutson said. "It brings people in the door, it brings a little bit of a revenue stream so it's a nice kind of double win for us."

So if serving food and drinks isn't paying the bills, you might want to start thinking outside the box.