A new unconventional co-working space is undercutting WeWork's membership fees by 80%

Birdnest

The future of co-working spaces isn't shared offices with bespoke decor, it's restaurants- at least according to Nick Jiang and Ray Choi. Together, they've founded Birdnest, a new company that pairs startups with workspaces in unused offices and restaurants at an affordable price.

Jiang's inspiration for Birdnest came from his time working out of a series of cramped co-working spaces at an early-stage startup. Jiang says his seven-person team was paying nearly $900 a month at a WeWork in downtown San Francisco, and that the steep membership fee was driving up the company's overhead. In an effort to keep costs low, Jiang began to hunt for a workspace that was competitively priced.

But attempting to find a cheap office space in San Francisco's punishing rental market was no easy feat. When Jiang passed by an empty restaurant on Market Street, inspiration hit: What if he could turn under-utilized spaces into makeshift offices for small companies? Jiang contacted the restaurant owner and asked if they wanted to make a passive income during the day when they were closed for business. The restaurant agreed, and soon, a small army of startup founders and entrepreneurs were filing through its doors.

If co-working spaces are the next evolution of the workplace, consider Birdnest to be a step further in the process of re envisioning future office environments. Jiang says that Birdnest benefits not only startups but restaurant owners who struggle to keep their doors open in a fiercely competitive market with razor-thin margins.

Check out Birdnest's first location: