Capital One is trying to curry favor with millennials by opening cafes around the country that offer free Wi-Fi, local coffee and food, and complimentary money coaching
It should come as no surprise, then, that this generation - now the largest share of the US workforce - is turning to technology to manage their money, a generational shift that poses problems for the traditional bank model.
Millennials largely reject the banking experience their parents and grandparents embraced. They've abandoned the relationship-based, retail branch experience in favor of online banking. They largely distrust traditional banks, opening the door for a rash of disruptive fintech startups. Nearly 75% say they'd be more excited by a financial offering from Google, Apple, PayPal, or Square over their nationwide bank, according to a survey by Scratch, a subsidiary of Viacom.
Capital One's latest venture, the Capital One Café, is a new effort to market to millennials that appears aimed at bridging this disconnect - a move to win over their hard-won loyalty and lay a new foundation for relationship-based banking.
The company is opening a string of cafés in some of the nation's largest cities that function as co-working spaces open to the public. Anyone, regardless of bank affiliation, can grab a cup of coffee, sit on a couch, and, if they want, get coached through their money problems by professionals - for free.
Business Insider recently visited a café in Glendale, California, and spoke with Capital One Senior Vice President Lia Dean, who leads the café expansion team, about the bank's strategy for appealing to millennials.
Check out the tour below: