Café con piernas (Spanish for "coffee with legs") is a coffee shop style popular in Chile where the service staff are all or nearly all attractive women dressed in revealing clothing.[1] Coffee shops with waitresses serving in miniskirts and heels to businessmen had long been popular, but bikinis and similar attire accelerated the trend by the mid-1990s. The shops are very numerous and popular in Santiago.[2][3][4][5][6] It is frequently noted that the shops seem to contradict Chile's traditionally conservative culture.[7][8]
A more conservative café con piernas in Santiago, December 2010
Generally, the women walk on a raised catwalk behind the bar so as to maximize the view for patrons.[8] Not all locations feature women in bikinis or lingerie: some have stayed with the traditional miniskirt and heels.
