Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting and Running a CoffeeBar

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the things that struck me most about this book is that it seems perfectly balanced. By this I mean that it covers all the general business angles of running a coffee bar, but it never loses sight of its coffee-oriented focus. While there's certainly plenty of information that people running other businesses would find useful in here, you'll never find yourself thinking that you could have gotten the same information out of a more generic business or restaurant business guide. Everything focuses on the particular application of principles to the unique issues and problems that face the owner and operator of a coffee bar. Even when discussing cross-promotion and various forms of publicity the book discusses things that are likely to work best with your products and services.

You won't just find information in here on business plans, licensing issues, equipment, suppliers, staffing, and publicity however. There are guides to roasting beans (in case you want to create your own blends, or just want to understand what you're buying), creating a wide variety of coffee drinks and related treats, and cultivating repeat customers.

In addition to the vast wealth of information, the attitude with which this book was written is fantastic. It's practical yet positive, realistic yet optimistic. It livens things up with a dry wit yet never allows the humor to get in the way of the information it's trying to convey. It will make you excited about even topics like marketing your business without ever coming across as empty cheerleading.

I quite enjoyed reading this book, and have to firmly remind myself after reading it that no, I really am not the kind of person who can go out and start such a business. Because after reading all of this handy and fascinating information, the prospect is delightfully tempting!

This is a must for anyone who plans to open a coffee bar or shop. It not only provides all the necessary information for menu, location, prepration of specialty coffee drinks, everything you need to know about running a business is included. The descriptions of employee training manual and employee handbook, how to hire and fire, as well as too many vital things to mention, have me reading it again and again. This book will be a useful tool for months (years) in the future.

This book was a starting point, but was not "Complete" by any means. I was hoping this book would delve into specifics, such as how to go about obtaining contractors to have a coffee bar built, or give real life statistical examples of day-to-day coffee bar operations. Understanding the author(s) cannot possibly account for everything one would experience as a coffee bar owner, it would have been nice to get a picture. The good thing about the book, as stated earlier, is it gives ideas of things one should think about- such as payroll, hiring tips, color schemes, etc. but again, they're just starting points. It will be necessary for me to purchase another book to build on this one......bummer

I am planning to open a Coffee Business. I have bought other books about this subject and I think this book compensates what others lack.
I would recommend you to buy it.

This book is really helpful, helps you make decisions, think better if you should take the plunge because of it I'm planning a little better, I really recommend this book.

There's plenty of money to be made in the coffee business and if your dream is to get out there and run a coffee bar, you're in luck: Complete Idiot's Guide To Starting & Running A Coffee Bar provides all the basics on how to do so. From what it's really like to run a coffee bar to legal issues, sales, shop equipment choices, kitchen layout and more, much of the book is very specific to the coffee industry and provides a wealth of specific business advice.

I liked this book for several reasons. First, I think it does a good job of showing the daily routine of owning a coffee shop. As a current small business owner, sometimes such daily trifles are overlooked when in the "dreaming" phase of starting a business. Second, it answers a lot of questions that you simply wouldn't know if you've never opened a coffee shop before. Third, I liked the tone of the authors; they were encouraging, not condescending. Opening a coffee shop can certainly be done, and you feel empowered after reading the book.

In my case, their honestly regarding the hard work involved with running a coffee shop made me realize it wasn't for me right now. The amount of constant cleaning is just ridiculous. I feel like there are other businesses out there that offer better work/life balance and money.

I bought this as a Christmas gift for my 13 yo son who wants to own a coffee shop when he grows up, but would rather sit and stare at a wall all than read a book. I figured this would collect dust on his shelves with the rest of the books I've bought him, but a parent can always hope.
Surprisingly, he started reading it Christmas day and informed me that he will probably have a small coffee shop, rather than a large one, because his taxes might be based on the physical size of his business. LOL!
I haven't actually even looked at the book yet, but anything that can get my son to voluntarily read AND give me a bit of information about what's in it gets five stars from me!

This book is competently written and covers a lot of areas but fails to break the surface. Most of the information feels unimportant, most of it just comes down to common sense.

About of a quarter of the way through I got tired of reading as it began to feel like a waste of time.

The example that describes a day of a specific cafe gives no insight and basically comes down to, then we heat up coffee, then we heat up some cakes, blah blah.

I am in the process of opening a cafe in my town and this was a GREAT start to my process. I'll definitely have to delve into certain things (legal, etc), but the authors seem to cover it all. After finishing this book, I have a very clear idea where to go from here.