Customer Reviews

How to Open a Financially Successful Specialty Retail & Gourmet Foods Shop: With Companion CD-ROM

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"How to Open a Financially Successful Specialty Retail and Gourmet Foods Shop" is a great read for anyone looking to own their own specialty or niche store. From selling only jam to selling complex kitchen gadgets, this book is great for anyone looking to delve into any niche market.

The authors take readers through a number of get ready steps. They include, among other things, picking location, deciding what merchandise to carry, identifying the target audience, writing a business plan, filing the loan application, and getting the necessities (such as company name, licenses, insurance, etc.).

I love that the book details every thing I would need to know about opening a specialty business. It even discusses decorating tips, hiring a staff, marketing the business, and creating a press kit. Because the book covers so much, it tends to cover only the basics of all the topics. It does not go really in-depth on most items, so if you are looking for some exact how-to guide, this book probably is not for you.

The book also comes with a handy cd-rom that provides sample business plans and other worksheets that I found very helpful. You can easily take the business plan and modify it to suit your start-up business. In addition, there are a number of great resources listed within the pages of the book that any new business owner would find beneficial.

This book is nothing more than a general guide to opening a Shop.

I bought it because the title leads you to expect that it contains information specific to setting up a Specialty Gourmet Food Shop.

I already own general guides on setting up a Shop, which are incidentally much better than this book.

Apart from a few token references to Specialty Gourmet Food, this book was no use to me. Don't let the title fool you.

The Publishers should be ashamed of themselves. They have produced one single General guide on how to set up a Shop or a Business, and are selling the same book (with minimal adjustments) as if it is a detailed guide for specific industries like Specialty Food. A total rip-off !!!

Instead buy "Gourmet To Go" by Robert Wemishner and Karen Karp, which really does contain a lot of useful information specific to setting up a Gourmet Food Shop.

Also for a good guide on Specialty Shops(but not specific to Food Shops), consider "The Specialty Shop" by Dorothy Finell.

Excellent book for anyone wanting to start a specialty or gourmet shop. Extremely helpful and well thought out information CD is great addition!"

Perhaps the best piece of information in this handy guide by Sharon Fullen and Douglas Brown is
found on the first couple of pages: make sure your heart is in before you take the leap. They offer nuggets of advice to test your mettle; such as coming up with a short "elevator pitch" to capture the essence of your dream and how valuable careful research becomes if you want to discover your true "niche" market. Information on buying a franchise or starting from scratch, financial avenues to consider and a good outline for a business plan quickly follows. Other chapters present the importance of customer service, successful marketing tips and how to deliver a top-notch public relation campaign that attracts repeat business. You will also discover that the basic mechanics of running a business are not ignored; with sections devoted to purchasing, buying appropriate equipment, staffing, finding user-friendly software, monitoring inventory, managing cash flow and creating ambience in the public areas of the shop. The CD-ROM contains much of the same information found in the book, but does included printable business forms for home and office use, a supply list, as well as a more detailed business plan to use as your own template. Overall this book is very user-friendly, offers quality advice and presents up-to-date information. An important resource you will be able to refer to for many years

The book begins with an overview of what a gourmet shop consists of and how much energy is needed in order to successfully run one. This book gives a complete picture of everything that is needed to run a successful gourmet store. It is comprehensive enough for someone who has never opened a business before to easily start a shop.

It goes into great details of the initial costs and strategies that will be needed at start up. There is even a special section on franchising and writing a business plan. Other areas include taxes, laws, licenses, and insurances that will be needed. There are also skillfully crafted chapters which focus two main areas employee relations and customers including marketing and public relations.

There are chapters that center on the equipment that may be needed and the types of product that can be used in the store. A CD-ROM completes the book, with many forms that can help anyone who goes into business. There are even sections that deal with cash flow and financial management as well as purchasing.

This book offers a comprehensive overview on many of how to start a Specialty Retail business and with the step by step process, anyone can be successful.

While this book tackles a wide range of topics, I don't belive this book would enable the reader to create a business plan. For example the pricing section was more of a conversation on supply and demand rather then standard pricing practices for this niche.

I'ld say keep looking.

this book feels like an outline of what the real book would/should be. I suppose it's a good primer on how to gather your thoughts, but shouldn't be confused with a guidance book on opening a gourmet shop.

The book is well laid out and thought-provoking. It starts off giving the pros and cons about buying, franchising or starting a specialty food retail business.

The book is detailed and includes many web links for further investigation. The documents on the accompanying CD are a little disappointing though.

As far as what is out there, this book is way ahead of the competition. I purchased it and Retail Kit for Dummies. In hopes of developing my own plan for a specialty food and beverage market

"HOW TO OPEN A FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL RETAIL & GOURMET FOODS SHOP" by Sharon L. Fullen and Douglas R. Brown.

Starting your own business can be extremely scary, it doesn't matter what type of business it is. If you are interested in starting a specialty foods shop it can be even scarier because of the lack of competent information available. "How to Open a Financially Successful Specialty retail & gourmet foods shop" is one of the most comprehensive books of its kind in the market place.

The authors are great at introducing the reader to all aspects of starting their own shop. The book is written in an easy to understand conversational tone. With sections specifically on goal setting this book is geared toward the new entrepreneur that does not have past business start up experience.

Read this book before going even considering opening a specialty retail or gourmet foods shop. Many aspects of operating a specialty business can be overlooking in the heat of your ambitions. This book will guide you in identifying all the major areas of concern before you put up all your money and invest months of your time.

The book also comes with a CD that contains pre-written documents that will be very useful in starting and operating your business. This book is highly recommended to anyone who wants to know more about the gourmet foods industry and of course to people interested in starting their own specialty foods shop.