Product Description

At the age of 42, former lawyer Stephen Miller opted for a career change and set up his own sandwich-coffee bar. Despite the challenges and hard work, he has found it very satisfying to set up and run his own business. This book brings the benefit of his experience and advice to anyone wan ting to set up their own venture in this fast-growing food sector. Find out how to: create and concept your image; choose the right location; sort out tax and health safety; buy equipment and fit out the shop; and generate interest before you open.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23374 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From the Author
'At about the age of 40 it dawned on me that I had become unemployable. I had a law degree but no particular interest in law. I knew I had to get out but I had to earn a living. Unfortunately disaffected 40 year old lawyers who don't want to practise law are not the most attractive prospective employees. I would have to do my own thing. My wife and I had always had an interest in food. We could both see the explosion in demand for take away food and a quality sandwich bar just sort of presented itself as our best bet. It has proved to be a reliable and secure source of income. We're pleased we did it.

I wanted to write this book to provide people with an example of how, they too could take charge of their employment destiny - and do what I've done.'

Customer Reviews

Useful but flawed
In many ways there is great information in this book. It's a bit dry and a little dated but it is very thorough in terms of the information that it contains. i.e. if you want to start a sandwich bar then it is certainly a good start. It provides a worthwhile road map to help you get open. There is a lot of advice on the tedious but essential stuff like dealing with your EHO, insurance agents, surveyors etc. You even get little sections on stakeholder pensions and walkie talkies.

My issue with it is that it really the story of one man opening a sandwich bar. i.e. it is based on a very limited experience and very specific factors. The days of being able to open a sandwich bar (or a coffee bar) in the style of this are, in most areas, gone. The competition these days is ferocious and I know, from harsh personal experience, that you need to work really, really hard to survive out there.

So you may have a section on walkie talkies but you also only have a half page in the whole book about coffee and that's just some very cursory advice about the machines! A book with the title of "Starting and running a sandwich-coffee bar" is being somewhat disingenuous with the title if it only has half a page on coffee in my opinion.

It also singularly lacks any emphasis about creating something unique and almost completely glosses over the financial side of the business. The marketing sections are extremely limited too. You can see sandwich (coffee!) bars opening like this in your own town almost every year and they simply don't last.

To operate a successful sandwich or coffee bar you have to dig much deeper. You really need to focus on creating a reason for people to visit and you need to have a handle on your figures very firmly from day one. You also need to learn every marketing trick in the book and keep learning every day if you're to compete with one of the big chains opening beside you. If you rely heavily on the advice of this book the chances of long term success are extremely limited in my view.

But like I say there is some good basic advice there. I'd still recommend you have a look at it but I'd also buy at least five or six other books of this type as well. The two essential purchases for anyone who is even vaguely thinking of opening a sandwich or coffee bar are "Wake up and smell the profit" by John Richardson and "The E-myth" by Michael Gerber. Those are the two books that transformed my little sandwich coffee bar both in terms of profitability and also the ability for me not to have to be there every day myself.

And if you are thinking of opening a sandwich/coffee bar then good luck. But make sure you have removed your rose-tinted spectacles and have your eyes fully open from day one. It's a great business but a long way from being the dream-life that most of my friends think it is.

Enjoyable and Informative Guide...
Starting a cafe/sandwich bar is something that has been going through my mind for a while. Nearly all the literature out there is very US centric so it is really useful to find a good UK based book. The author's style is very readable and informative and has very good advice on subjects such as refridgeration issues, tax and employment and finding and fitting out a premises. The benefit of knowing some of the mistakes the author originally made on starting out and how to put them right is great. Although the book mentions business plans, it doesn't go into detail on how to put one together so you'll need to get another book to cover that, if like me you are not totally confident in putting one together. This book has definately given me the confidence to understand what I will need to do get things moving and I recommend it.

Great confidence booster, lots of helpful advice for starting up and running
I bought this as I'm considering opening my own cafe and didn't have the first clue where to start. I was doubting my own commitment to such a project as I was finding it difficult to get motivated, but this book has really changed my feelings for the better.

I found the simple style very easy to read and the message is - anyone can do it with a bit of consideration and hard work. In fact I read the book cover to cover in one weekend. It takes you through the pro's & con's of different set ups eg sole trader/partnership, owning or leasing your property etc. It is very specific to opening a takeout sandwich/coffee bar but it would be useful to any novice considering going into a catering business as it gives lots of advice on employing staff, publicity & marketing etc. I found my position had changed from one of trepidation and self-doubt at the start to feeling inspired to get on. Within days of reading I was contacting people in the industry and searching for properties.

The only area on which I would fault it was that it doesn't give any pointers on how to start searching for property (my local newspaper certainly doesn't advertise commercial properties), or any formulaic way of working out expected initial outlay - although I appreciate this is very difficult without specific contextual knowledge.