Product Description

Witty, authoritative, comprehensive and fun, "Wake Up and Smell the Profit" is the ultimate guide to making more money in your coffee business. Discover the sharpest insights and the best ideas from two of the UK's top Coffee Business Gurus. Together 'The Coffee Boys' have 40 years' experience in how to make money in the coffee selling business. Whether you operate a single site espresso bar, a Michelin starred restaurant or chain of hotels, there is something in this book for everyone.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13373 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 101 pages

Review
'A quite brilliant new book on cafe operation.' --Coffee House Magazine

Review
...a quite exceptional new book from Ireland's Coffee Boys,...in it they bring together their favourite stories and wake-up calls, from what has sometimes been hard-won experience...the most meaningful work on coffee retailing since Sahar Hashemi wrote about how she founded Coffee Republic.'

Review
'An essential guide for any coffee shop owner who wants to put up his or her immunity to economic downturn.'

Customer Reviews

This book is my little "friend".
A little story (and stories sell as you'll find out from Hugh and Johnnie)

I decided, like so many wage-slave dreamers, to finally take the big step and set up my own coffee bar about two years ago. I bought all the slightly tedious books that were out there about setting up coffee shops and worked my way through them. I also pored through the various bits of "set up a business" guff from the banks and then read a few "Go on, you can do it..." motivational books.

Armed with a remortgage, a nervous wife, our savings and a healthy slice of naiveté I opened my coffee bar. None of the books that I read or indeed none of the advice I received was wrong - it just wasn't enough. It just didn't fully prepare me for how bloody hard it is to make money out there and how far from being the idyllic lifestyle and dream it actually is.

I lost a clean fortune in the first two years (well a fortune to me anyway) and gradually realised that this is pretty much exactly what everyone does. I then chanced upon this book by the Ireland's "Coffee Boys" after seeing them speak at a conference. It may not be filled with lots of plans or tedious checklists but these guys really, really know their stuff.

Suddenly it felt like it was all "okay". It felt like here were people who really knew what they were talking about. They had either personally owned or advised dozens of businesses. They hadn't just written a book based on one personal example or because they'd been to business school. They'd made all the mistakes and come out the other side battered and bruised but capable of knowing exactly what it takes to make money in this type of business - even if you have a Starbucks or a Costa opening up right beside you. And they wrote in a refreshingly honest and entertaining way.

So armed with my new "friend" I have set about restructuring my little business in a number of crucial ways. I have finally understood that it is "about the money" and not about ego as they keep emphasising. I have finally understood the importance of stars on the menu, telling stories, keeping my eyes on the costs (every pound isn't equal don't forget) and indeed how to avoid "sour faced hags" and the "Grannie rule".

I walk the shop every day like a customer and have my staff do the same. I now have spotless toilets and have totally changed my customer flow. It's all common sense really but you sometimes need a book like this to keep the common sense at the forefront of your mind and keep some perspective from the madness and claustrophobia of running a coffee bar.

So what's wrong with it? Well I wish it was longer and I wish they had maybe shown a couple of physical examples in the direct marketing section. I also wish they'd give a little more information on recruiting and retaining staff. That continues to be a huge issue for me. But I'm nitpicking really.

So if you currently own or are vaguely thinking of opening a coffee bar or any type of coffee shop you really should buy this. It could save you a lot of money. I only wish it had been out when I was first opening my shop.

Coffee....and the rest.
If you have a business, any business, and you're not rich, and you don't know why, or if you have ever thought, "I'm really good at what I do, why am I not more successful"..... this book was written for you. I come at this from a slightly odd angle. I have nothing to do with the cafe business. I'm a photographer. I was looking for marketing books when I came across this gem. What this book spells out is that the ability to make the best coffee in the world and the ability to run a successful coffee business are two distinct things. I have concentrated for years on taking better photographs and assumed the business would run itself....afterall I am a photographer. Not so. What this book lays out in the simplest forms is that so many of think the normal "rules" don't apply to us as we're busy doing what we do best. It is the wake up call. This book is more relevant to me than a lot of books written specifically for photographers. A lot of it may seem painfully obvious, but it works. I wish it had been written years ago.

Good read
Great, easy to understand, advice from people who really understand the business. Some of their "true stories" had me laughing out loud since they so clearly mirror the mistakes I have made too. There is some really invaluable advice for people starting out but also dozens of great tips for wizened veterans like myself who think we know it all but seem to have forgotten a lot of it!