Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

This is a step-by-step guide to realizing what for many people is a cherished dream: opening a successful coffee bar. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting and Running a Coffee Bar includes the dirt on what it’s really like to work behind the counter and information on everything from how to build a business plan, to how to make the drinks and how to price them.
-Only series book of its kind
-The specialty coffee business is still growing
-Small businesses create 7 out of 10 new jobs in America
-Susan Gilbert has started and run five successful coffee bars

Average Customer Rating:

More Like "Incomplete"

Customer Rating:

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

Well-balanced, lively, informative, and entertaining

Customer Rating:

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!

Deserves 10 stars

Customer Rating:

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.

From what it's really like to run a coffee bar to legal issues, sales, shop equipment choices, kitchen layout and more

Customer Rating:

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.