Gilmartin Hugh - The Coffee Boys step-by-step guide to setting up and managing your own coffee bar: how to open a coffee bar that actually lasts and makes money

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The right of John Richardson and Hugh Gilmartin to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

2010 John Richardson and Hugh Gilmartin

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978 1 84528 327 8
eISBN: 978 1 84803 483 9

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Food

Coffee

John Richardson started his career with coffee shops at the age of 14. His first job was within a legendary ice cream and coffee shop in the coastal town of Portstewart. Along with his brother, he worked (less than diligently it has to be said) for the princely sum of 60p per hour. At this level he was possibly overpaid. But he didnt agree. As he and his brother sat slumped over the counter on the wet and windy days when it was quiet they would idly calculate how much money the business was making. Like nearly all employees past, present and future, they arrived at a figure of about 500 of net profit for every 1,000 that was put in the till. Slightly indignant at these huge profits that were being made they would pop another stolen ice cream Flake into their mouths and dream at some stage in the future of one day having a business like that themselves...

Never forgetting this dream, John went to university and undertook a business and marketing degree and by the age of 26 he owned the largest sandwich business in Ireland. A sad case of over expansion and ignoring many of the fundamentals of business meant that by the age of 28 this business was broken up and sold off.

Somewhat chastened he then moved into a variety of other businesses including chip shops, garden centres, coffee shops and restaurants. The lessons learned from the sandwich business stood him in good stead and many of these businesses became highly successful and garnered many awards. An interesting and somewhat greed-driven venture into the internet in 2001 wasnt so clever though and helped illustrate to him how important it is to keep focusing on the fundamentals of what you really know about.

In the summer of 2005, John sold his stake in all his trading businesses and established a consultancy business aimed primarily at the coffee shop industry. His clients range from single-site espresso bars to multi-site chains with a few restaurants thrown into the mix for variety. With Hugh Gilmartin (and a few other associated Coffee Boys), he helps produce anything from full turn key coffee bar operations, to assistance with training, marketing and operational systems.

He, along with Hugh, has previously written a book for existing coffee shop owners titled Wake Up and Smell the Profit 52 Guaranteed Ways to Make More Money in Your Coffee Business (HowtoBooks). John speaks, with Hugh, about the business of running coffee shops throughout the world.

John lives in Bangor County Down with his wife and daughter. He is also the author of Dream On One Hackers Challenge to Break Par in a Year (Blackstaff Press Ltd), a book about a golfing challenge that he undertook and which most of the golfing world regarded as impossible.

Hugh Gilmartin has been in the coffee business for 25 years. He advises key people in the hospitality and retail sectors on how to maximise the profitability of their coffee businesses something that is becoming increasingly more important. He runs Northern Irelands largest coffee distribution business with his brother and is always keen to adopt new ways to persuade his customers to buy their coffee from him, modelling the best business practices and developing ideas from different countries and cultures.

He was the first Irishman to present his ideas at The Speciality Coffee Association of Americas annual conference many years ago when America was significantly ahead of the rest of the world in terms of the coffee revolution. He has written dozens of coffee marketing related articles as resident coffee guru with several national magazines and with his friend and Coffee Boy collaborator John Richardson they help and educate their clients on how to make, and crucially maintain, profits in what he terms The Business of Coffee.

Hugh is involved in several businesses specialising in marketing and branding and how to develop the sensuality and experience of overall coffee related operations. He has been a Board member of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe since 2006 and is well known in UK coffee circles.

Hugh lives in Belfast with his wife and three daughters and at home his opinion is rarely asked about anything even coffee!

He hasnt written any books about golf but still believes he can beat Johnny in a head to head match.

Before we start a little bit about why we wrote this book and the reasons why we wrote it in a certain style.

This book is, we feel, a little different from many of those that currently exist within the marketplace. There are a large variety of books out there that all promise to help you open your first coffee shop/coffee bar/sandwich bar/restaurant/lunch bar and most of them provide sterling advice. In fact most of them provide such decent advice that we actually genuinely recommend you buy them. There are lots of specifics within this industry and lots of viewpoints that you need to see before you can fully immerse yourself in your new business. As our somewhat dubious heart surgeon analogy (see page xiv) shows, there really is a huge amount that you need to learn.