Turn a quiet evening into loyal regulars
A book club helps you bring in people who feel like they belong in your coffee shop. Not only is this a good boost for takings once a month, but the members become regulars, increasing your takings over time too.
Bean and book is a book club in a box that does it all for you - promotion, organisation, admin. All you need to do is open your doors and serve drinks and anything else you want to serve.
The best bit? It's free.
Why host a book club?
Extra revenue on a quiet night
Repeat visits by loyal customers who feel like your place is their place
A built in community of coffee shop owners in a WhatsApp group - the hive mind is so valuable
It's free - we don't charge you a penny, our revenue comes from member subscriptions
What hosting looks like
We run book clubs at the end of the month on a quiet evening for 2 hours - 7-9ish. Added benefit - it's just after payday.
We like the table set up to allow for small groups - 2 - 4 on a table. 20 - 30 covers is ideal.
You provide staff to open up and serve drinks / food and information on any announcements / upcoming events you'd like our leaders to share to the members.
We provide a leader, the members, the activities, the opportunity to advertise your events.
What we bring
Promotion - we'll provide you with social posts and hard copy posters to display, but we'll also advertise locally to fill the spaces in the book club.
Organisation - we'll provide the book club leader with everything they need each month to run the book club in your venue. We'll run the members Whatsapp group
Regulars - our ultimate aim is to bring you loyal customers who visit you more than once a month.
Admin - our team do all the admin, so all you need to do is open the doors and serve great drinks.
Community - You'll not only be part of your book club community, but we'll also add you to our coffee shop owners community - great for accessing ideas, advice, information and support
Proof
Bean and book started in our own coffee shop in a mining village / town with approx 6000 residents. Our coffee shop was in its first year of trading and had been built from scratch, so had no pre-existing customer base. We needed to get people through the door and keep them coming back.
As a trained facilitator of groups, Annie designed the first book club to include elements that would be fun and benefical to members, even though it's likely that members will be introverts. We collect data and feedback along the way, so that we can see the benefit this is having for our coffee shop.
Of 25 members, 70% had either not heard of or been into our coffee shop before book club.
All members now use the coffee shop outside of book club. Many bring family and friends.
Offering food and drink on the evening, we cover staff costs and bring in extra revenue.
Subscriptions to book club and attendance continue to be high - approx 90% attendance at all meet ups
Feedback is always good. Book club taps into feelings - one of which is belonging, which is important for the venue.
Testimonials
When asked how book club makes them feel, this is what our members said:
'Very enjoyable, nice to meet new people along with reading new genres plus the drinks are great'
'Always excited to be here'
'Part of something - I really look forward to it! Community / tribe.'
'Like me and not 'mummy'. Feel like a book character, reading books in a cosy café'
'Happy and like a therapy session. Laughing and feel good factor'
Next steps
Fill in the form below. If we're a good fit, we'll arrange a call with you to talk through the process and get you started.