Books for Cooks, an English bookstore centered on cookbooks, allows you to try the food before you buy a book!
Books for Cooks, a London-based bookstore, is a one-of-a-kind establishment that only sells cookbooks. How can that idea possibly pay the bills? Sure, cookbooks are great, but with online recipes and the like, not as many home cooks are willing to purchase an entire book of recipes they haven’t tried. But what if you could sample the food before purchasing the book? Would one delicious, tried-and-true meal entice you to buy the accompanying cookbook? Probably! And even if the customers don’t come for the book, they line up the block to have lunch at the first-come-first-serve Notting Hill bookstore and café.
Anyone who has recently visited a bookstore knows that they are no longer as easy to find. With online ordering, e-readers, and audiobooks, bookstores have become increasingly irrelevant. The stores that are still open must find other sources of income aside from book sales in addition to using gimmicks to get customers in the door. This is the genius of Books for Cooks. Every day, current owner Eric Treuille and his small staff select one recipe from a book they sell and prepare it in the store’s small kitchen. They then serve this recipe at a reasonable cost. Diners come to enjoy a good meal and, if inspired, purchase the related recipe book. It’s a good gimmick and a smart move in terms of longevity. The store uses the money diners bring in every day to make up for a potential lack of book sales.
In the video below, get to know Eric Treuille as he explains the concept of Books for Cooks:
