As someone who is vaguely involved in the Publishing Industry (I am Commercial Manager at the 10th Largest Cookery Publisher in the UK) and as someone who is massively involved in the 2nd Hand Book game (my Bedroom has more shelves than the Mitchell Library), I come across a lot of Cookery Books. Most of these grace my shelves for only a short time before selling at Amazon or Ebay. I'm not sentimental and would genuinely rather have the £1.50 in my Bank Account than the Book on the shelf. I can honestly say that the only exception to this ever has been "The Takeaway Secret" by Kenny McGovern.
Now my rudimentary knowledge of Recipe Books would lead me to believe there are certain rules that must be obeyed:
1. It must be a hardcover and wipe-clean.
2. There must be a full colour pic
for every recipe.
3. It must be for a certain food niche unless it has a Celeb on the front. For example, Jamie can get away with "30-minute Meals" but generic stuff has to be "Chicken", "Soups", "Slow Cooker".
Kenny McGovern (@takeawaysecret) has disproved these myths and shown that good content is always the most important factor.
Why is the Book so Good?
For me the main reason is that there is no hint of pretentiousness in it. There is no Sophie Dahl talking about how great it was running through a field of Hollyhocks when she was a kid, or Nigel Slater popping down to his local Deli to buy some Kangaroo meat for his next concoction. I get my cold meat from ASDA and I wouldn't know a Hollyhock from a Daffodil.
Instead this book answers questions that I, as Mr. Working Class Joe Public, have always wondered. Why is Rice from the Chinky one million times better than the Rice you make at home? What is that great sauce on a Big Mac? How come my Chips are never as good as those from the Chippy even though we are both doing the same thing? All these answers and more are in this book. Even more importantly they are super easy to follow and very straightforward. The big reward is the taste though. You wont be disappointed. My kids actually think I can cook just because I've used recipes from the book. If you don't believe me then check out the 5-star Product reviews on Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0716022354/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_next_2?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addFiveStar&pageNumber=2&showViewpoints=0). The Takeaway Secret actually has more 5* Reviews than "Celebrate" by Pippa Middleton despite the fact that the Tabloid Press promoted it incessantly and seem to think she is the re-incarnation of Jesus and Gandhi in a set of leggings. The Takeaway Secret is a great book - case closed.
Enough about the book, I also want to give a bit of praise to the author, Kenny McGovern. Having followed Kenny on Twitter via my personal account and saw how he interacts with everyone I can see that he is not in an Ivory Tower. No crusades to back (so-called) Healthy Eating in the Ghettos of Chicago or anything like that. Kenny seems to be more interested in what people have been doing with his recipes. Good stuff. It is refreshing to find an Author's Account which isn't just shameless plugging or self-advertisement (re: Ricky Gervais). From his tweets I gather he is a fan of Celtic Football Club, but nobody is perfect!
You may be wondering why I have typed up such a glowing review of The Takeaway Secret on what is ostensibly a Money Making Blog. Well, having read a lot of books recently regarding starting your own Takeaway service my mind began thinking of the possibilities. What if I could get the equipment necessary and start selling takeaway food from my kitchen? (Following getting a green light from the Council) I could put ads on Gumtree and in the local paper offering the service. I could cook up the gear at home and then get the wife to deliver it within a certain area. If my grub was good enough I'd get return business and things would grow from there. Lovely Biscuits.
Once I calmed down from my Buzz I asked myself - If this is such a great idea then why is Kenny McGovern not doing it himself? I know from listening to Kenny on the Fred McAulay Radio show that Kenny suffers from Agoraphobia. Therefore it could be a logical move for him to bring in some coin with a wee business along these lines.
Therefore the opportunity is for someone with a bit of cash to get in contact with Kenny and (if he is up for it) provide the finance and advice he needs in order to get his home kitted out to Council standards and get the ball rolling with marketing. I assume Kenny lives in Glasgow therefore he has a massive number of chimney pots within his catchment area. With a minimum of 30,000 booksales under his belt and a lot of goodwill out there for him I'm sure an Investor would see a return very quickly.
@DuncanBannatye and other Scottish Business Angels should get in there quick.
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