Rating: 
Summary: Work as Progress Towards Your Ideal Life
Review: Bread and Butter combines five perspectives, and you will get more from the book is you can keep them separate in your mind:(1) An American business success story built around superb bakeries; (2) How entrepreneurs can choose stability and steady progress instead of overwork and riding a high risk roller coaster; (3) A new business model for franchising fairly simple operations; (4) How the right work can center your life around your authentic self; and (5) The author's search for his purpose in life. The book has a twin tale to tell, the history of Great Harvest Bread Company and how Tom McMakin found himself through his connection to the company. Arriving at the company in 1993 on a fluke, Mr. McMakin and his wife began working on a variety of jobs. Rapidly being promoted, Mr. McMakin was soon the chief operating officer of the company. But he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. Faced with that crossroads in 1999 by the founders, he chose to write this book. Great Harvest is a somewhat loosely aligned network of over 140 independently owned and operated bakeries located in 34 states. The company's headquarters is based in the small town of Dillon, Montana near lots of good outdoor recreational sites. The business succeeds because of a unique approach to providing fresh bread (selecting the farms where the wheat is grown one-by-one and testing the wheat by baking bread with it, freshly stone grinding the wheat every morning in the bakery, using high quality ingredients, offering samples to all who enter, being friendly, and expressing the unique personality of each bakery's owners and the employees), the interchange of good ideas among those who operate and own the bakeries, and the quality of the people selected to be franchisees. It's a sort of small town, homey version of an Internet study group dedicated to advancing the art of creating and serving terrific, healthy baked goods in a friendly way. The founders and the franchisees are just as likely to share ideas about meditation, exercise, and spirituality as they are about the latest bread recipe. "How do we create health and strength in our personal lives and in the communities in which we work?" The answer they have found is to "work first on yourself." A key element is to "create business or work that is truly in service of your life." As an example of this philosophy, those who work in the company punch a time clock . . . to help ensure that no one works more than forty hours a week. Extra work would just drain the joy from the work and the giving to customers and employees. Many new franchisees have been top employees in franchised stores. Chances are you have never worked for or even heard about a business like this one. I think you will find it interesting. At times, it does come across a little like an infomercial for the chain or its franchising, but take that with just a little butter and honey on your hot slice of bread and you will be able to swallow it all right. This book is very hard to grade. I think the company's franchising model is probably a step forward for those with reasonably simple businesses to operate. So that aspect is definitely a five-star effort. The description of the company's history is not well hung together, so although it is fascinating, the writing is about a three-star quality. The work on how to avoid excess risk in start-ups and unbalanced lives is outstanding, and is worth five-stars. The descriptions of how the right work can improve all of your life is told at about a three-star level. The author's personal history is very jumbled and disjointed, and comes across as a two-star exposition. The book's structure is certainly awkward, and the style is more than a little preachy. So Bread and Butter is somewhere between a three and a four star book as a work of business thinking, management practices, or spiritual living. The author and the people described have a lot of heart though, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and rounded up to four stars. If you like your business books cut and dried like a professor would do them, you will not like this book. Go visit a Great Harvest store instead,and talk to the people you meet there. After you finish this very interesting and unusual book, I suggest that you think about where your work is at odds with your values and natural preferences. Where is your work drawing you towards doing better than you would do otherwise? Where is the opposite taking place? How can you change how you do your work to make it integrate into your life better? Open up to the potential of building on your uniqueness!
Rating:
Summary: Goodbye Atkins
Review: Bread and Butter is a well-written book that is very inspirational. It leaves the reader hungry, and with the desire to start their own business, possibly a Great Harvest franchise. This book does get very repetitive and it is not exactly an edge of your seat type of experience. I liked how McMakin emphasized the importance of the quality of life, not just the quantity of money one obtains. Anyone who is struggling to balance their work and free time should read this book. I also recommend this book to anyone having trouble falling asleep at night, because this book may at times put you to sleep. I enjoyed learning about the Great Harvest Bread Company, and I am eager to go try some of this bread. I also enjoyed reading about people who have made a great life for themselves by working for this company. Overall I liked this book and I am craving bread.
Rating:
Summary: Bread and Butter
Review: I enjoyed this book. Although McMakin could have been a bit more concise, his excitement and passion for the Great Harvest Bread Co. kept me reading. The values he preaches are refreshing, and I would recommend it to anyone going into business for themselves.
Rating: 
Summary: A must read for fried high tech'ers!
Review: I say this is a must read not because we should all change careers and become bread bakers, but because Tom McMakin describes in detail a different way of looking at our work. The rediscovery of life with work in balance is much needed in this world. Too many years spent thrashing to ship the next great thing for the big boss makes a boy or girl worse than dull. Great Harvest strives to never leave the family behind. 40 hours of work each week are plenty for any of us. Tom describes a company and individuals that value the quality of their product and the interaction with employees, employers, and customers. We do not get further in life by ignoring any of those. We may develop a bigger bank account and more toys but definitely not any happier. Freedom franchising is carefully described. He talks about how to consider the worst day imaginable. How do you handle it when work does not go according to plan? The book is an easy read that will leave you with much to think about. If you are looking to gain balance in life and work this book will not completely answer your questions but it will definitely help you on that journey.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: The way that Tom McMakin portrays, his views of life, and the world he works in, really made me think about the business life, and how much friends and family can be there for you. i suggest this book for anybody wishing to go into any kind of business, and or starting their own.
Rating:
Summary: McMakin tells a great story
Review: This author tells us the story of his journey through the franchising/business of bread making world. Through his journey at the Great Harvest business, what Tom has learned, I have learned as well. Freedom Franchising can be one of the most successful entreprenuerial career options ever; offering financial success and personal happiness in one. I definitely recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Could've Been Butter
Review: This book was well written, and inspiring. However, after awhile it felt like I kept reading the same thing over and over again. The book could've been 100 pages shorter and i would've gotten the same thing out of it. Even though it was redundant, parts of it were fun to read and overall it was well written. I could see why it would want to make people start their own business. The main thing I got from this book was a craving for bread and butter.
Rating:
Summary: The Key to Happiness in your Business
Review: This book, Bread and Butter, was a very uplifting story of how to gain happiness in your life while working. It shows you that you don't have to work at a business and be unhappy. It lets you know that you can be happy and enjoy what you are doing for your job. However, the book seems redundant, and seems repetitive with all of the information. Even with this quality of the book, it was still an unlifting story. Yummy... Bread and Butter!!!
Rating:
Summary: A power packed story from a great storyteller
Review: This is not your typical business book. Most business books are written so you can scan them and get the ten points or the list of How To's. When you sit down with Bread and Butter it is like sitting down with a fresh loaf of bread and a tub of butter. You are going to be there for a while and you are going to enjoy yourself. Plan to be engaged by a storyteller with an intriguing story. Some of it is about a company, a very special company, and some of it is about life. Tom McMakin has woven his experience at Great Harvest, where he started as newletter editor and has moved to COO, into an engaging read. He lets the people he has met on this journey do most of the telling. It is through their experience and their learning that you come to understand why Great Harvest bread is so good. You also come to understand that the things that make Great Harvest bread so good are the same things that makes Great Harvest the company that it is. The people of Great Harvest make great bread but they also live great lives. The two go together like Bread and Butter. You can make good bread and you can enjoy eating it too. Woven into this story is the recipe for both.
Rating:
Summary: Christmas Shopping Completed in June!
Review: This is one of those books you can't put down. I raced through it eager to soak up every word, and then returned to underline salient points. It inspired me to make changes in my life. The most radical is - when confronted with work problems, stop! look within! get centered! do something nourishing for myself. Then return to the problem. It's amazing how many solutions pop into your head. Great Harvest Bread Company, the nifty small business described in this book, started by a couple from a road side stand, operates with principles that inspire me to examine the way I work: operate at no debt, work less hours but put in quality time, and best of all, "be loose and have fun", the first line of the company's mission statement. I'm glad to sit at the feet of author Tom McMakin who loads his book with great stories and tips for living a sane and productive life. I'll be buying a bunch of copies of Bread and Butter to give to friends and family. My Christmas shopping is done!
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