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The Barstool MBA - Why Running a Bar Beats Running to Business School
What can working in a bar teach you about launching a successful startup? The answer - as bar owner Dan Maccarone and best-selling author Bob Sullivan reveal in The Barstool MBA - is just about everything.
In February 2009, Dan Maccarone, a digital product design executive who works with some of the world’s top brands, walked through the doors of what would be his new bar, Destination, in Manhattan’s East Village. The overwhelming stale-beer smell, ruined floor, and “Happy New Year 2008” banners that hung from the walls were the least of his worries. He had just six weeks and a budget of $150,000 to turn the place into the neighborhood’s new favorite hang-out - and start turning a profit.
For Maccarone, the experience of building out Destination was an unlikely crash course in conceiving, launching, and running a startup. From hiring the right staff to keeping the lights on, from getting patrons through the door to keeping them on their stools, Maccarone saw that the lessons he was learning day in and day out in the bar could be applied broadly to the challenges many of his clients on the digital product side faced when trying to get their businesses off the ground and keep them alive.
To tell this story, Maccarone teamed up with best-selling author Bob Sullivan, whose side-gig as a musician sends him to bars around the country. They spent two years interviewing dozens of bar owners, managers, bartenders, and industry insiders to uncover the secret wisdom behind running a successful bar and what it can teach us about business. With strategies and a-ha insights that can be applied to any new venture, The Barstool MBA is a delightfully unconventional and surprisingly practical resource for anyone weighing the cost of business school versus jumping right in.
In February 2009, Dan Maccarone, a digital product design executive who works with some of the world’s top brands, walked through the doors of what would be his new bar, Destination, in Manhattan’s East Village. The overwhelming stale-beer smell, ruined floor, and “Happy New Year 2008” banners that hung from the walls were the least of his worries. He had just six weeks and a budget of $150,000 to turn the place into the neighborhood’s new favorite hang-out - and start turning a profit.
For Maccarone, the experience of building out Destination was an unlikely crash course in conceiving, launching, and running a startup. From hiring the right staff to keeping the lights on, from getting patrons through the door to keeping them on their stools, Maccarone saw that the lessons he was learning day in and day out in the bar could be applied broadly to the challenges many of his clients on the digital product side faced when trying to get their businesses off the ground and keep them alive.
To tell this story, Maccarone teamed up with best-selling author Bob Sullivan, whose side-gig as a musician sends him to bars around the country. They spent two years interviewing dozens of bar owners, managers, bartenders, and industry insiders to uncover the secret wisdom behind running a successful bar and what it can teach us about business. With strategies and a-ha insights that can be applied to any new venture, The Barstool MBA is a delightfully unconventional and surprisingly practical resource for anyone weighing the cost of business school versus jumping right in.
Audible Audio
Published July 18, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 15, 2021
While I am clearly a fan of higher education, it's not for everyone nor is it needed to run a successful business. One can learn great concepts in a classroom that don't necessarily translate to "the real world." The rubber meets the road in the doing of things. I really enjoyed this book which discusses all stages of running any business - from start up to exit - from the perspective of the authors who have experience as bar owners, marketing consultants and writers. It was a fun read!
March 25, 2022
An interesting take on a business book: blending stories from building a successful bar with case studies from non-service businesses that correlate to each idea like "when to 86 a customer" or "there are no strangers here."
This audio edition features commentary from the authors at the end of each chapter which offer great summaries.
This audio edition features commentary from the authors at the end of each chapter which offer great summaries.
November 6, 2025
Memory-Jogger Review: The Barstool MBA, by Dan Maccarone & Bob Sullivan
Core Concepts
Bars serve as compact laboratories for business fundamentals: staffing, shrink, cash-flow control, and brand experience. Operational volatility—empty nights, supply breaks, staff turnover—forces fast feedback loops that most MBA cases only simulate. Maccarone and Sullivan argue that this crucible teaches decision-making and customer empathy more efficiently than classroom models. Their central thesis: an entrepreneur who can run a successful bar can run almost anything.
Quick Reference Takeaways
Success hinges less on spreadsheets than on experience design. Every guest interaction—lighting, layout, tone, pacing—shapes the brand. Problems aren’t anomalies but data points: theft, angry customers, and one-star reviews reveal system weaknesses. Unlike MBA abstractions, bar realities show how culture, process, and cash intersect minute-to-minute.
Key Quotes
“Everyone will steal from you.” (Author blog)
“Whether or not you know what you want to drink or eat when you stroll into a bar, the bartender should quickly assess how to help you … That’s the same in any business.” (Author blog)
“The experience is your brand.” (Book excerpt)
“Bars are like startups on steroids.” (Book excerpt)
“Getting one-star reviews … how you respond is almost as important as what the original reviewer said.” (Book summary)
“People who work in bars … know about teamwork, hard work, dealing with difficult people, making decisions every day that make or lose money.” (Book excerpt)
Key Figures / Case Studies
Maccarone, both bar-owner and UX designer, connects hospitality choreography with product thinking. Sullivan, a veteran consumer journalist, grounds stories in behavioral insight. Their recurring case—Maccarone’s own bar Destination in New York—illustrates cash discipline, culture management, and reputation recovery.
Central Metaphors & Symbols
The bar is the prototype startup: capital-intensive, feedback-rich, and brutally transparent. Each night is an A/B test of pricing, atmosphere, and tone. The bartender’s counter becomes a real-time dashboard where service flow mirrors an operations funnel. Negative signals—like bad reviews—act as diagnostic sensors rather than threats.
Author’s Purpose / Intellectual Context
Maccarone and Sullivan use the hospitality world to demystify business schooling. They contrast MBA theory’s reliance on models and frameworks with the intuition, improvisation, and risk calibration demanded by a bar. Their message: genuine entrepreneurship is an embodied craft, not an accreditation exercise.
Challenges / Gaps / Counterarguments
Not every lesson scales beyond hospitality; few tech founders face nightly inventory risk or tip dynamics. The book’s anecdotal format lacks the structured synthesis an MBA text provides. Still, its pragmatic worldview—fail fast, learn nightly—offers a counterweight to sterile strategy talk.
Vignette – The 1-Star Review Recovery
A customer posts a scathing review after a crowded Friday shift. Rather than defensiveness, Maccarone’s team replies publicly within hours, apologizing, clarifying, and inviting the reviewer back. The customer returns, later amends the review, and the exchange itself draws new patrons impressed by the transparency. The lesson: responsiveness is part of the brand experience, and humility can outperform perfection in loyalty economics.
(Written with input from ChatGPT)
Core Concepts
Bars serve as compact laboratories for business fundamentals: staffing, shrink, cash-flow control, and brand experience. Operational volatility—empty nights, supply breaks, staff turnover—forces fast feedback loops that most MBA cases only simulate. Maccarone and Sullivan argue that this crucible teaches decision-making and customer empathy more efficiently than classroom models. Their central thesis: an entrepreneur who can run a successful bar can run almost anything.
Quick Reference Takeaways
Success hinges less on spreadsheets than on experience design. Every guest interaction—lighting, layout, tone, pacing—shapes the brand. Problems aren’t anomalies but data points: theft, angry customers, and one-star reviews reveal system weaknesses. Unlike MBA abstractions, bar realities show how culture, process, and cash intersect minute-to-minute.
Key Quotes
“Everyone will steal from you.” (Author blog)
“Whether or not you know what you want to drink or eat when you stroll into a bar, the bartender should quickly assess how to help you … That’s the same in any business.” (Author blog)
“The experience is your brand.” (Book excerpt)
“Bars are like startups on steroids.” (Book excerpt)
“Getting one-star reviews … how you respond is almost as important as what the original reviewer said.” (Book summary)
“People who work in bars … know about teamwork, hard work, dealing with difficult people, making decisions every day that make or lose money.” (Book excerpt)
Key Figures / Case Studies
Maccarone, both bar-owner and UX designer, connects hospitality choreography with product thinking. Sullivan, a veteran consumer journalist, grounds stories in behavioral insight. Their recurring case—Maccarone’s own bar Destination in New York—illustrates cash discipline, culture management, and reputation recovery.
Central Metaphors & Symbols
The bar is the prototype startup: capital-intensive, feedback-rich, and brutally transparent. Each night is an A/B test of pricing, atmosphere, and tone. The bartender’s counter becomes a real-time dashboard where service flow mirrors an operations funnel. Negative signals—like bad reviews—act as diagnostic sensors rather than threats.
Author’s Purpose / Intellectual Context
Maccarone and Sullivan use the hospitality world to demystify business schooling. They contrast MBA theory’s reliance on models and frameworks with the intuition, improvisation, and risk calibration demanded by a bar. Their message: genuine entrepreneurship is an embodied craft, not an accreditation exercise.
Challenges / Gaps / Counterarguments
Not every lesson scales beyond hospitality; few tech founders face nightly inventory risk or tip dynamics. The book’s anecdotal format lacks the structured synthesis an MBA text provides. Still, its pragmatic worldview—fail fast, learn nightly—offers a counterweight to sterile strategy talk.
Vignette – The 1-Star Review Recovery
A customer posts a scathing review after a crowded Friday shift. Rather than defensiveness, Maccarone’s team replies publicly within hours, apologizing, clarifying, and inviting the reviewer back. The customer returns, later amends the review, and the exchange itself draws new patrons impressed by the transparency. The lesson: responsiveness is part of the brand experience, and humility can outperform perfection in loyalty economics.
(Written with input from ChatGPT)
February 9, 2020
I nearly stopped listening to this after the first few minutes as for some reason I did not like what I was hearing in that I was unsure whether it was worth continuing.
However, since I was running it was easier to just continue listening and I'm pretty happy with that decision.
I guess its a new approach to the MBA genre and its really about how some experiences are as good as an MBA, in the authors view.
I have to admit there were a few topics in the book that are really worth listening to and overall it does give a different perspective to things given I've no experience from the bar business and considering that perspective and likening it to an MBA and to other businesses was useful.
However, since I was running it was easier to just continue listening and I'm pretty happy with that decision.
I guess its a new approach to the MBA genre and its really about how some experiences are as good as an MBA, in the authors view.
I have to admit there were a few topics in the book that are really worth listening to and overall it does give a different perspective to things given I've no experience from the bar business and considering that perspective and likening it to an MBA and to other businesses was useful.
June 24, 2022
The premise here is that the lessons learned from owning and operating a successful bar can be extrapolated to other business endeavors. It’s probably somewhat true, but the examples and explanations came off as bumper sticker slogans (e.g., you are selling an experience, have an identity, provide a product that the market wants). Generic advices abound. For those wanting a look at what it’s like to run a bar, this was ok but I think there might be better stuff out there (e.g., Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running).
March 16, 2022
The audiobook version is a really great listen. It's conversational between the two authors, and hilarious. Interesting look into the life-cycle of starting a business, mostly in the context of bars and tech startups.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews