Image: Barbara Bichler
A café with a bookstore, cozy and small, like an extended living room – a vacation for the head. That’s it,” Katharina Werner came up with the brilliant idea last July in Italy, on a “horror vacation,” she remembers and laughs: “It was all terrible. I asked myself what I had always wanted to do but had put off until later.”
Less than three months later, in October, the mother of an eight-year-old daughter opened her café “Buch & Bohne” at Gleinker Gasse 4 in Steyr, which has since offered space for eight to twelve guests from Friday to Sunday. “In the summer you can also sit outside.”
What is special is not only the story behind their café, but also its sustainable concept: “You can bring books and receive a drink voucher”, one euro per book, which in turn can go into new hands for three euros. “Many people who love books find it difficult to part with them, but this way they know that they are in good hands and will be resold,” says Werner.
Whatever is no longer suitable for sale goes on the “open bookshelf” for free collection. An upcycling project is also being developed “by using the books artistically, for example with one-sentence works of art”.
She owes her love of books to her family: “We always had a family home full of books.”
What is served for your guests is also sustainable: “Everything is plant-based, even if it doesn’t say vegan everywhere.”
Organic food and drinks
The offering ranges from cakes to filled bagels, with 90 percent of the food and drinks being organic and fair trade products and largely purchased regionally. Even the time-honored walls are plastered with natural clay.
“Book & Bean” is accepted well. “I have reached my break-even point and am covering my costs.” Katharina Werner hired her first employee two weeks ago.
info: “Buch & Bohne”, Steyr, Gleinker Gasse 4, open
Fri., Sat., Sun. from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., www.buch-bohne.at
Apply now!
Submissions for the Upper Austrian competition are open until February 3rd. Feronia sustainability award possible, which OÖNachrichten initiated with the state of Upper Austria and Oberbank. There are four categories. The winners will be honored at a big gala on March 14th in Linz. All information: www.nachrichten.at/feronia
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I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
