The Shift Up publishes books for people who open, run, and improve restaurants, bars, hotels, and hospitality venues. Tested guidance from someone who has done the work. No theory. No fluff.
For operators already running venues. The Insider's Guide covers operations, marketing, commercial strategy, team management, and the practical decisions that actually move the numbers in an independent hospitality business. Written for restaurant owners, bar operators, hotel managers, and senior hospitality professionals.
Every Shift Up publication is a field guide, not a textbook. These books are built for operators who need answers they can act on this week, written by someone who has opened venues from scratch, turned struggling operations around, and made the difficult calls that come with running hospitality businesses.
Two guides. Two distinct stages of the journey.
The Insider's Guide is for operators already in the business. Open is for anyone preparing to launch a restaurant, bar, or hospitality venue. The homepage and navigation will take you to whichever one fits where you are right now.
Marcus Treamer has spent over 25 years in international hospitality - not studying it from a distance, but running it from the inside. He has opened venues, closed them, turned struggling operations profitable, and learnt more from the failures than the successes.
His career has taken him through some of the most demanding hospitality markets in the world: Hong Kong, where landlords negotiate with the subtlety of a closing bell; Shanghai, where supply chains can evaporate between breakfast and lunch service; Dubai, where staff turnover is a structural condition rather than a seasonal inconvenience; and Beijing, where regulatory environments shift without the courtesy of advance notice. He is now based in Koh Samui, Thailand, where the collision of pop-culture tourism, seasonal economics, and island infrastructure creates an operating environment that tests every principle in this book on a weekly basis.
Marcus writes and consults on hospitality operations and marketing at marcustreamer.com, where his 56 published insight articles have become required reading for independent operators navigating the realities of the 2026 market. His work focuses on what actually works when you are the one standing at the pass - not on what sounds impressive in a conference presentation.
Whether you are running a venue or building one from nothing, there is a field guide written for exactly where you are.
