1

Hannah Pait

10.11.2020

Biz Café Report

Introduction:

In Our Coffee shop in Biz Café we decided to go with the name Comfee Cups Café,

because it is a play on words that combines the words comfy and coffee. We also decided for our

shop we would use High quality coffee and purchase the larger expresso machine, as we felt

these decisions would be the most beneficial in the long run. Another large decision we made at

the beginning was to purchase thrifted furniture because it would save us money, and we thought

the thrifted furniture would give our café a homey and comfortable environment for the

costumers. In our coffee shop we planned on making it a priority for the costumers to be the

most important asset to our shop. We wanted to make sure the costumers were happy and

enjoying the food and atmosphere. We continually are making adjustments to ensure our

costumer’s happiness, whether it is hiring more employees for faster service, or upgrading our

coffee quality, or changing our prices to a price that the costumer feels comfortable buying their

coffee at. Comfee Cups is our name and it is how we intend to treat our customers and employee

with a cozy, comfortable, and accepting atmosphere.

Major Decisions:

I would say there have been many decisions that have affected our shop in a plethora of

ways, but there are only a few that stand out as the most benefit to Comfee Cups Café. I would

say our decision to purchase insurance was a great asset. We were not sure purchasing the 2,000-

dollar insurance was going to help at all, but we decided to purchase it any way and it came in a

great deal of help. There ended up being a fire in one of the few weeks following our purchase,

which burned down some of our equipment. Luckily, we had insurance, so we did not have to
2
Hannah Pait

10.11.2020

pay any money out of pocket to fixed what the fire had destroyed. The insurance allowed us to

continue our journey in our coffee shops unhinged, without worrying what would happen if

something happened to the shop. Another major decision we made that ended up being very

beneficial was purchasing the large expresso machine in our start up decisions. The large

expresso machine allows for much more coffee to be made and is a lot more durable in the long

run. Although it was a much higher price, it is no surprise that the better expresso machine was a

huge benefit in the functioning of our coffee shop. Even In our first week open, we had much

more business than we thought we would get. We sold over 1,000 cups in our first week, an

amount I believe the small expresso machine would have had a hard time keeping up with. It

became clear after that first week that getting the larger expresso machine was the best choice, as

we expected our sales would hope only to increase in the weeks to come.

Surprises:

There were many aspects in running a coffee shop that surprised me. I was very surprised

that every week that the position in each category can change so much just in a week’s time. In a

position where one week we were in the top four and in the next week we would drop to 11th or

12th place. I would be confused as to why in such a short amount of time such a drastic change

can occur with in just one area of the shop. It was also interesting to see how there was such a

variety in changes throughout each of the areas of the shop. Some areas would drop while other

would rise and the rest would stay the same. It is still difficult to determine what is going to rise

or fall that week, but after the week is over it is nice to see what has change and figure out how

to keep the positive and change what has gone negative. Another surprise I have encountered

with running a coffee shop is the amount of coffee that you go through each week. As simple as
3
Hannah Pait

10.11.2020

it seems for the first few weeks we constantly fell short in determining the right amount of coffee

we would need. We did not want to over purchase coffee and then have to throw it out, but to our

surprise we exceeded our expectations greatly each week. Luckily in the last few weeks we have

been pretty much right now in our coffee orders, at about 72 pounds of coffee a week.

Key Changes:

One key change we made that helped our coffee shop the most was deciding to increase

advertising. Marketing was something we decided in the second week that we should up, as we

thought it would help in increasing sales. We decided to go for internet advertising a boy one-

get-one coupon. The choice to add internet advertising has been very beneficial as we usually

make over 700 dollars in sales including the coupon. These are profits we most likely would not

have made if we did not have the advertisements online. We also chose to go for free advertising

by putting our logo on each of our cups and hanging flyers with our logo around the town to

bring in people off the street. We believe that it is important to pay for marketing to get the

coffee shops name out, but we feel it is also important to spread awareness in any way. People

walking down the street and seeing the posters and logos on others cups we feel is a great way to

obtain costumers right off the street who may not have known about the shop otherwise. This off

the street costumer we also hope will then become regulars after their first visit. These choices I

believe have been the most beneficial over all in our shop as without them I believe we would

have far fewer costumers than we do. We also believe that constant marketing is a great way to

always bring in new costumers which is always great for business.

Changes We Would Make:

4
Hannah Pait

10.11.2020

If we were given a redo there are only a few things I would adjust. The first thing I would

adjust is the furniture decision. In our survey on of the most frequent responses is that the

atmosphere is just “okay.” If we were able to start over, I would definitely decide to invest in one

of the new furniture designs as I believe that would increase our rating in atmosphere. I did not

think in the beginning that using old furniture would have the effect it did. I thought I would give

the shop and more homey and comfortable aspect, but it has seemed as one of the low points in

the café to the costumers. I think the best furniture choice is the green furniture as it new to look

at and it is appealing because it is good for the environment which many of the costumers

appreciate. Another change I would make in a start over is the amount of employee to start with.

In the survey another common response was that the lines were too long and there is a long wait

for coffee. If we have known this before we could have increased our staffing to satisfy the

costumers demands and increase the overall experience of the shop. We started we just about 9

employees in total with two managers and seven servers. I would have just about doubled the

employment with a total of 16 employees, 4 managers and 12 servers.

Our Takeaway from this experience:

Overall, I feel like this has been a great experience. I knew that I would learn a lot from using an

online simulation, but I have learned even more than I imagined. It has been very interesting to

learn how to navigate running a business on an online simulation, while also learning how to do

it in a team, also while being completely online. It can difficult to find the balance of

communication when everything is online. I have found that even though most of the time my

partner and I communicate asynchronously, we still get adequate information across from both

ends. I think it is important that all members of the team are active members and are invested in
5
Hannah Pait

10.11.2020

the task at hand. One thing I will take away most from this experience is understanding how to

work in a team in abnormal circumstances. Another thing I will take away from this experience

is understand how quickly things can change in a business and how much time and attention it

takes to run and operate a business. Just through using this online simulation I have learned that

running a business can be very stressful at times and need a lot of work. But can also being very

fulfilling when you put in the work and see your hard work pay off front in front of you.