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BizCafe Student Manual
© 2007-2008 Interpretive Software, Inc.
Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 1
Running BizCafe Each Period .................................................................................................. 2
The BizCafe Manual ................................................................................................................. 3
Section 1: Business Essentials ........................................................................................................ 5
Management.............................................................................................................................. 6
Marketing.................................................................................................................................. 7
Operations ................................................................................................................................. 8
Accounting................................................................................................................................ 9
Planning and Integration......................................................................................................... 10
Section 2: The BizCafe Case ....................................................................................................... 11
Location and Retail Space Layout .......................................................................................... 11
Market Potential...................................................................................................................... 12
Documentation........................................................................................................................ 13
Accounting and Your Electronic Checkbook ......................................................................... 13
Starting Situation and Start-up Decisions............................................................................... 14
Weekly Decisions ................................................................................................................... 14
Section 3: BizCafe Operations Guide .......................................................................................... 17
Getting Started and Login....................................................................................................... 17
Navigation............................................................................................................................... 18
Detail of Menu Choices .......................................................................................................... 19
Start-up.............................................................................................................................. 19
Decisions........................................................................................................................... 21
Accounting........................................................................................................................ 29
Accounting-Income Statement.......................................................................................... 30
Operations ......................................................................................................................... 32
Environment...................................................................................................................... 34
Simulation ......................................................................................................................... 36
Appendix A: Using BizCafe in a Group ...................................................................................... 37
Appendix B: BizCafe Glossary.................................................................................................... 39
Index ............................................................................................................................................. 43
Print Revision 4/14/2008
May – August 2008 ONLY
About the Author
Stu James is President and founder of Interpretive Simulations, one of the leading publishers
and developers of business simulations worldwide, and co-author of numerous widely-used
simulation products, including PharmaSim, AutoSim, StratSimMarketing, StratSimManagement,
ServiceSim, CountryManager, and MarketShare. These and other Interpretive simulations are an
integral part of the curriculum at many of the world’s top business schools in the areas of
marketing, strategy, and international business. On the academic front, Stu is currently Visiting
Lecturer at the University of Michigan (EMBA and EP programs), the Colgate-Darden Graduate
School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA Core Marketing), and the Cheung Kong
Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Stu has also served at the Allen Center for Executive
Education at the Kellogg School of Business, and the China Europe International Business
School (CEIBS). In addition, he has worked with American Honda, CIGNA, The Davidson
Institute, General Electric, Harvard Business School, McKinsey & Company, Volkswagen, and
several major college textbook publishers. Stu has extensive experience in facilitating
simulation events, having directly worked with thousands of executive and MBA participants
over the past 20 years.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank many people for their support in the development of this
simulation. Mike Deighan, Payton James-Amberg, Karen Kelly, Kristen Knecht, Tony Naidu,
Anne Louque, Michael Mische, and Clayton Shumate were all part of the development and
testing team and the simulation is significantly better due to their efforts and suggestions.
Interpretive especially appreciates the early users of the simulation who provided invaluable
feedback. In particular, Jackie Shemko and her classes at Durham College provided a number of
helpful suggestions.
Thanks also to Tony Naidu and Sue Overton for the design and content of the cover.
Stuart W. James
July 2007
May – August 2008 ONLY
Introduction
Computer-based simulations are a popular and useful tool for learning and applying business
concepts. Simulations offer students the opportunity to experience much of the realism of
making business decisions in a low-risk, experiential learning environment.
BizCafe is a great way to learn about running a business. It is designed to help you learn about
the challenges and rewards of making good decisions in a small, service-based business. You
will learn about management, operations, marketing, and accounting by running your own coffee
shop for up to 16 simulated weeks.
In BizCafe, you will typically be making decisions as part of a student management team.
Teamwork is increasingly important in business today, and a valuable part of the BizCafe
experience is learning how to make the best decisions when confronted with several different
opinions. Your group will have to decide how to sort out your priorities and objectives in the
context of a limited checkbook and a changing environment.
Competing in the BizCafe environment will be a new experience for most of you, and this may
well be the first time you use a simulation in the context of education. Therefore, take some time
to familiarize yourself with the program and manual before beginning the exercise. While
working through the simulation, you will find it helpful to refer to the manual for information
and tips. To get the most out of the BizCafe experience, we recommend the following approach:
Read Section 1:
Business Essentials
Read Section 2:
The BizCafe Case
Learn How to Operate
the Program
Section 1 of the BizCafe manual provides a brief
overview of the basic parts to running a business. You
may have already covered some of this material in
your textbook, but this section will provide a simple
review and a good context for the simulation.
Section 2 of this manual presents a description of the
coffee shop business and the decisions you will be
making as a manager of this business. A thorough
understanding of your cafe's situation will help you
make better decisions.
Section 3 provides information on how to use the
simulation software, as well as a detailed description
of each menu option. While reading this section, it is
best to login to the simulation to become familiar with
the menu structure and options, and to learn how to
operate the program.
Important: There are two versions of BizCafe, a benchmark competition version and a direct
competition version. In the benchmark competition version, you operate in your own
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environment and set your own pace whereas in the direct competition version, your decisions
will interact with other student decisions in the class, however, everyone must be on the same
schedule during the simulation.
Running BizCafe Each Period
Here is the general process to follow each period in BizCafe:
Enter Decisions
Advance the Simulation
After reviewing information about your business (case
in the first period, reports after that), decide on
management, marketing, and operations decisions.
Remember to check special decisions and watch for
changes in the complexity of decisions (such as
multiple beverage sizes or weekend hours). This
should be a team process!
Once you are satisfied with your decisions, use the
advance option under the simulation menu to move to
the next week.
If you are using the directly
competitive version rather than the benchmark
competitive version, the simulation will be advanced
at a specified time according to your course schedule
so that everyone competing in the industry will have a
chance to enter their decisions.
Review Results
Review the results by using the various reports
available in BizCafe. The simulation does not
specifically tell which decisions worked and which did
not. Instead, you must analyze current results in order
to evaluate your success.
Repeat
Repeat the decision-making process for each
simulated week until you have completed the assigned
number of periods. At the end of the simulation, you
will be able to see how your cafe performed for up to
16 weeks of operations.
Competing firms will be following their own strategies and reacting to your decisions. The
simulation always starts from the same position, but each game will proceed on a unique course
depending on the strategy that each team chooses. This will allow competitive comparisons and
illustrate how businesses can evolve differently.
Using BizCafe should be a fun and rewarding experience. You will gain a practical
understanding of how various factors interact and affect one another. By analyzing information,
making decisions, and observing the results, you will experience first hand the challenges and
rewards of running a business.
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The BizCafe Manual
The remainder of this manual is divided into three sections:
1.
Business Essentials
Section 1 provides a brief introduction to business: what it is, why it is important and what
concepts will be used in the simulation. In addition, each of the basic functional areas
covered in BizCafe will be discussed.
2.
The BizCafe Case
Section 2 presents the information on your coffee shop in a form similar to a business
school case. This will also serve as an introduction to the situation at the start of the
simulation.
3.
BizCafe Operations Guide
Section 3 outlines the operational aspects of using BizCafe, including how to get started,
the menu and help systems, and a detailed description of each report and decision screen.
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Section 1: Business Essentials
Why study business? To start with, all of us interact with businesses every day. Many of us will
spend much of our lives working at a business. As consumers of products and services, we
decide on a daily basis whether to purchase a product or service and which particular one to
choose. Some of us may decide to study business because it is a fascinating and dynamic
activity that offers us good career opportunities. Others may study business because it helps us
better understand how the economy operates and how our actions and decisions may affect those
around us.
No matter what your particular reason for choosing to study business, you will find that
businesses share many common traits. These issues are common whether the business is small
or large, for profit or non-profit, or provides a product or service. Businesses need to consider
what they want to accomplish (objectives), whom they serve (markets and other stakeholders),
and how to create and deliver value for these markets and stakeholders. Within this general
framework there are many variations, but keep these simple ideas in mind as you further explore
topics in business.
BizCafe is an opportunity to explore business through the use of a dynamic computer
simulation. In the simulation you will open and manage a coffee shop in a university town for
up to 16 weeks. During this exploration you will learn about different aspects of running a
business at a fundamental level and gain insights into questions such as:
• Who should I hire? What should I pay them?
• What price should I charge? How do people find out about me?
• What should I purchase? What equipment do I need?
• How do I keep track of money – my revenues and expenses?
Using business terminology, we might translate these questions into the different functional
areas of a business at a fundamental level as follows:
•
•
•
•
Management
Marketing
Operations
Accounting
= Who should I hire? What should I pay them?
= What price should I charge? How do people learn about my business?
= What should I purchase? What equipment do I need?
= How do I keep track of money?
In no way do the questions reflect the full range of issues in each of these functional areas, but
they do represent a good place to start and that is the purpose of BizCafe – to allow you to
experience some of the issues in running a business before your paycheck depends on it!
Before we go into more detail on these functional areas, we should talk about general
organizational approaches used in companies. For instance, in a traditional functional
organization, all of these functional managers would typically report to a President or CEO of
the company. Thus, there would be a human resource manager (or Vice President), a marketing
manager, an operations manager, etc. all of whom would report to the President of the company.
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However, there are alternatives to this approach such as organizing by product or service, or by
geographic area, for example. With BizCafe, we will focus on the more traditional functional
approach, but realize that one of the most important decisions for a company is deciding how
best to be organized.
The remainder of this section provides a brief description of each of these different functional
areas of running a business. Your textbook and instructor will likely provide much more detail
and examples, but for purposes of BizCafe, this general introduction to each of these basic
functional areas will provide a helpful framework.
Management
Though management could encompass running the entire business (e.g. managing the business),
in the context of BizCafe, as well as many business courses, management often refers to the
more narrow definition of human resource management, or managing people. However, even
with this more narrow definition, management is one of the most challenging, complex and
important areas of running a business.
Let’s consider some of the key areas that (human resource) management encompasses. These
include, but are not limited to, job analysis, recruitment and selection, compensation and
benefits, training, and employee motivation and morale. There are many other important aspects
to management, but these are common to almost all organizations, large or small. Let’s take a
few moments to better define each of these in a broad sense.
First, within the organizational structure, what jobs need to be done? Someone must define both
what general roles are necessary within the company as well as the specific tasks to be done by
the employee in that role. Generally, this would be considered job analysis and would result in a
series of job descriptions and job specifications. Once these are determined, the company will
also need to understand how many employees will need to be provided in order to perform these
functions. The expected level of work that needs to be done should drive the overall staffing
level. However, determining that expected level of work is not a simple matter. Typically, a
manager would look at expected sales and estimate the support necessary for that level of sales
based on historical data or industry norms. It is important to remember that service quality and
profitability objectives should also play a role in determining appropriate staffing levels.
Once the jobs and staffing levels have been decided, the next issue for management is how to
recruit and select the best employees for the jobs. Recruiting would include on-campus
recruiting, internet sites, newspaper ads, job fairs, television advertising, as well as developing
supporting materials such as brochures and other materials and scheduling on-site visits.
Selection would encompass all the different ways of matching the best candidates for the jobs.
This would include, for example candidate testing and interviewing procedures to sift out which
candidates are best qualified for the job (and who are likely to accept and be retained).
This brings us to the next aspect of management, which relates to compensation and benefits.
This would include deciding on appropriate salaries for different positions and candidates as well
as choosing different benefit options for your employees. Compensation would also include
incentive compensation and bonuses. All of these decisions will impact your ability to recruit,
motivate, and retain employees.
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Employees also need to be trained. This is especially important when they start, but training and
education should be part of an on-going process of developing employees to maximize their
potential. Employees are one of a corporation’s most important assets. To not develop their
skills is not only poor motivation for the employee but also often a poor investment decision.
Finally, related to training and compensation is motivation and company morale. Training and
compensation are two ways to provide motivation, but obviously there are many other
considerations for how to improve employee job satisfaction and morale. This topic begins to
bring in behavior theory, company culture, managerial styles and leadership, all of which are
topics in their own right. The bottom line is that there are many factors that will impact an
employee’s performance. As a manager, one must take all of these into account to the best of
one’s abilities to bring out the best in an employee as well as meet company objectives. As you
may imagine, it is a daunting task to do well.
In BizCafe, management is simplified to two decisions that represent all of the above issues at a
very basic level. The first decision is hiring the right amount of servers to keep your café
running smoothly and keeping customers and staff satisfied. Second is determining the right
amount to pay your staff (servers and managers) to motivate them and meet your financial
objectives. Though simple, these two decisions will impact the performance of your business.
Marketing
Marketing also encompasses a wide range of activities within an organization. At its most
fundamental level, marketing is the process by which a company creates and distributes
something of value to its customers. Let’s break this down into more manageable chunks.
Create – the creative aspect of marketing is what turns ideas into products and services that
customers want. This would basically be the product (or service) development process. It could
be something as simple as creating a new flavor of ice cream, or as complex as managing the
release of a new car model. How this process occurs varies considerably. Some companies just
come up with ideas and market them; others follow a very deliberate product development
process. A company must balance financial risks and rewards when deciding on appropriate
product development processes. However, in addition to financial trade-offs, one must also
consider the company culture and management style.
Distribute – Another aspect of marketing focuses on how to best deliver a product or service to a
customer. For instance, could the item be purchased electronically, say on a website? Or does
the product need to be consumed in person (such as an ice cream cone)? Distribution covers all
the issues around where a product or service is purchased and potentially consumed.
Value – Value refers to the relationship between the benefits of a product or service and the cost
of that product or service. The benefits include not only the functionality of the product/service,
but also the emotional benefits. For instance, does someone derive more emotional benefit from
wearing a certain brand of clothing vs. another even if they both have the same functionality?
The cost of the product or service is most often associated with the price of it, but there are other
costs to consider as well such as the time it might take to consumer or shop for the product.
Pricing is a complex issue as well. For instance, a company might only be able to set the price to
a distributor and not the ultimate price a customer pays for a product (indirect vs. direct
marketing). Consider what influence the company has over the ultimate price in this situation
and how the company can adjust its policies to achieve its goals.
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Customers – By definition, a customer is someone who purchases a company’s product or
service. But a company must think about which potential, or target, customers to seek. Who
should they target in their advertising? What would be appealing to this potential customer?
Customers are different and a company must take into consideration a potential customer’s needs
during the product development process, their behaviors and preferences when designing
promotion and distribution options, and their likelihood to pay a particular price when deciding
on how much to charge for a product or service. For example, a company that produces
women’s running shoes wouldn’t target high school football players in their advertisements and
ask those football players about possible product improvements!
Often people in marketing refer to the 4Ps of marketing – Product, Price, Promotion, and Place
(distribution). You will find these concepts sprinkled about in the above paragraphs. These tend
to be the focus of decisions in the marketing area, but remember that marketing is ultimately
about creating something of value for a target customer. Whoever does this best is likely to have
a successful business. Those who don’t provide this value often fail.
In BizCafe, marketing is simplified to two decisions that represent all of the above issues at a
very basic level. The first decision is the price to charge for your beverage. How much are your
potential customers willing to spend to experience a cup of your coffee? How will the price
impact demand for your product? How do difference price points impact the profitability of your
business? The second decision is how much to spend on advertising and promotion. How will
people learn about your café? How can you entice them to buy from your café instead of the one
down the street? These choices will also have a great impact on the success of your business.
Operations
In a more traditional product-based business, operations would typically encompass the areas of
manufacturing (capacity and production), quality control, purchasing and materials management,
and storage and distribution of the product to the channel or customer in a timely manner. This
process is often referred to as “supply chain management” – the overall process beginning with
demand forecasting and ending with delivery of product to the customer. As more of the
economy moves toward service-based businesses, we have to expand our view of what
operations means. For instance, what would be considered operations in an organization such as
a university or a hospital? When we think of service operations, the line between management
and operations becomes all the more fuzzy. At this introductory level, we’ll focus more on the
physical plant (the café itself) and purchasing, but realize that operations management is a vast
and increasingly important area of business.
In order to have an effective operation or business, a business must be designed to meet a certain
level of demand. This would include answering the fundamental operations question, “if our
organization expects some level of sales, how will we be able to fulfill it with the quality and
timeliness our customers expect?” Thus, operations management begins with having a good
understanding of expected demand. This is not a simple question. For instance, marketing may
provide a sales forecast for the next year. That is a good starting point, but how accurate are
those sales forecasts? More importantly, for operations, it may not be the annual demand that is
the issue, but instead, other time segments such as months, days, or even hours. Perhaps the
issue is more peak demand (capacity) such as is the case for a utility company. These are the
types of issues that keep operations managers up at night.
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Once demand has been considered, this must be translated into the different operational aspects
necessary to meet demand such as the physical plant and equipment, amounts and timing of
purchases, systems, quality considerations, employees, training, etc. Often, very complex
information systems and statistical processes go into both the planning process and the day-today operations.
In BizCafe, operational decisions are simplified to a few basic issues that will give you a glimpse
into the challenges of operations. One set of issues centers on the café and equipment. For
instance, what hours will you open? What furniture will you purchase? Which espresso
machine is the appropriate choice? The second set of issues is around demand forecasting,
purchasing, and inventory. Here you will make decisions about how much coffee to purchase as
well as the quality of the coffee. Since coffee is perishable, forecasting demand as accurately as
possible is important, as any unused coffee must be discarded at the end of the week. In
addition, you will decide the appropriate approach for purchasing cups. Do you order in bulk at
a lower price (with the added benefit of a logo printed on the cup) or purchase them as necessary
locally at a slightly higher cost.
Accounting
Accounting serves two primary purposes. First, all businesses have certain state, local, and
national reporting obligations. Examples of these would be yearly corporate income tax returns,
as well as state unemployment, Social Security, and Medicare reporting requirements. Without
accounting systems, a business could not accurately fulfill these filing requirements. Second, a
well-designed accounting system also provides a manager with important information about the
state of the business. This information may be in the form of basic financial statements such as
an income statement or balance sheet, or they may be more specific in nature such as costing,
vendor, or customer analysis reports.
Another issue to consider with regard to accounting is whether a system is cash-based or
accrual. Cash-based is probably the easier of the two to understand. Money that is received is
counted or recognized as income or revenue at the time it is deposited. Money that is spent is
counted as an expense when it is spent. An accrual accounting system is somewhat subtler in
nature. In an accrual system, the idea is to recognize revenues and expenses when they are used.
For instance, if a sale is made, but payment is delayed by 90 days, the sale is still recognized at
the time of the sale rather than when payment is received. On the expense side, issues such as
depreciation come into play. Depreciation, or expensing a purchase over time, is used for assets
(items) such as computers or equipment that have a useful life of more than one year. For
example, a computer might cost $1000, but the expense is spread over five years ($200 / year)
because it is likely to be used for approximately five years.
In BizCafe, accounting is captured in three reports. One is your checkbook. This represents
your cash-based accounting system. You start out with cash in the bank from a loan. More cash
comes in when coffee is sold. Cash goes out when items are purchased or when employees are
paid. You may look at your checkbook at any time and it gives you an up-to-date balance of
how much you have in your account, how much money was deposited, and how much was spent.
In addition to your checkbook, you also have an accountant who prepares an income statement
and balance sheet monthly for your café. Thus, at the end of each month, you will be able to see
at a glance your revenues and expenses as well as the balances of key accounts. Though simple,
these two views of your financial health will provide you with a great introduction as to why
accounting is such an important tool for measuring the performance of a company.
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Planning and Integration
All of these functional decisions and processes will take place in the simulation. How well your
business operates will be determined by the quality of these decisions in relation to the
environment (market, competition) and in relation to each other (integration). The overall
planning and integration process has two basic steps: (1) analyzing the situation, and (2)
choosing a course of action. This process is much more detailed and complex than the two
simple steps, but if you remember that everything you are doing in business planning is part of
one of these two steps, you should be better able to work through this process.
Analyze the Situation
As a business manager, your primary focus when analyzing the situation is to gather information
to help you identify opportunities that will help your company be successful. The purpose of
this information is to help you make better decisions as a manager. For instance, what
information would be helpful to have when deciding about the price to charge? You might want
to know how much it costs you to make what you sell (cost of goods sold), how much your
competitors charge, and how customers respond to different prices. All of these would go into
your decision process leading us to point number two, choosing a course of action.
Choosing a Course of Action
To make a good decision, three circumstances must be present. First, as discussed above, one
needs to have good information regarding the decision. Second, one must have an objective.
With an objective or goal in mind, one can think about how their decision would likely impact
their ability to achieve their objective. Third, the person making the decision must be able to
understand the information, accept the objective, and be able to discern the likely impacts of
different decisions on possible outcomes. This is in no way a simple task. Typically, the person
making the decision will not have perfect or complete information, but a decision still must be
made. So a decision-maker must also learn how to be comfortable choosing a course of action in
the imperfect world of reality while constantly looking for ways to improve their ability to make
better decisions.
Integration
Finally, a general manager must think about integration of decisions. If we go back to our
pricing decision, one element we left out was the likely impact of a change in price on the other
functional areas. For instance, if you decided to lower the price by 20%, what impact would that
have on demand? On your operations? On your net income? The general manager must make
sure that all of these functional decisions are in line with the companies overall objectives and
that all of the decisions are integrated.
Next Step
Now that you have some background on the general context of BizCafe, the next section of the
manual will introduce you to your new business and the decisions that you will be making in the
simulation. Best of luck in running your café!
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Section 2: The BizCafe Case
Jane Valdez was ready for a change after 30 years of 12-15 hour workdays, 6 days a week. Jane
had grown up in Collegetown and graduated from the local university there, majoring in
engineering with a minor in business. After graduation, she worked at Hewlett-Packard and
Apple Computer in the 70s and 80s. But, like many of the technology workers of that era, she
soon forged out on her own, starting several companies, failing at two, but hitting on a successful
formula with her third venture, handheld computing devices for hospital applications. In 1995,
she took her company public and eventually sold the company before the high tech bubble burst.
Soon thereafter, she was a founding partner of a successful venture capital firm, but now she is
ready to return to her roots and slow down a bit.
However, she wants to share her success in a unique way, by helping college students learn
about business by operating their own company. Select student teams will receive $25,000 of
start-up funds to manage their own coffee shop for a year as an independent study for credit.
Location and Retail Space Layout
Jane studied various locations and found a good potential storefront on Main Street, not far from
the business school, and on the downtown pedestrian mall. There are a number of retail
establishments nearby such as restaurants, clothing shops, as well as service businesses.
Map of Proposed Coffee Shop Location in Collegetown
The retail space available contains 1000 sq feet with glass frontage on Main Street and 2nd Street
providing good visibility for pedestrian foot traffic (see layout). The space is next door to R.C.
Fox Women’s Clothing, an independent retailer catering to more upscale buyers. Across the
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street is a trendy restaurant, Salamanca, which is primarily a dinner destination. Next to the
restaurant is Readerwise Booksellers, an independent bookstore which has been in business over
20 years.
Store Layout and Nearby Commercial Establishments
Rent is $24 sq. ft. / year, or $24,000 total for the year. A deposit equal to one month’s rent must
be paid in advance and monthly rent of $2000 is due on the first day of each month. In addition
to paying rent, the lessee (your company) will also be responsible for paying utilities – water and
electricity. These are estimated at approximately $500/month based on historical usage of the
restaurant that had previously occupied the location, but may vary based on hours open and
traffic.
Market Potential
Jane expects the coffee shop to be a success because of the good location downtown near
retailers and the business school. For instance, businesspeople might stop by on their way to
work or for a meeting place, students could go between classes and at night, and local residents
would find the shop a great place to meet friends or relax while they are downtown shopping.
She expected long-term demand to be primarily a function of the quality of the experience
(atmosphere, length of wait, friendliness of the staff, etc.) and the price charged for the coffee.
The students had some sales information on a specialty drink shop that recently closed due to the
owner moving to another area. Though not a perfect comparison and incomplete, Jane believed
this information would be helpful to the students when trying to calculate the necessary
operational capacity for the shop.
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Table of Weekly Demand (Cups Ordered) – Pat’s Coffee and Chocolate
Saturday
Sunday
Week Starting
Daily (M-F)
Jan 1st
1000 cups
750 cups
550 cups
Jan 8th
1150
720
510
th
Jan 15
1070
780
530
Jan 22nd
1045
950
690
Price
$ 3.50
3.50
3.50
3.50
Jane also suggested to the students that the shop could stimulate additional demand through ads
in local papers and radio stations, and by offering special promotional deals.
In addition, the local weekly circular has a weekly poll on many of the local businesses including
two awards given to specialty drink shops. Jane knows the importance of such awards for wordof-mouth and creating a sense of “buzz” around a business. So Jane wanted to be sure her
students were aiming to win one of these two awards.
•
Best in town specialty drink - ambiance
•
Best in town specialty drink - satisfaction
Staffing and Operations
Jane knew that the easy (and fun) part of running a business is creating the concept and getting
everything set-up, but that most retail shop success, especially service oriented ones, is made “in
the trenches” – the day to day running of the business. Will her students hire enough quality
staff to serve the customers in a friendly and timely manner? Will they have enough supplies
and inventory so they don’t run out of what customers want? Will they be able to handle the
before class / work rushes? It sounds easy enough, but her students will likely need a cadre of
part-time college students to work at the shop. Keeping them organized, attentive, and happy
working there won’t be simple.
Accounting and Your Electronic Checkbook
Each week you can keep track of your expenditures by reviewing your electronic checkbook.
Payments are automatically made at the appropriate time based on your decisions. In addition, at
the end of each month, your accountant will create a monthly income statement and balance
sheet for you. Fortunately, the university was able to find a retired accountant who would
provide these services to your student team for free.
You can track your current cash balance at any time by reviewing the checkbook (or monthly on
your balance sheet). Your daily cash receipts from sales are taken to the bank’s night deposit
and show as an increase to your cash balance the following morning (except Sunday). If you
don’t have enough cash, you may be eligible for a small business loan if you provide sufficient
rationale to your lenders.
The BizCafe Case - Page 13
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Starting Situation and Startup Decisions
Jane decided that it would be best if you started with some basic furniture and equipment.
Fortunately, she was able to find some used tables and chairs at a local cafeteria for $2000 as
well as a basic 2-cup espresso maker for $3000. This is your default start-up furniture and
equipment. However, if your instructor allows, you will be able to upgrade to a nicer set of
tables and chairs as well as a high capacity espresso maker as part of your “start-up” decisions.
The new equipment may improve the operation and perception of your café. This upgrade is
only available at the beginning of the simulation. The cost of this equipment will come out of
your checking account as of January 1st and be depreciated over five years.
Furniture
Used - $2,000 (current)
New - $4,000 (optional)
Both options provide sufficient seating for the
shop. Used furniture is from a local cafeteria that
recently closed.
Your team will also need to purchase new equipment for producing your product (espresso
makers or blenders). There was already a counter, sink, and enough room in the storage area for
coffee beans, fruit, cups and other items necessary to run either business.
Espresso Makers
Duo – Dual capacity (2 cup) - $3,000 (current)
AutoFour – High capacity (4 cup) - $6,000
The AutoFour model is potentially 30% faster than
the Duo model in addition to the higher capacity.
Weekly Decisions
Management
Managers. Each store starts with 2 full-time managers to cover Monday - Friday. The first
management decision is what to pay your managers. One manager must always be on site from
1 hour before the shop opens until one hour after the shop closes. You are guaranteed to always
have 2 managers, but their effectiveness (productivity) will depend upon the wages you pay them
and how well you manage the server staff. Should you decide to open on weekends, a third
manager will be required (and automatically hired). You must pay the same weekly amount to
all managers.
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Servers. In addition, students must hire servers and set their wages. Wage rates are competitive
with other shops in the simulation. Pay them less than the competition and they might be
tempted to change jobs. Plus, a lower wage might not attract the best employees. Workers like
to be busy, but not stressed out, so be sure to hire an appropriate number of servers to meet
demand. Each server is part-time and works approximately 10 hours per week.
Marketing
Pricing. Coffee typically comes in three sizes: small, medium and large. A small cup is set at
12 fluid ounces and contains 1 shot of espresso; a medium cup is 16 ounces and contains 2 shots
of espresso; and a large cup is 20 ounces and contains 3 shots of espresso. Each week you will
need to set a price for each size. Prices must be set to such that the difference between sizes
ranges from 10 cents to $1.00 (increasing with size). Jane has also set a minimum of $1.00 per
cup and a maximum of $6.00 per cup. Your simulation instructor may restrict the size offerings
to only a medium size serving depending on the goals for the course. Be careful about
increasing prices as it may frustrate and disappoint customers, but better to have a price that
works than one that doesn’t cover your fixed costs.
Promotion. Students may choose to advertise in one of the local newspapers or radio stations.
Optionally, these ads may be uploaded to student sites on the Internet with a link from the
simulation (“BizCafe News”) for everyone to view. There are three messages that may be
chosen – one for general awareness, one for $.50 off (print only), or a 2 for 1 coupon (print
only).
Operations
Shop Hours: Students set the days and times the store will be open for business. The shop may
open between 7-10am, and close between 8-11pm. The hours M-F must all the same. In
addition, if your instructor allows, you will be able to open the store on the weekends and set
those hours as well.
Purchases of coffee and cups: Coffee beans are ordered weekly in bulk with any shortages made
up with local purchases. Coffee quality must be chosen as well (Good Quality, High Quality,
Organic). Any coffee left at the end of the week is discarded for quality / freshness reasons.
Printed cups with logo can be ordered in bulk on a weekly basis as well. If the logo cups are not
ordered, standard cups from a local vendor are available on an as-needed basis, but at a slightly
higher cost and without logos. It is estimated that each shot of espresso requires approximately 7
grams of coffee or about 1/64 of a pound, but you may want to allow a bit extra in case your
servers spill some. Small cups use 1 shot, medium use 2 shots and large cups use 3 shots. Thus,
a large size would use approximately 3/64 of a pound of coffee. Once used, the used coffee
grinds are discarded.
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Section 3: BizCafe Operations Guide
BizCafe is designed to be easy to use and is compatible with most Internet browsers. The
operations guide will help you start up the simulation and provide more detailed descriptions of
each of the reports and decision screens.
Getting Started and Login
To use BizCafe, point your Internet browser to the student login page at www.interpretive.com
as shown below. You will receive your login information either from your instructor or directly
from Interpretive.
After logging in (and placing your order if you haven’t yet done so), click on the “Simulation”
link at the top of the screen and you will go to your course site where you can access the
simulation and manual, comparative results, and other pertinent information as shown below.
Click here to see
simulation related
information
Help and FAQs
Information about
your order
Class simulation
schedule
Click on the Access Simulation link in the left hand column to access BizCafe. Then choose the
BizCafe Simulation link and the simulation will launch, placing you on the main page as
described in the following section on navigation.
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Navigation
Each page of the BizCafe site contains an easy-to-use menu system consisting of three parts: (1)
specific menu options and links to decision-making tools and input screens, found on the left
side of the BizCafe browser window; (2) green navigation and general control buttons across the
top; and (3) pull-down menu to show the current week in the upper right-hand corner.
Navigation
Buttons
Menu System
(6 categories +
choices)
Café Name and
User Info
Change the week
view
BizCafe Screen
Display
The left-hand BizCafe menu is divided into six parts: Startup, Decisions, Accounting,
Operations, Environment and Simulation. Each part includes menu links that correspond to
different reports, decisions, or actions. For example, under Startup there are links for Case and
Startup Decisions. The menu system is expandable and collapsible. For instance, click on
Startup, and the Case and Startup Decisions will collapse back into Startup. Note: Until you
make your startup decisions, no other menu options will be available.
The green navigation and general control buttons are found at the top of the window and change
depending on the report being viewed. The options are BACK, MAIN, PRINT and HELP. The
PRINT and HELP buttons all apply to the report currently on the screen. For instance, if you
click on the PRINT button when viewing the Income Statement, the statement will be sent to
your default printer. Clicking on the HELP button brings up a screen with information relevant
to the page you are currently viewing.
Every screen throughout the simulation has the BACK and MAIN buttons at the top of the page.
The BACK button lets you reach the last page you visited and the MAIN button brings you to
the homepage of the simulation that you were brought to when first entering the simulation.
The box in the upper right-hand corner has a pull-down menu that lets you choose which week
you would like to be looking at. It will be set to “current week” unless you change it. Changing
this will show you your results for previous weeks once the simulation has been advanced. This
can be helpful for reviewing historical information.
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Detail of Menu Choices
The links on the left of the BizCafe window lead to all the information and tools you will need to
analyze your current position, plan a strategy, and input your decisions. These links are divided
into six categories: Startup, Decisions, Accounting, Operations, Environment and
Simulation. One of the easiest ways to find out more about an option is just to try it out. If you
need more information, use the on-screen HELP button or consult the manual. All of the menus
may be expanded or contracted. For instance, after making your startup decisions, you can click
on Decisions to expand that menu to see all the different decision areas for your weekly decision
process.
Startup
Startup - Case
Under the STARTUP section you can find a copy of the BizCafe case from this manual. This
will allow you to have easy access to the background information contained in the case.
Remember that not everything provided in the CASE is immediately available to you. For
example, you may not be able to sell three drink sizes unless your instructor has selected that
option. Please make sure to carefully read the case before making ANY decisions.
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Startup – Startup Decisions
At the beginning of the simulation there are three “startup” decisions that must be made before
you can proceed past the startup menu. These decisions are naming your café, choosing your
furniture, and choosing your espresso maker.
Naming your café has two primary purposes. First is that the name will be how your café is
listed on the website results. Second, the name of your café may impact your performance if
your instructor chooses. In addition, you may also want to think about how your name may
work with a logo. If your instructor chooses, your logo design will also impact simulation
results.
Used furniture is available from a local cafeteria for $2,000. Alternatively, you may choose to
upgrade to brand new boutique furniture that costs $4,000. Choosing the new furniture may
improve your image with certain customers, but it does cost extra. Either option will be
depreciated monthly over a five-year period.
A used two-cup espresso maker is available from a local restaurant for $3000. You may instead
choose a four-cup espresso-maker, which also can make a shot of espresso up to 30% faster. The
upgraded espresso maker costs $6,000. Again, the upgraded espresso maker will improve your
capacity and productivity, but it does cost extra. Either piece of equipment chosen will be
depreciated monthly over five years.
Upgrading to the better furniture and high capacity machine is only available during the startup
decisions. A sample screen for the startup decisions is shown below.
IMPORTANT: Only the team leader will be able to finalize your startup decisions. Once
you check the finalize box, you will not be able to change these decisions. You will then
move on to the next phase of your first period decisions!
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Decisions
The Decisions Menu is where you enter decisions for each simulated week. Generally, you will
make your decisions after examining the environment, setting some objectives, considering your
competition, and thoroughly analyzing the reports provided in the BizCafe simulation.
There are four general types of decisions in BizCafe in addition to the startup decisions already
covered: management, marketing, operations and special decisions. All of these decisions are
entered using the links under the Decisions menu. When you click on these links, a summary of
your decisions for this area will appear. At the bottom of this report is an “enter decisions”
button. Clicking on that button will bring up a screen in which you may adjust decisions. You
may adjust your decisions as many times as you like before the game is advanced.
Decisions - Management
Click on the MANAGEMENT link under the Decisions section to enter your management
related decisions for the week. These decisions cover how much your managers will be paid
each week, how many servers you would like to hire, how many you need to fire, and how much
the servers will be paid an hour. The initial screen for management decisions is shown below.
Total manager
salaries
Click here to
change decisions
Total server wages
Total of all
employee costs
including payroll
taxes
Click on the [Enter Decisions] button to adjust your decisions. A pop-up window will appear
with various input fields for management decisions as shown below.
When you click on the [OK] button, your decisions will be saved and you will be returned to the
management decisions screen. Click on [Cancel] to exit the screen without saving your changes.
One of your first decisions will be deciding how many servers to hire and what to pay them. If
you enter those decisions and click on the [OK] button, those changes will be reflected on the
main management decisions screen.
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Remember to check the DECISION SUMMARY screen at the end of your decision process to
make sure all your choices have been entered and saved correctly. Also note that you can
change your decisions as often as you like until the simulation is advanced.
After the simulation is advanced this screen will display your previous decisions so that you can
easily see what has changed. In addition there will be a new section at the bottom of the
Management Decisions screen labeled “Management Notes”. Be sure to check here for helpful
hints that relate to last week’s management decisions and café conditions. These will be
messages such as “the servers are unhappy”, or “two servers have quit”. It is up to you, as the
management team for the café, to analyze the reason for these messages and choose an
appropriate action to address the problem.
Decisions – Marketing
To make changes related to marketing, click on the MARKETING link under the Decisions
section. Here you can adjust the price you would like to charge per cup of coffee (or for all three
sizes if that option has been selected by your instructor), and decide how much you would like to
spend on newspaper and radio advertising.
Set the price
for your coffee
here
Choose a general
advertisement or
choose a coupon to
print in the paper
here
You must choose
[OK] to set the
changes to your
decisions.
Decide how many
times a day you
want a spot on the
radio here
Notice that the decision screen provides prices quotes based on per day or per spot, and you are
working with a weekly budget. Thus, newspaper advertising that is listed at $200/day will cost
$1,400 for the week. Similarly, the radio expense is provided on a per spot basis and you may
choose how many per day to run (spot = 1 airing of the ad). When you choose the [OK] button it
will calculate the total cost for the week in the right column next to radio. After the simulation is
advanced, the notes section will tell you how many people redeemed coupons and the total cost
of those redemptions (redemption = someone providing a coupon at time of purchase).
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Decisions – Operations
When you click on the OPERATIONS link under the Decisions section you are able to make
decisions related to how your cafe is run. This includes the hours your store will be open, how
much coffee to order, and how many cups to order. In addition to the amount of coffee, you can
also choose the quality of coffee – good quality, high quality, or organic, each of which has a
different cost. For cups, you may choose to order large quantities in bulk with your logo printed
on them.
During the week, if you run out of either cups or coffee, whatever is needed will be purchased
locally for you automatically, though at a higher cost and the cups will be without the logo.
Cups are non-perishable, so you can store any extra that you don’t use during the week.
However, any extra coffee must be discarded at the end of the week, so spend some time making
sure you order the right amount of coffee.
The amount of
coffee and
cups being
purchased and
the cost
Operational
notes such as
the number of
cups in
inventory
Remember when setting the hours that you only have two managers working each day, and they
have to be at the cafe an hour before the store is open and an hour after it closes. For example, if
you are open 7am to 11pm, one manager works from 6am-3pm and one works from 3pm to
midnight. Be sure to check the operational notes section when making decisions for helpful
hints and operational information such as if you needed an emergency supply of cups or coffee,
how many cups remain in inventory, and how much (if any) coffee was discarded that week due
to purchasing more than was needed.
Decisions – Special
The SPECIAL menu choice under Decisions is where you will find one-time decisions such as
naming your café, creating your café logo, opening on weekends, etc. The café logo and café ad
links allows you to use your more creative side. For instance you may enter a link to a site (such
as PhotoBucket, MySpace, or SpaceBook) you’ve created for your café or your logo. This
process may be part of an assignment, or optional. These links will show up in the BizCafe
News each week.
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Once your ad or logo is
uploaded, copy your graphic
file address link and paste it
into the link box on the Special
Decisions
page
in
the
simulation. Remember your ad
and logo must be a graphic file
to be seen (a jpg file is best).
Decisions – Decision Summary
Use the Decision Summary to review your decisions each week. It may also be worthwhile to
print this out for your records, though you may always view old decisions by changing the week
from the list box at the top of the screen. This printout will contain the same information as in
each decision menu for the period, but all in one place. Please refer to the appropriate sections
of the operations guide for more information on the specifics for each decision.
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Decisions – Service Capacity
The SERVICE CAPACITY menu choice is a tool to help you refine your operational decisions.
The primary purpose of this report is to estimate your daily operational service capacity based on
the decisions that you have currently entered. Thus, as you change the number of servers you
hire, your service capacity will change. When you are satisfied with the service capacity
calculated, you won’t need to hire any additional servers.
This table also shows you what time you open and close, and the total number of hours you are
open each day. The “Servers per Hour” column shows the average number of servers you have
working per hour during each day of the week based on your current hiring decisions, which is
then used to determine the final column, “Est. Daily Capacity”, which is approximately how
many cups you have the capacity to serve each day based on your current decisions.
An estimate of the
number of cups you
have the capacity to sell
each day of the week
The average number
of servers working
each hour
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Decisions – Breakeven Worksheet
The BREAKEVEN WORKSHEET menu choice is a tool to help you refine your pricing
decisions and your demand forecasts. The primary purpose of this step-by-step process is to
obtain the lowest breakeven price based on your estimated demand, or alternatively how many
units you would have to sell to break even at your chosen price.
Breakeven analysis is used to calculate either the price necessary to charge at a particular level
of sales, or the number of units necessary to sell at a particular price to cover normal operating
costs (fixed costs). This relationship between the price, variable cost, units sold, and the fixed
costs can be shown as follows:
Fixed Costs
Breakeven Price =
+ Variable Cost
Anticipated Sales
Fixed Costs
Breakeven Units =
Price - Variable Cost
Put into words, these equations answer the questions, “What price would I have to charge in
order to cover my fixed costs if I plan to sell x number of units?” and “How many units would I
have to sell in order to breakeven if I charge x per cup?”
It is important to note that breakeven analysis is a forward-looking analysis. In other words, you
should use your expected price, expected costs and expected units that you will sell in the next
period. You should also be careful to make sure your time period matches. For instance, if you
want to calculate your breakeven number of units you need to sell in a day, be sure to use an
estimate of your fixed costs for a day, not a week or a month.
Clicking on the BREAKEVEN WORKSHEET link brings you through a step-by-step process to
obtain the lowest price you could break even with at your estimated demand, or alternatively
how many units you would have to sell to break even at your chosen price. The worksheet helps
you estimate your inputs. The first page summarizes the process as described above. After
reading this introduction, just select the [Click to Start] button that will bring up the following
screen for step 1 of the process, estimating your total fixed costs each week.
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You can estimate your total weekly fixed costs by using the Step 1 Worksheet, or on your own.
The Worksheet automatically takes all of your costs that do not vary based on units sold and
provides a weekly total for them. When you have a number, choose the [Enter your Total Fixed
Costs] button at the bottom of the worksheet, and enter your total fixed costs estimate in the
input field provided and select [OK]. You will then move to step 2, entering your variable cost
(or COGS) as shown below.
Similar to the fixed costs, you may enter the variable cost calculated or your own estimate.
Finally, you will come to a page that lets you choose which analysis you would like to calculate
either the units necessary to breakeven at a particular price or the price necessary to charge to
breakeven with a certain number of units sold.
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In the above example, we chose to calculate the breakeven units. To do so, enter the average
unit price and then select [OK]. You will then proceed to a screen where the breakeven units are
calculated based on your assumptions as shown below.
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Accounting
Under the Accounting section of the menu you will find information pertinent to the café’s
finances. The checkbook is always available so that you can see all the cash that flows into your
account and all the checks that you write to pay for purchases and salaries. However, the income
statement and balance sheet reports are created monthly by your accountant, so those won’t be
available until week 5 (first week in February).
Accounting – Checkbook
The CHECKBOOK link provides a record of all receipts (revenues) and disbursements
(payments) for the current week much like your own personal checking account statement. Your
beginning balance is shown at the top right and your final balance for the week is shown on the
bottom right. The difference between these two values represents your net change in your cash
position based on receipts and payments for the week.
In your first decision period, you will see several entries for the startup phase. This will include
the initial loan, utility and rent deposits, as well as any of the costs for the startup decisions after
they have been finalized.
Deposits
Current running
balance after
payment and/or
deposit
Description
of activity
Payments
Until the first month is complete, the checkbook represents your best measure of financial
results. Be sure to watch how the balance changes during the week. Are your receipts covering
your disbursements? If not, are the disbursements one-time or on-going? You should be able to
recognize in advance whether or not your café is successful or not.
Important: If, at the end of any week, your checkbook would have a negative balance based on
your decisions and the environment, your checking account does have overdraft protection. For
a fee of $50 for the week, the bank will ensure that you have sufficient funds. The amount of the
overdraft will be considered a loan and interest will be charged on the balance.
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Accounting – Income Statement
At the end of each simulated month, your accountant will prepare an income statement and
balance sheet for you. The income statement is a record of your revenues and expenses for the
month. The revenues will total your receipts for each day of the previous month. Underneath
your revenue is the cost of goods sold (COGS). This represents the total direct cost associated
with those revenues. For example, when you sell a medium-sized drink, there are the direct
costs of the coffee and the cup. These are included in the COGS value. Subtracting the COGS
from the revenue line results in the gross margin. In order to be profitable, your monthly
expenses will need to be less than your gross margin.
These are the current and
year-to-date columns.
This is your
year-to-date
net income.
This shows you what your net
income was for the month
Important: The income statement and balance sheet for a month include only transactions
during that month, which is a unique reporting period. It will not match the totals for the
4 or 5 individual weeks. Thus, for January, the income statement will include transactions
only in the period from January 1st – January 31st.
On the expense side, you will see the amount paid for management and staff, which include any
payroll taxes in addition to salaries. Your advertising and promotional costs for the month are
shown on the following line. Note that any promotional discounts (such as $.50 coupons) are
included in revenues, not expensed here. As an example, if someone purchases a $3.00 drink
that has a $.50 coupon, $2.50 will be added to revenue rather than $3.00 being added to revenue
and $.50 being added to Advertising/Promotion expense. Next comes rent and utilities, which
are paid monthly. Rent is due the first day of the month and utilities are paid in the first week of
the month after use. Rent and utility deposits, however, do not show up on the income statement
and are instead only included on the balance sheet as an asset. Interest on the loan is paid midmonth.
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Depreciation is calculated monthly based on the of the assets depreciated over five years with a
residual value of zero. Examples of depreciated items would be furniture and the espresso
maker. Thus, monthly depreciation on an asset depreciated over five years would be calculated
based on the following equation – original value of asset / 5 Years * 12 months, or $purchase
price / 60.
These expense categories are then totaled and subtracted from the gross margin to calculate net
income. Net income is the profit generated by your business for the most recent month. Once
February has been completed, the year to date column will reflect the sum of all previous months
as well as the current period.
The values in this report are linked allowing you to see the detail of the transactions that created
the balance. For example, clicking on the number that represents revenues will show you the
daily revenues for the previous month.
Accounting – Balance Sheet
Clicking on the BALANCE SHEET link under Accounting allows you to view the current
balance in your asset, liabilities, and shareholder equity accounts. Like the income statement,
your accountant generates the balance sheet monthly. Unlike the income statement, which
shows results over a certain time period, the balance sheet is a snapshot of your organization at a
current point in time. Thus, when you receive your first balance sheet the first week in February,
you will see the levels of your assets and liability accounts as of January 31st.
Cash, deposits (such as for utilities and pre-paid rent), equipment, accumulated depreciation and
inventory are listed on the left side under assets. Liabilities such as taxes payable and loans are
listed on the right under liabilities and shareholder’s equity. Retained earnings will match your
year to date net income.
All of the categories are linked, so if you do not understand how these numbers were obtained,
click on the link to view the detail for that account along with a brief explanation of the account.
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Operations
The Operations section of the menu provides information on your daily operations, purchases,
inventory, and service capacity.
Operations – Daily Receipts
The DAILY RECEIPTS part of the Operations section provides receipts by day and by size of
cups sold (if multiple sizes have been selected by your instructor). In the top table, the first two
columns are date and day of the week. The third column, “Capacity”, estimates how many cups
of coffee your shop could have handled serving that day, taking into account the available
equipment and the servers on staff (and their productivity). The fourth column, “Cups Served”,
shows you how many cups your shop actually served that day. Thus, comparing your cups
served to your capacity is one way to measure how busy your staff was during the day. If you
served at capacity, it probably means that your servers were always busy and possibly that some
people may have left due to the long lines.
Next is the “Price/Cup” column, which calculates the average price your coffee was sold for
each day. This reflects both the mix of cups sizes sold (if selling multiple sizes) as well as the
use of promotional coupons (such as 2 for 1 or $.50 discount). Finally, the last column shows
the fourth and fifth columns multiplied to show your total revenue for the day. Keep in mind
these numbers, as well as the total revenue for the week as added at the bottom of the column,
are just revenues, not profit.
This shows the number
of cups you could have
served on the left and
the number you actually
sold on the right.
Total
revenue for
the week
The lower table shows the receipts and cups sold by size for the most recent week. Receipts =
cups served x price per cup. The last column displays the total receipts for each size cup, then
subtracts promotional discounts (coupons redeemed), resulting in a final revenue for the week,
which will match the total revenue for the week in the top table.
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Operations – Materials
The MATERIALS link under the Operations section is where to find information related to
purchase, usage, and inventory of cups and coffee. For instance, you may want to check this
report before ordering cups as you may have enough in stock (inventory) to meet demand for the
coming week. In addition to the current inventory of cups, you can also review cost and usage
information on both cups and coffee.
Remember that unlike cups, coffee is perishable and any coffee not used during the week will be
discarded at the end of the week. If you do not order enough coffee or cups to meet demand, a
local source will be used to on an as needed basis to fulfill orders. However, the local source is
somewhat more expensive, and for the cups, your store logo will not be printed on them.
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Environment
The Environment section of the menu allows you to get an idea of what the local market is
doing. You can see competitors ads if they choose to display them in BizCafe News, and you
may find out how your employees’ wages compare to the local averages. All of this comparative
data is important to keep an organized, attentive and satisfied staff.
Environment – BizCafe News
The BizCafe News is where to view your competitors’ logos, ads, and potentially other
competitive information depending on the settings for your game. This is also where you will
see who won the “best of” awards for the previous week. Note that in the benchmarking version
of the simulation, the BizCafe News does not provide this information for other student teams in
the class.
In the directly competitive version, clicking on the menu button for your competitors will
provide information on their café hours, coffee, prices, and promotions as shown below. The
benchmark version will only provide your café’s information.
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Environment – Local Labor Report
The LOCAL LABOR REPORT found under the Environment section provides the local
averages for manager and staff wages, average turnover rate average turnover rate (which tells
you about how often the staff at local businesses is quitting) and the area’s minimum wage.
Remember that if your managers and servers are paid less than the averages, they will become
unhappy. However, if you have an occasional server quitting, you can compare with the average
turnover rate to see if you are close to the norms for your local area.
View Comparative Results
Refer back to the Comparative Results screen on your class website to see how you or your team
compares with others competing in your simulation event.
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Simulation
This section of the menu contains links that control the game. The ADVANCE, REPLAY and
RESTART buttons may or may not be available during your simulation. If your instructor
chooses, the advancement, replay and restart of the game may be turned off. If your instructor
does allow students to use these options, only the team leader can perform them.
Important: Advance, Replay and Restart would only be available if running the benchmark
version of the simulation. In the direct competition version, everyone will be advanced based on
a schedule set by your instructor. Please see your course website for the current schedule.
Simulation - Advance
If the ADVANCE menu link is available to you during the simulation, the team leader can
control when your game is advanced to the next week. In other words, once your decisions are
made for one week, you can choose the advance link and see your results to then determine what
changes will need to be made to your decisions for the following week.
Simulation – Replay
If your instructor allows it, you can go back one week in time by having your team leader choose
the REPLAY menu link. This will set you back one week in time and allow you to make
adjustments to the most recent week’s decisions. In effect, an undo button for the simulation.
Simulation – Restart
The team leader may choose the RESTART menu link, if allowed by the instructor, to erase all
decisions and results for all periods, and completely start over. Some instructors like students to
do a few practice weeks and then restart, in which case this button would be used to reset you
back to the beginning of the simulation.
BE CAREFUL WHEN CHOOSING RESTART!
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APPENDIX A - Using BizCafe in a Group
If you are using BizCafe in a classroom setting, you will likely be asked by your instructor to
work in groups. Each group will pool its skills and resources to manage collectively the
management, marketing and operations roles. Thus, the specific decisions your group will make
depend on the responsibilities you are assigned.
Group work is the way business is most often conducted today. It can be rewarding and
frustrating. Thus, it is critical that you learn how to make every group experience a success.
One of the most frequent complaints with group work is the amount of time wasted in trying to
get organized and make decisions. There are also complaints that individual members are not
"pulling their weight." To reduce these problems, your group should answer the following
questions in your first meeting:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
When, where, and how often should we meet?
How should we efficiently and effectively conduct our meetings?
Should we choose a general manager? What authority should this person have?
How should we divide the tasks among group members?
How do we resolve issues and make final decisions?
How do we encourage and maintain a high quality of contribution?
How will we deal with personal conflicts among group members?
Over time, the group should assess whether it is functioning efficiently and effectively. The
group may have to reorganize to best meet the current needs of the business as your product
portfolio changes, new competitive situations arise, and more information becomes available.
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APPENDIX B – BizCafe Glossary
Accounting: The way in which a business keeps track of and provides important information
about its financial state; and fulfills its state, local and national reporting obligations.
Accrual Accounting System: An accounting system wherein money in the form of revenues
and expenses is counted when it is used, not necessarily when payment is made or received. A
sale is recognized at the time of the sale, even if payment comes later.
Ambiance: The mood, character, quality, tone, and atmosphere of an environment.
Balance Sheet: A snapshot of your organization at a particular point in time, containing the
current balance in your asset, liabilities and shareholder equity accounts.
Breakeven Analysis: A way to calculate either the price necessary to charge at a particular level
of sales, or the number of units necessary to sell at a particular price to cover normal operating
costs (fixed costs).
Capacity: The estimation of how many cups of coffee your shop could have handled serving a
given day
Cash-based Accounting System: In this system, money that is received is counted or
recognized as income or revenue at the time it is deposited. Money that is spent is counted as an
expense when it is spent.
Checkbook: This represents your cash-based accounting system. It is a record of all receipts
and disbursements for the current week.
Compensation: Something given or received as an equivalent for services or debt.
Competition: Nearby businesses of a similar nature producing a similar product, which may
attract customers that would otherwise support your business.
Cost of Goods: How much it costs to make the product, or create the service, that is being sold.
Customers: Someone who purchases a company’s product or service.
Customer Analysis Report: An evaluation of who the customers are and what they are looking
for in regards to a particular product.
Customer Satisfaction: The extent to which a business is fulfilling the needs and desires of its
customers.
Disbursements: Payments, or expenses costing the business money.
Distribution: Where a product or service is purchased, and everything that leads up to and helps
achieve this action.
Depreciation: A decrease or loss in value, as because of age, wear, or market conditions. For
accounting purposes, there are different methods and time periods by which the value of an asset
is depreciated. For example, an asset worth $1,000 might be depreciated over 5 years using
BizCafe Appendix - Page 39
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“straight-line” depreciation. In this situation, each year $200 of the asset’s value would be
depreciated.
Expenditures: All of the expenses of a company; what was actually spent in a fiscal period.
Expenses: Costs and charges that you must pay.
Forecasting: Predictions of spending or costs based on calculations in advance.
Human Resources Management: The management of people, which includes: job analysis,
recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits, training, and employee motivation and
morale.
Income Statement: A report of a firm’s overall results for a period, including a breakdown of
major expenditures and a calculated value of the net income.
Inventory: The stock and materials on hand at a business, including raw materials, finished
goods, etc. Inventory would be listed as an asset on the balance sheet of the company.
Job Description: A written description of what a job entails, including what tasks and skills are
expected of an employee.
Management: In BizCafe, management often refers specifically to the aspect of managing
people – such as hiring, setting wages, etc. However, more generally, management often refers
to the managing of people, products, materials, and any other number of items.
Manufacturing Capacity: The maximum amount that can be produced or manufactured in a
particular period of time.
Materials Management: Managing the materials in a business, from raw materials to the
finished product.
Marketing: The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and
distribution of ideas, products and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual
organizational needs or wants.
Organic: Grown using fertilizers or pesticides that are strictly of animal or vegetable origin,
thereby creating a product without the use of drugs, hormones or synthetic chemicals
Operations: The areas of manufacturing, quality control, purchasing and materials management,
and storage and distribution of the product to the channel or customer in a timely manner.
Place: Refers to distribution, or how products get to the stores so that it is convenient for us to
buy.
Price: Involves all factors that affect how much is paid for a product. The amount of money a
person is charged for a product or service.
Product: The bundle of attributes that we buy to satisfy our needs and wants, be it an item,
service or intellectual property.
Product (or service) development process: The process by which a business takes products
from ideas to products that are sold. Usually this process is well defined and used repeatedly.
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Promotion: Involves all activities that companies use to communicate with us from advertising
to sales people, and the activities companies use to get us to buy from them. In BizCafe, a
coupon for a special deal such as $1 off and the advertising associated with it is an example of a
promotional activity.
Purchasing: Ordering supplies and other raw materials
Quality Control:
standards.
The process by which a business ensures that its products are meeting
Receipts: Revenues, or money coming into the business.
Recruitment: The process of discovering employees and drawing them to your business to
work.
Revenues: A particular item or source of income.
Stakeholders: Those who have invested in the business and have an interest in profits. In
BizCafe, this would include Jane Valdez.
Value: The relationship between the benefits of a product or service and the cost of that product
or service. These include functionality and emotional benefits.
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BizCafe Index
A
accounting
accrual system · 9
defined · 39
balance sheet · 9
BALANCE SHEET · 30, 31
basic financial statement · 9
cash-based system · 9, 39
defined · 39
CHECKBOOK · 29
defined · 39
expenses · 9
income statement · 9
INCOME STATEMENT · 30
revenues · 9
accounting startup · 29
initial loan · 29
utility and rent deposits · 29
ads · 34
advertising · 30
calculate the total cost · 22
newspaper expense · 22
radio expense · 22
ambiance · 13
defined · 39
analyzing
business planning · 10
choosing a course of action · 10
factors of running a business · 2
identify opportunities · 10
reports · 21
the situation · 10
annual demand · 8
aspects of running a business · 5
assets · 9
residual value · 31
atmosphere · 12, 39
average price · 32
average turnover rate · 35
B
balance sheet · 13, 29, 30, 31, 39
assets and liability accounts · 31
benchmark competition · 1
benefits of a product or service · 7, 41
BizCafe News · 15, 23, 34
breakeven analysis · 26
defined · 39
BREAKEVEN WORKSHEET · 26
C
café
ad, create link · 23
hours · 15, 23, 25
logo, create link · 23
naming your · 23
perception of · 14
calculate breakeven units · 28
capacity · 20, 32
defined · 39
cash deposits · 31
checkbook · 9, 29
defined · 39
disbursements · 29
electronic · 13
negative balance · 29
overdraft protection · 29
receipts · 29
coffee · 23
pricing · 15
COGS · 27, 30
company
culture · 7
objectives · 10
comparative data · 34
compensation
defined · 39
competition · 10
defined · 39
competitor information · 34
corporate income tax returns · 9
cost of goods sold · 10, 30
defined · 39
coupons
redeemed · 22, 32
course of action · 10
cups · 23
BizCafe Index - Page 43
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served · 32
customer
analysis report · 9
defined · 39
defined · 39
satisfaction
defined · 39
D
daily receipts · 32
decision-making
process · 10
decisions
adjust · 21
advertising · 8
competition · 21
enter decisions button · 21
environment · 21
first decision period · 29
functional · 10
MANAGEMENT · 6, 21
MARKETING · 21, 22
one time
creating your café logo · 23
naming your cafe · 23
opening on weekends · 23
OPERATIONS · 21, 23
price · 8, 10
promotion · 8
SPECIAL · 21, 23
summary · 22, 24
Decisions Menu · 21
demand forecasting · 8, 9
depreciation · 9, 20, 31
defined · 39
equation · 31
detail of transactions · 31
disbursements · 29
defined · 39
distribution
defined · 39
E
employee
compensation and benefits · 6, 7, 40
development · 7
factors that will impact performance · 7
hiring decisions · 25
interviewing procedures · 6
job satisfaction · 7
BizCafe Student Manual - Page 44
motivation and morale · 6, 7
recruitment and selection · 6, 40
retain · 6
testing · 6
training · 6, 9, 40
training and education · 7
wage rates · 15
environment · 10, 29
Environment Menu · 34
equipment · 5, 9, 14
depreciation · 14
upgrade · 14
espresso maker · 31
estimated daily capacity · 25
estimated demand · 26
estimating your total fixed costs · 26
expenditures · 13
defined · 40
expenses · 5, 30
defined · 40
F
financial health · 9
fixed costs · 26
forecasting
defined · 40
functional areas of a business · 5
furniture · 14, 31
G
getting started · 17
gross margin · 30, 31
H
historical data · 6
human resources management · 6
defined · 40
I
income statement · 9, 13, 29, 30
defined · 40
industry norms · 6
input screens · 18
integration · 10
interest on loan · 30
inventory · 13
May – August 2008 ONLY
defined · 40
J
brief descriptions of · 19
pull-down · 18
monthly depreciation · 31
job
analysis · 6
description · 6
defined · 40
specificatons · 6
N
L
O
leadership · 7
loan
interest on · 30
small business · 13
local labor averages · 35
location · 12
login · 17
logo · 20, 34
long-term demand · 12
objectives · 5, 10, 21
one-time decisions · 23
operating costs · 26
operational
aspects · 9
capacity · 12
decisions · 9
notes section · 23
operations · 8, 13, 14, 15, 32, 33
defined · 40
fundamental · 8
guide · 3, 17
management · 8
MATERIALS · 33
Operations Menu · 8
ordering cups · 33
organic
defined · 40
organic coffee · 15
organizational approaches
general · 5
M
manage · 14
management
decisons · 7
defined · 40
notes · 22
style · 7
managers · 14
manufacturing capacity · 8
defined · 40
market · 10
potential · 12
marketing · 7, 15
4 P’s of · 8
creative aspects · 7
customers · 8
defined · 40
distributution · 7
indirect vs direct · 7
product (or service) development process
·7
product emotional benefits · 7
product value · 7
sales forecast · 8
materials management · 8
defined · 40
Medicare reporting requirements · 9
menus
navigation buttons, green · 18
net income · 31
notes section · 22
P
payments · 29
payroll taxes · 30
peak demand capacity · 8
place
defined · 40
planning and integration · 10
planning process · 9
price · 10, 12
adjust · 22
defined · 40
product
defined · 40
product (or service) development process
defined · 40
product-based business · 8
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productivity · 14, 20
profitability · 6
promotion · 15
defined · 41
promotional
costs · 30
discount · 30, 32
purchasing · 8, 15
coffee · 9
cups · 9
defined · 41
Q
quality · 6, 12
considerations · 9
control · 8
defined · 41
R
receipts · 29
defined · 41
recruitment
defined · 41
rent · 30
reorganize · 37
reporting obligations · 9
revenue total
for the day · 32
for the week · 32
revenues · 5, 29, 30, 31, 39
defined · 41
review
historical information · 18
your decisions · 24
access simulation · 17
ADVANCE · 36
manual · 17
menu · 2
navigation · 18
REPLAY · 36
RESTART · 36
small business loan · 13
snapshot of your organization · 31, 39
Social Security · 9
staff · 12, 14, 30, 32, 34
staffing levels · 6, 13
stakeholders · 5
defined · 41
startup
case · 18, 19
decisions · 14, 18, 21
café naming · 20
costs · 29
espresso maker · 20
furniture · 20
upgrade · 20
funds · 11
state of the business · 9
state unemployment · 9
stimulate additional demand · 13
storage and distribution · 8, 40
supplies · 13, 41
supply chain management · 8
T
target customers · 8
timing of purchases · 9
tools
BREAKEVEN WORKSHEET · 26
decision-making · 18
service capacity calculator · 25
S
salaries · 30
sales information · 12
server hours · 15
servers · 15
Servers per Hour column · 25
service · 6
service capacity
calculator · 25
service operations · 8
service-based businesses · 8
shareholder equity account · 31
simulation
BizCafe Student Manual - Page 46
U
usage information · 33
utilities · 12, 30, 31
deposits · 30
V
value · 5, 29, 31, 32, 39
defined · 41
variable cost · 26, 27
view old decisions · 24
May – August 2008 ONLY
W
wages · 14, 15, 34, 40
weekly
budget · 22
decisons · 14
fixed costs · 27
word-of-mouth · 13
Y
your first meeting · 37
BizCafe Index - Page 47