Frequently asked questions for BizCafe

BizCafe is a hands-on business simulation where students run a small specialty coffee shop for up to 16 simulated weeks. They make decisions in management, marketing, operations, finance, and planning — all in a realistic, integrated environment.

Students learn by doing as they manage staffing, pricing, budgeting, purchasing, scheduling, and customer satisfaction.

BizCafe is ideal for:

• Introduction to Business
• Small Business Management
• Entrepreneurship foundations
• Courses teaching basic operations, marketing, or financial literacy

It’s intentionally built for students with little or no prior business experience.

BizCafe covers the foundational Business Essentials topics:

• Management (HR): staffing, wages, turnover, morale, workload balancing
• Marketing: pricing decisions, promotions, value perception, target customers
• Operations: demand forecasting, capacity planning, inventory, hours, purchasing
• Accounting: income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, checkbook/cash system
• Planning & Integration: aligning decisions across functions to improve performance

Yes — the Brewing a Business eBook Bundle integrates directly with the simulation and covers:

• Business foundations
• Ethics cases
• Mini-assignments
• Video interviews

BizCafe runs for up to 16 weeks, or rounds. Most instructors use 12–13 rounds, and students typically spend 30–60 minutes per round.

Most instructors assign teams of 3–4 students. The simulation reinforces collaborative decision-making and mirrors real-world group work.

The manuals include guidance for effective team organization, roles, and conflict resolution.

Yes. Instructors can add:

• Auto-graded assignments
• Reflection questions
• Decision rationales
• Discussions around incidents

Every instructor gets:

• A dedicated CRM contact
• Instructor onboarding
• Quick-start guides
• 24-business-hour support response

Students manage a functioning coffee shop, making decisions in:

• Naming and positioning their business
• Choosing furniture & equipment
• Setting hours of operation
• Staffing managers and servers
• Setting prices for different cup sizes
• Purchasing coffee & cups
• Launching promotions, websites, and social media
• Responding to incidents (if assigned by instructor)

At launch, students choose:

• Business name
• Furniture (used or new styles; $2,000–$4,000)
• Espresso machine (2-cup or 4-cup model)

These choices affect capacity, speed, ambiance, and early cash flow.

Each round includes decisions on:

• Management
  • Manager salaries
  • Number of part-time servers
  • Server wages
• Marketing
  • Cup prices (small/medium/large)
  • Advertising (web, search ads, social media, boosted posts)
  • Promotions (discounts, 2-for-1 deals)
• Operations
  • Shop hours (M–F; optional weekends)
  • Coffee purchases and quality level
  • Cup purchases (bulk with logo, or local at higher cost)
• Special Decisions
  • Incidents and mini-cases, if enabled

Instructors can enable incidents, which are short managerial scenarios requiring student responses.

They simulate real-world dilemmas such as staffing issues, customer complaints, or operational mistakes.

Yes. If they underestimate demand, the system automatically sources coffee or cups locally at higher cost, which reduces margins.

BizCafe tracks performance through:

• Dashboard metrics (rank, trends, alerts)
• Customer satisfaction scores
• Daily receipts & capacity data
• Checkbook and cash balance
• Monthly accountant-prepared statements

Performance depends heavily on integrated decision-making, not isolated metrics.

Students receive:

• Income Statement (accrual)
• Balance Sheet
• Cash Flow Statement (optional)
• Checkbook (cash-based)

This helps them compare cash-based vs. accrual-based accounting.

Yes. BizCafe uses realistic expenditures, including:

• Monthly rent ($2,000)
• Utility payments
• Manager & server wages
• Coffee & cup purchases
• Depreciation on equipment

This gives students a true picture of business cash flow.

Demand depends on:

• Price
• Ambiance
• Coffee quality
• Advertising & promotions
• Service speed (staff + equipment)
• Customer satisfaction

Students can review:

• Local wages & turnover
• Competitor menus and prices
• Coffee quality comparisons
• Customer survey results
• Competitor branding (logos, ads, cups)