Web 2.0

Facebook in Business Marketing:

Facebook can be a useful way for businesses to advertise and market to a rapidly expanding audience. Facebook is a social networking tool that can now be used to support an organization, service, product, place, corporation, etc. A business can use Facebook to present company goals, advertise new products, promote special deals, and spread the word about upcoming events.

These objectives can be accomplished in many ways on the website. A company can pay to advertise on Facebook, which is much more affordable than other types of advertising, such as commercials or billboards. They could even advertise their products using the Facebook Marketplace, depending on the nature of the product. Facebook also has a Groups feature, where a business might want to create a group that users can join in order to establish a network of support for the company. The Events feature is a way to invite customers or supporters to upcoming activities, and allows you to quickly provide information that can be continuously updated. Possibly the most effective way a company can now use Facebook is through the Fan Page application. A business could use this feature to create a special page that may include photos, information (such as store hours), discussions (allowing customers to provide useful feedback and suggestions), reviews, and more.

Overall, Facebook can be used in many ways to advertise or promote an organization or business. This is useful because it is difficult to start a new business, especially if you are young. Facebook can be a very helpful tool in establishing a new enterprise. Additionally, it is the quickest way to stay in touch with many customers or supporters, so it is useful for a well-established company also. Online social networking sites will continue to be a virtual hub for users to communicate and share information. If a business is going to keep up with a modern-day society, it must stay ahead of the game, and right now, being on Facebook is the way to do it.

Week 11 (period 10)

This entry is for the week of March 5th-11th. I believe this will be my last entry for Cafe Europa (please let me know if I'm wrong... maybe I've gone too far even...). It has been fun, and it seems like the cafe is pretty successful. Here is a final summary of weekly decisions:

Management Decisions

• No changes were made. I kept the same total manager wages, server wages, and employee total cost.

Marketing Decisions

• No changes were made. No old coupons were redeemed.

Operations Decisions

• I had to make an emergency purchase of 5 lbs of coffee.
• I purchased 60 lbs of coffee for next week.
• I have 6017 small, 7797 medium, and 8816 large cups in inventory.

Service Capacity

• My service capacity increased.
• M-F: 420
• Sat: 448
• Sun: 392

Checkbook

• My balance actually increased again!
• Last week at this time (Mar 5th) my balance was $10170.67
• My current balance (Mar 11th) is $11901.30

Income Statement

• No changes. Same February Income Statement is available.

Comparative Results

• These results are not based on all classmates, because not all of them have advanced through this period yet. Currently Cafe Europa is 2nd in Revenue Value, 2nd in Revenue (cumulative) Value, 2nd in Cups Sold Value, and 2nd in Customer Satisfaction.

I think Cafe Europa has done pretty well throughout the simulation. The detailed report on Moodle shows that it has been successful compared to my classmates' cafes. I believe that a profit would result if the simulation continued for several more weeks/months/years. This has been a fun, informative simulation. I think it would have been even more engaging if detailed comparative results were more readily available.

That's it!

-Madeleine

Week 10 (period 9?)

This week (Feb 26th- Mar 4th) I got some helpful feedback for Cafe Europa. Here is a summary of the decisions I made.

Management Decisions:

• No changes were made. Same total manager wages, server wages, and employee cost.

Marketing Decisions:

• No changes were made. No old coupons were redeemed.

Operations Decisions:

• Coffee purchase was just right.
• I purchased 56 lbs this week.
• I have 7058 small, 8583 medium, and 9121 large cups in inventory.

Service Capacity

• My service capacity remained the same.
• M-F: 405
• Sat: 432
• Sun: 378

Checkbook

• My balance actually increased!
• My balance this time last week (Feb 26th) was $10014.24
• My current balance (Mar 5th) is $10170.67

Income Statement

• My net income is positive for February! Yay! It is $1,125.59
• My YTD income is only $-697.78, meaning I'm not too far away from turning a profit. Woo hoo!

Comparative Results

• Cafe Europa has the 4th highest Revenue Value, 5th highest Revenue (cumulative) Value, 3rd highest Cups Sold Value, and 2nd highest Customer Satisfaction rankings.

Looks like things are moving right along.

Here's to another great week!

-Madeleine

Week 9

This week (Feb 19th- 25th) was pretty uneventful for Cafe Europa. Here are the decisions I made:

Management Decisions:

• No changes were made. Total managers wage, servers wage, and employee cost remained the same.

Marketing Decisions:

• No changes were made. I kept the same prices per cup and the same general awareness ad. Again, no coupons were redeemed.

Operations Decisions:

• Coffee purchase was just right.
• I purchased 56 lbs for next week.
• I have 8076 small, 9364 medium, and 9428 large cups in inventory.

Service Capacity:

• My service capacity increased this week!
• M-F: 405
• Sat: 432
• Sun: 378

Checkbook

• My balance decreased again this week.
• Last week at this time (Feb 18th), my balance was $10726.77
• My current balance (Feb 26th) is $10014.24

Income Statement

• No changes. Next week I will get a new Income Statement for the month of February.

Comparative Results

• The following results were recorded when all classmates had advanced through period 8: Cafe Europa is ranked 6th in Revenue Value, 5th in Revenue (cumulative) Value, 3rd in Cups Sold Value, and 2nd highest in Customer Satisfaction.

Next week I will have some useful information to include in my post.

-Madeleine

Week 8

• This week (Feb 12- 18) was pretty ordinary. Here are the decisions I made:

Management Decisions:

• 2 servers quit this week, so I hired 2 more in order to keep the same total manager wages, server wages, and employee cost

Marketing Decisions:

• No changes were made. I kept the same prices per cup and the same general awareness newspaper ad. No coupons were redeemed this week.

Operations Decisions:

• 11 lbs of coffee went to waste this past week.
• I bought 55 lbs of coffee for next week.
• I have 9071 small, 10115 medium, and 9725 large cups in inventory.
• I am keeping the same hours for the cafe.

Service Capacity:

• My service capacity remained the same this week.
• M-F: 390
• Sat: 416
• Sun: 364

Checkbook

• As of last week at this time (Feb 12th), my balance was $10958.07
• My current balance (Feb 18th) is $10726.77
• My balance decreased. :(

Income Statement

• No changes.

Comparative Results

• (These results include every cafe) Cafe Europa is ranked 7th in Revenue Value, 5th in Revenue (cumulative) Value, 4th in Cups Sold Value, and 3rd in Customer Satisfaction Value.

Hopefully Cafe Europa will continue to prosper and will show a profit by the end of the month.

-Madeleine

Recruiting and Selection

I think this entry was supposed to be made awhile back, but hey, better late than never right?

Step 1:

Cafe Name: Cafe Europa

Group Members' Names: Bo Buser, Lesley Boudreaux, and Sam Butler

Newspaper Choice: UNews

Reason for Newspaper Choice: I chose UNews because I hope to attract college students in need of a part time job to work at my cafe.

Newspaper Ad: 

"Need a part-time job close to campus?

Hoping to find a fun and friendly work atmosphere?

Cafe Europa could be the place for you!

Come check it out and see what Cafe Europa is all about!"

Step 2:

10 Interview Questions:

1) Do you have any previous work experience at a cafe or restaurant?

2) Are you familiar with working a cash register?

3) Coffee shops always have a morning rush. Are you comfortable working at a fast pace, or would you prefer working at the cafe later in the day?

4) How many hours per week are you interested in working?

5) Do you drink a lot of coffee yourself?

6) What do you think your best personal traits are?

7) What do you think your worst personal traits are?

8) Are you a morning person or a night owl?

9) Would you describe yourself as introverted or extroverted?

10) Why are you interested in working at Cafe Europa?

5 Most Important Qualities for the Position:

-Friendliness

-Reliability

-Experience (at least with a cash register)

-Trustworthiness

-Punctuality/Promptness

Week 7 Cafe Europa

This week (February 5-12), some important things happened. BizCafe added three different cup sizes to our coffee options. Also, we gained access to a more detailed analysis of our comparative rankings. For the sake of privacy, I won't disclose specific information about that new data, but I will review what it means to Cafe Europa. As for my decisions this week:

Management Decisions:

• 2 servers quit this week! This is the first time this has happened to me. I have decided to hire 2 more servers to keep 12 servers on the payroll. This makes my total manager wages, server wages, and employee cost the same as it has been for awhile now.

Marketing Decisions:

• We have 3 sizes now! Small, Medium, and Large.
• I decided to set my prices at $2.40, $3.20, and $4.00 (respectively).
• I kept the same General Awareness Advertisement, which costs me $1400 per week.

Operations Decisions:

• I needed to purchase Small and Large logo cups, so I purchased 10,000 of each. I bought the Small cups for $0.07 each and the Large cups for $0.09 each. I only bought 10,000 because I realize we are a little more than halfway through the simulation, and I have currently used almost 10,000 Medium cups (which have been the only option for customers so far...)
• My coffee purchase for last week was just right! I bought 63 lbs. of high quality last week, and I increased to 64 lbs. week just to be safe.
• I am keeping the same hours for the cafe.

Service Capacity

• My service capacity increased this week! 
• M-F: 390 (up from 375 last week)
• Sat: 416 (up from 400)
• Sun: 364 (up from 350)

Checkbook

• As of last week at this time (February 5th), my balance was $9,703.44
• On February 12th, my balance is $10,958.07. This is huge. My balance has steadily decreased for a few weeks now, but this week it actually increased. This may be due to those 2 servers quitting though....

Income Statement

• Nothing has changed here. The numbers I got last week were for the previous month. I will get another statement at the end of this month.

Comparative Results

• Not everyone in the class has completed this period, but as of right now I rank 2nd in Revenue Value, 3rd in Revenue (Cumulative) Value, 3rd in Cups Sold Value, and 2nd in Customer Satisfaction.
• According to the new data available in the spreadsheet, Cafe Europa is doing very well. Its rankings are average in some categories and well above average in some categories. I'm not sure what the Balanced Scorecard Value and Rank are, and I'm also not sure why the Customer Satisfaction level as well as the Net Income numbers are different from what I see in BizCafe. I'm sure it will all make sense to me eventually.

Thus ends another week of Cafe Europa.

Until next time,

Madeleine

Week 6

This week at Cafe Europa, a few changes were made. They were not huge changes, but they are worth mentioning in this week's update. Here is an overview of this week's decisions:

Management

• No changes were made. The total manager wages, server wages, and employee cost remain the same.

Marketing

• Customers redeemed 156 coupons for $78 in discounts.
• I changed my daily ad in the newspaper to a general awareness ad instead of coupons. The coupons were very successful, but right now I need to increase my sales revenue. I will probably offer coupons again later in the period.

Operations

• I had to make an emergency purchase of 5 lbs of coffee (last week I purchased 57 lbs).
• This week I bought 62 lbs of high quality coffee. Hopefully this will be enough.
• I have 12,625 logo cups in inventory.
• I am keeping the same hours for the cafe.

Service Capacity

• My service capacity remained the same as last week.
• M-F: 375
• Sat: 400
• Sun: 350

Checkbook

• My checking account balance as of February 5 is $9,703.44
• Last week at this time, my balance was $9,907.01
• Unfortunately, my balance has been decreasing for a few weeks now... Hopefully the coupon cancellation will help some.

Income Statement

• This is the first week that an income statement has been available for me to review.
• Unfortunately, my net income is $-1,823.37
• Depending on my checking account balance next week, I may have to cut my staff or increase my prices.

Comparitive Results:

• Cafe Europa has the fourth-highest revenue value, fourth-highest revenue (cumulative) value, fourth-highest cups sold value, and the third-highest customer satisfaction.

That's it for this week. Hopefully next week I will have better news to share!

Week 5

This week I made very few changes, and mostly recorded the week's data. I would like to note one thing about my blog entries; This week's entry says Week 5, but in the simulation, it is actually labeled Week 4. The dates I am referring to for this week's entry are January 29-February 4. I just wanted to clear up any confusion... The first week got me all messed up but I didn't want to go back and change things so I'm sticking with my current system.

Week 4 Decisions (January 29- February 4)

Management:

• No changes were made. The total manager wages, total server wages, and total employe cost all remain the same.

Marketing:

• Customers redeemed 100 coupons for $50 in discounts this past week. This is more than double the number of coupons that were redeemed last week! 
• I kept the same advertisements/advertising costs.

Operations:

• Last coffee purchase (56 lbs) was just right.
• This week I purchased 57 lbs of high quality coffee.
• I have 14,467 cups in inventory.
• I am keeping the same store hours.

Service Capacity:

• My capacity for this week increased on all days of the week.
• M-F: 375
• Sat: 400
• Sun: 350

Checkbook:

• January 29 balance: $9,907.01
• last week's balance: $10,700.28
• Week 0 balance: $12,500 after purchases made on a $25,000 loan

Overall, the cafe is successful in most areas. More customers are coming into the store, and more coupons are being used which means my advertising is successful. One issue is that my checking account balance is lower this week. Usually my balance is about the same from the week before or maybe even a little bit higher. I'm not sure why I appear to be losing some money... it could be from a monthly payment that occurred during this week. Compared to the other cafes, Cafe Europa has the third-highest revenue value, fourth-highest revenue (cumulative) value, third-highest cups sold value, and third-highest customer satisfaction. In my opinion, Cafe Europa is continuing to be successful.

Week 4 Biz Cafe

This week I did not make many changes to Cafe Europa's setup, but I will give an update on the cafe's current decisions.



Management Decisions

• No changes; Total Manager Wages, Total Server Wages, and Total Employee Cost remain the same as Week 3

Marketing Decisions

• I am keeping the same promotional ad/coupon in the daily newspaper.


• I did get some feedback from my new coupon: "Customers redeemed 48 coupons, $24 in discounts."

Operations

• The cafe hours remain the same as Week 3


• During Week 3, 8 lbs of coffee went to waste. Instead of buying 61 lbs like I did last week, I bought 56 lbs of high quality coffee to reduce waste.

Service Capacity

• Monday-Friday: 360 customers


• Saturday: 384 customers


• Sunday: 336 customers

Checkbook

• Balance as of Jan. 22 (end of Week 3) was $10,700.28


• To review some previous balances for comparison, my balance at the end of Week 2 was $9,577.98, at the end of Week 1 was $8,956.99, and at the end of Week 0 (which included my $25,000 loan and startup costs) was $12,500


• Overall, my balance seems to be steadily increasing and hopefully I will be able to make a profit from this business enterprise.

Comparitive Results:

Cafe Europa continues to have high standings compared to the other cafes. As of this moment, it ranks fourth in Revenue Value, third in Revenue (cumulative) Value, second in Cups Sold Value, and second in Customer Satisfaction.

Here's to another great week at Cafe Europa!

Preparation Decisions (better late than never)

Here is any information that I haven't previously covered about the starting up Cafe Europa:

• I believe the advantages of the Main Street location include the proximity to the upscale restaurant across the street and the quick walk from the college campus. I hope customers will enjoy Cafe Europa's ambiance after a nice dinner, or will enjoy the relaxing atmosphere to study.
• I believe my initial startup expenses will be around $18,000 including rent, utilities, and the first week's coffee purchase. The balance in my checking account will probably be about $7,100 after paying for these initial expenses, since I started with a $25,000 loan.
• The monthly fixed costs for the cafe will be around $20,000, including salary expenses, coffee expenses, rent expense, utilities expense, and advertising expense. This estimate is assuming I open on weekends and hire more servers and managers.
• I think customer satisfaction, cups sold per day, and overall revenue will be taken into account when the two awards are considered. I bought the finest furniture and equipment and work hard on the overall design of the cafe in order to have wonderful ambiance. I also buy high quality coffee and make sure I have enough servers in order to keep high customer satisfaction.

Week 3 Cafe Europa

So far, Cafe Europa is still going strong compared to the other cafes. It remains above average in all fields, and especially excels in the revenue value category and the customer satisfaction category. As of now, it has the third-highest revenue value (behind Duncan Hills and Chandler's) and the second-highest customer satisfaction rating (behind Duncan Hills). During week 3, I have made some interesting choices that will mix things up. 

Management:

• I hired a third manager, increasing total weekly manager wages to $1800
• I hired four servers, increasing server wages to $1050
• The new total employee cost is $3,063.75

Marketing:

• My daily ad now includes a $.50 off coupon
• I submitted a link for my daily ad
• Pricing remains at $3.20 per medium cup of coffee

Operations:

• I have decided to open on weekends. My new hours for the cafe are:
  

M-F: 7:00 am- 10:00 pm
Sat: 7:00 am- 11:00 pm

Sun: 8:00 am- 10:00 pm

• Last week I had to make an emergency purchase of 10 lbs of coffee. In order to account for a growing customer base and new weekend hours, I carefully chose to purchase 62 lbs of coffee for this week (cost= $372)
• I currently have 17871 cups in inventory

Service Capacity:

• My current customer estimates for Week 3 are:

M-F: 345 customers/day

Sat: 368 customers

Sun: 322 customers

Checkbook balance:

• My balance for the end of Week 2 is $9577.98

Daily Receipts (from Week 2):

• Total customer capacity: 1,725
• Total cups served: 1,192 (the most cups were served on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday)
• Total receipts: $3,814.40

I also took the following notes from the Labor Report:

• The average turnover rate of servers in my area is 12.5% per month
• Minimum wage is $5.75/hr

So hopefully my decisions for this week will help continue Cafe Europa's success and will eventually lead to a profitable small business!

Cafe Europa Daily Ad and Coupon

Week 2 Cafe Europa

This week at Cafe Europa...

Many new decisions were made. I learned some things from the first week, and right now my cafe boasts the second highest customer satisfaction. Also, Cafe Europa has the highest cups sold value at 1192. It is doing above average in the other fields on the comparative results table.

I noted that in the first week, five pounds of coffee went to waste, and by the end of the week I still had 19,063 cups in inventory. Based on this information, I made the following notes:

Management:

Total manager wages= 1200

Total server wages= 700

Total employee cost= $2042.50

Marketing:

Price of medium coffee= $3.20

Advertising (Daily General Awareness Ad)= $1400

Operations:

Purchased 32 lbs high quality coffee

No more cups were purchased this week

Special:

The cafe logo was uploaded

Daily Capacity from Week 1:

345

Cups Sold during Week 1:

937 cups

Pounds of coffee used during Week 1:

30

Cost per cup: $0.07

Cost of coffee per cup: $0.19

Hopefully I will gain customers during Week 2 and will sell more coffee. I also hope to maintain a very high level of customer satisfaction.

Until next week,

Maddy

Cafe Europa Logo

The logo for Cafe Europa is finally here!

This logo will be printed on the cups and in our weekly newspaper ads. I hope it reflects the trendy sense of atmosphere that Cafe Europa aims for.

Practice Week

Although I am not quite sure if the practice week ended up counting at all, I did keep a log of the decisions I made that week. Now since the simulation seemed to be cancelled out, I also entered these same decisions for what I believe was the real Week 1 of BizCafe. I entered the following choices:

Management Decisions:

-I decided to pay the managers $600 per week

-I hired 8 servers who will be paid the standard wage that BizCafe set

Operations Decisions

-I chose to open Cafe Europa from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM on weekdays (I hope to open on weekends when that becomes possible)

-I bought 35 lbs of high quality coffee and 20,000 cups (the more you buy the cheaper the price)

My goal is to have a high quality cafe that provides a warm and rich atmosphere as well as outstanding service. I want the coffee to be affordable enough for college students, but still want to attract an older crowd of customers as well. I aim for high customer satisfaction.

I feel that this will work well with the location of the cafe- close proximity to a university but across the street from a nice restaurant. Overall, from a marketing standpoint I believe it is important to impress customers so that they will want to keep coming back to my nice cozy cafe.

Week 1 Blog- Cafe Name

I decided to name my coffee shop Cafe Europa. I chose this name simply because I like how it sounds. I am aiming to run a more upscale cafe, and I chose to purchase the new furniture at $4,000 and I chose to purchase the high-capacity espresso machine. Since the instructions for this week said to play around and name your cafe, I went ahead with all of these decisions, even though it appears I won't be able to change them? I don't quite understand if everything I do this week is a simulation or what. I guess I don't fully understand the software. Nonetheless, I want my cafe to have a high-quality appeal, so I am confident in these decisions!

-Madeleine