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!