The BizCafe Interpretive Simulation case study to teach strategic entrepreneurship

The BizCafe Interpretive Simulation is a good resource for teaching a restaurant business start-up. The simulation replicates the real life business of running a coffee shop. Each student will assume the role of coffee shop manager, and will make all the decisions necessary to survive in a competitive environment. The decisions encompass several aspects of the restaurant business. In the start-up period, determining the hours of operation, coffee prices, and wages are among the decisions. As in real life, some of the decisions—like whether or not to buy a pastry oven—are irreversible, with ramifications that will impact revenues and costs throughout the duration of the simulation. However, coffee prices and wages can be changed, based on analysis of the competitive set. As in any business venture, this is a contest to see who can survive. In this competitive set, there will be winners and losers, based on who has made the best decisions.