Early morning hours - my favorite time of the day.
The time when no one else is yet moving around. And there is a suiting silence in the setting that I can only find the first thing.
The next equally satisfying thing about mornings is the ritual of brewing and sipping coffee. When I was little my parents always had their morning cuppa together at home. They made it really sweet. And milky too.
I on the other hand like my coffee to be strong and tight. It takes me almost an hour to finish a cup. I enjoy taking it in slowly, sip by sip, savoring the flavors in my mouth and feeling its warmth reach deep inside my chest.
I also relish going out for coffee in cafes and coffee shops. The choices there are endless and I almost feel like a kid in a candy store - sometimes sticking with my regular and sometimes trying something new.
Speaking about coffee and trying new stuff, I have recently discovered the joy of playing business sim games online. Having spent the last couple of cold winter months in semi-voluntary home confinement, I came to this inevitable and revealing conclusion that apart from making and drinking coffee, the other thing that gives me joy is - brewing a virtual cup!
It so happened that while calculating funds and expenditures for my recent home renovation project (if you're a regular reader of my blog, you know why I chose to renovate my old house), I came across this interesting website for budgeting and mortgage - https://www.mortgagecalculator.org/
Flipping through the website one evening, I found out that it's more than just a mortgage calculator site. The website also features an array of browser-based games that are both fun and educational to play. And when I spotted this game, the coffee shop in their food and business simulation game category, I couldn't help but let lose the coffee lover in me.
So, the coffee shop game, as the name suggests, is about, well, making and selling coffee. It's sort of a graphic narrative where you play the proprietor of a coffee shop in a virtual universe. As far as I remember, I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur. But being an apprehensive person could never gather the courage to run a business.
And now with simulation coffee shop games, I can finally put myself in an entrepreneur's shoes and experience what it takes to be a successful café manager. Even though, the game seems quite simple to follow - all that a player is required to do is adjust the game settings to mint as much money as possible from selling coffee in a month. It isn't as easy as it appears to be.
Just like any newbie in real life, trying to start a business, I didn't quite understand what I was getting myself into when I first started playing this virtual coffee shop game online. All I knew was that I love making coffee and I love the idea of owning a coffee shop.
Starting my first day, the temper was charged, the weather was brisk and customers flocked in large numbers. But before I could delight in seeing people stop by and enjoy my cup of warm joe, I ran out of supplies long before to call it a day!
So the next day, I began with stockpiling all my four ingredients - cups, coffee, milk, and sugar in bulk. The weather was sunny and my enthusiasm elevated. Loaded with supplies, I kicked off making richer, stronger coffee but it turned out to be a slow day.
Due to the soaring temperature, not many people stopped by for coffee and I ended up with spoilt milk and stale coffee. It took me a few failures to finally understand and work out a meticulous strategy for a flourishing coffee business.
Playing coffee shop games has not only helped me pass those cold winter days cowering indoors but has also taught me some valuable industry lessons. Below are a few screenshots from the coffee shop games I played and the lessons I picked from the experience.
I have learned that to score big with a selling business, you must be able to strike a balance between customer satisfaction and profit. You should neither go overboard with your ingredients nor be too stingy for customers to find your brew weak and lacking.
The patrons brief you on what they think about your beverage with thought bubbles hovering over their heads. Just as you pay attention to these cues, in real-life business too, you should find ways to connect with your customers and who in turn would connect with your coffee.
Apart from this, you should also pay close attention to the weather conditions of the day and keep adjusting your price per se. On cold days, when most people crave a warm drink, they are willing to pay the price you want. But on hot days, when the sun is shining bright, it pays to lower your price.
Hence, you must learn to buy the right amount of ingredients, attune your recipe and fix an appropriate price per cup to sell it to as many people as you can. While it's totally your discretion to buy ingredients in bulk. It's always best to stock up on supplies that aren't prone to get spoiled.
Also, the more ingredients you use in each cup, the fewer people you get to serve. So, practice finding a convenient in-between. It didn't take me long before I could finally see my strategy translate into sales. It was rewarding to see new people stop by and even more gratifying to see repeat customers coming back again to relish my brew.
Overall, the coffee shop is an exciting and interactive game with a soothing soundtrack. What makes it all the more interesting is the way different components combine together to create a supremely satisfying café experience with you in the owner's shoes. If you're a coffee lover like me or a budding entrepreneur with your own coffee shop business, you're certainly going to adore this game.
As of now, it's finally the kind of weather again when I can freak out in the evenings and leave the windows open at night. The kind of weather, when I can drop the kids off at school and smile as my favorite coffee shop is in sight.