MIS CASE TITLE: THE BROADWAY CAFÉ-OPTIMIZATION PROBLEM

MIS CASE TITLE: THE BROADWAY CAFÉ-OPTIMIZATION PROBLEM

DATE: SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

 DUE DATE: October 8, 2014

THE BROADWAY CAFÉ, BROOKLYN, NY 11201

You have recently inherited your grandfather’s coffee shop, The Broadway Cafe, which is conveniently located on Fulton Mall in downtown Brooklyn, NY. The location of the café is within a block from LIU Brooklyn Campus. The cafe offers many different kinds of specialized coffees, teas, a full service bakery, and homemade sandwiches, soups, and salads. Your grandfather first opened The Broadway Cafe in 1952 and it was a local hotspot for many years.

Unfortunately, business has been steadily declining over the last five years. Although your grandfather was an expert at running the coffee shop, it is outdated. There are no computers in the store and all ordering takes place manually. Your grandfather had a terrific memory and knew all of his customers by name, but unfortunately, none of this information is located anywhere in the store. The family recipes for the baked goods and soups are also stored in your grandfather’s memory. Inventory is tracked in a note pad, along with employee payroll, and marketing coupons. The Cafe does not have a Web site, uses very little marketing except word- of-mouth, and essentially still operates the same as it did in 1952.

As the owner and chief operating officer of The Broadway Café, you will take advantage of business practices discussed in BUS 110 – Foundations of Management Information Systems to increase profits, keep the business running, and bring the cafe into the 21st century.

BRAZIL BEANS, WHOLE SALE DISTRIBUTOR OF COFFEE BEANS

Brazil Beans, a wholesale distributor of coffee beans, buys overstocked beans and sells them for a discount of over 50 percent to small and privately owned coffee shops. Each month Brazil Beans has a variety of beans available for sale and you need to determine which beans to buy to make the most profit possible. You can order as much coffee as you require, and this month’s options include:

BRANDWEIGHTCOSTSALE PRICEGold Ground - A versatile, complex blend combining great Latin American and Asia Pacific coffees with a touch of Italian Roast. Great in a coffee press, drip brewer or even as espresso.14 oz$8$13French Vanilla - Blunt, smoky flavors are the objective in creating this, our darkest roasted coffee. The intense flavor makes it one of our most popular coffees.13.5 oz$7$11Special Dark Roast - A full bodied, complex blend. This medium roast features a sweet, nutty taste.13 oz$6$9Vanilla Hazelnut - Treat your guests with the delicious aroma and robust flavor our most intense roast and the most pronounced in terms of dark, deep roasted flavor and hazelnut. Lots of character.12.5 oz$5$7Organic Special Roast - In the world’s best coffee producing regions, there remain a select number of farmers who have grown coffee the same way for generations. They plant and nurture each coffee tree using only environmentally friendly techniques. They harvest each crop by hand. The coffee from these farms is 100% organic and the flavor is pure…the way nature intended it to be.10 oz$5$6

Brazil Beans has a few constraints when placing orders including:

• Each box ordered must contain 20 bags of coffee or less
• Each box ordered must contain 3 different types of beans
• Each box ordered must contain between 4 and 8 bags of each different bean type
• Each box ordered must weigh equal to or less than 150 ounces

ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

• Using Excel, determine the optimal mix for a single box which maximizes your profits while adhering to Brazil Bean’s constraints
• Briefly document, describe and support your answers for the optimal mix
• Include snapshots of your Excel worksheets as part of your documentation (see previous bullet points)
• Use template BrazilBeansExcelFile.xls for your optimization analysis.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

All of your work must be packaged in one document. It is recommended that the snapshots of your Excel be included as images into your overall documents; loose images will not be considered. To submit your work, simply upload your document into your own BUS 110 Google Drive.