Case Room · Profitability
Harbor Bean Coffee
Restaurants and retailStarterFree case
A regional coffee chain with forty stores has watched profit fall for two years while revenue held steady. Find where the profit went and say what you would do first.
How this case is scored
Every scored run is read on five lines. The case file, the prompt and exhibits together, opens at the top of the room below, and the rubric stays one tap away while you work.
- Structure. The framework you open with and how the run is organized. Strong: Buckets that cover the problem without overlap, stated up front, with a hypothesis the rest of the run tests.
- Math. The setup and accuracy of every calculation in the run. Strong: Clean setup, units carried through, arithmetic that checks, and a stated sanity check on the final figure.
- Data and exhibits. How completely the case file is read and used. Strong: Every exhibit read for what it proves, the decisive figures pulled out, and nothing important left unread.
- Communication. Whether an interviewer can follow the run without effort. Strong: Top down answers, signposted moves, and thinking stated plainly enough that no point has to be asked for twice.
- Recommendation. The close: a decision an executive could act on. Strong: A clear decision, the reasons in order, the risks named, and the next step stated.
The board for this case
A case is solved when a scored Case Room run averages at least 3.5 of 5 across the rubric. This board ranks the members who opted in by their best recorded average on this case. Ties break on fewer runs to solve, then on the earlier solve. This is a Free case and it counts in full toward this board, the overall ranking, and your case rank, the same as any paid case.
Runs scored from October 23, 2026 onward also record time open and help used. Whether those figures rank on this board is stated here once the board loads.
Discussion
Keep it professional and specific: what you tried, where it broke, what worked. Reports go to a moderator. Read the community rules before your first post.