Put your executives behind bars!
Virtual Village Pub
Available in 4 Formats:
1 Day
Financial & Commercial Awareness
online
Financial & Commercial Awareness
2 Days
Finance for Non-Financial Managers
© Virtual Village Pub Limited
2½ hours
Commercial Awareness & Team Building
The
Simulation
Simulation
Virtual Village Pub takes place in the fictitious village of Little Chadwick.
There are eight pubs in the village, each with a particularly colourful name (the Black Horse, Red Lion, and Green Man to name but three). Participants form pairs or small groups to run the pubs for between three and seven rounds, depending on the format of the programme. Any number of teams can take part, up to the maximum of eight per game, and any ‘unused’ pubs are controlled by the computer. Typically, team sizes are between two and four people.
The teams’ task is to make their pub the most profitable in Little Chadwick. They can do this in the same way that any business tries to increase its profitability: by giving the market the products and services it wants at a fair price and by controlling their costs and their cash flow.
At the start of the simulation, the pubs are all uniformly dreary, dog-eared and dilapidated and, to that extent, they can be considered blank canvases for their new management teams.
There are eight pubs in the village, each with a particularly colourful name (the Black Horse, Red Lion, and Green Man to name but three). Participants form pairs or small groups to run the pubs for between three and seven rounds, depending on the format of the programme. Any number of teams can take part, up to the maximum of eight per game, and any ‘unused’ pubs are controlled by the computer. Typically, team sizes are between two and four people.
The teams’ task is to make their pub the most profitable in Little Chadwick. They can do this in the same way that any business tries to increase its profitability: by giving the market the products and services it wants at a fair price and by controlling their costs and their cash flow.
At the start of the simulation, the pubs are all uniformly dreary, dog-eared and dilapidated and, to that extent, they can be considered blank canvases for their new management teams.
There are lots of ways that the teams can differentiate themselves in the market place, including:
* Drinks offering – price and range
* Food offering – price, quality, size of menu, availability in evenings
* Staffing – numbers on duty and pay rates
* Games – pool tables, fruit machines, dart boards
* Entertainment – big screen television, quizzes, music, karaoke etc
* Marketing – price promotions, advertising, pub guides
* Capital expenditure – gardens, car parks, refurbishments, dining rooms, function rooms, guest rooms etc
Each round, the team analyse available data before making decisions in respect of the above. These are entered directly into a laptop (or onto a data input card, depending on the format), along with the decisions made by each of the other teams taking part. Our computer system then produces accounts, key performance indicators and market share data in respect of each pub and this is used to help the team make its next set of decisions.
In addition to this data, the teams will use other sources of information to better understand their potential customers and the competition – such as extra market research reports detailing the likes, dislikes and spending habits of numerous market segments and a summary of ‘information in the public domain’ (which provides information on what the other seven pubs are offering and who seems to be popular with the various customer groups). Teams are also provided with a colourful history of Little Chadwick and a picture of their pub, as well as a map of the village (they may wish to take account of the location of the college, the business park, the stately home or other landmarks in deciding upon their target markets). They will also want to keep an eye on the Little Chadwick Gazette as well as bringing to bear their own experience of pubs – from either side of the bar.
Virtual Village Pub makes no apology for being a lot of fun – but there is serious and substantial learning content within the simulation and we believe that people learn more when they are focused, stimulated and, yes, entertained. We think a bit of healthy competition is no bad thing either!
