Profitability case: Copperline Coffee
Client: Copperline Coffee Roasters, a chain of 40 cafés.
Question: operating profit fell from $6.0 million to $3.6 million in two years. Why, and what should Copperline do?
What you have: the interviewer's answers to your clarifying questions, an income statement for 2023 and 2025, and the cost per cup.
Done looks like: the cause in numbers, a fix sized against the goal, and a recommendation with a risk and a next step. All figures are fictional.
A profitability case starts with a short prompt, usually "profits are down: why, and what should the client do?" The interviewer leads, but you drive.
- Clarify the goal, the timeframe and the scope before you structure. Two or three sharp questions are enough.
- Structure the problem: revenue (volume and price) and costs (ingredients and running costs), worded for the client.
- Analyze the data the interviewer gives you, and say what it means.
- Do the math out loud, step by step.
- Recommend: the answer first, the numbers behind it, a risk and a next step.
This lesson runs one case from start to finish, one stage per exercise, the way an interview flows. Copperline Coffee Roasters and its figures are fictional.
Interviewer: Our client's profits are down. Why, and what should they do?
You: clarify the goal, the timeframe, where the drop shows up
structure revenue (orders × spend) and costs (ingredients, running costs)
analyze which line moved, and by how much
math size the fix
recommend answer first, then numbers, a risk, a next step
The flow of an interviewer-led case. Each exercise in this lesson is one stage.