Coffee Shop Tycoon News

Hello there, coffee gourmets:

Thank you all for coming by one more day to learn the secrets of Coffee Shop Tycoon. In today's post, we're going to explain in detail what the next big update to the game is all about, which, as we said last week, is still scheduled for this month. You can actually take a peek at the update tomorrow, Saturday 16, as we will be streaming it at 7pm PST. This patch won’t only bring the price editing system, but also bug fixes that you have mentioned several times both on the Steam forums and Discord. Without further ado, let’s go for it!

[h3]Pricing & Customers’ Expectations[/h3]
It’s sad to say goodbye to our famous $1000 cup of coffee, but we had to make some changes for the sake of players’ immersion. From this update onwards, each cup of coffee will have a different price according to its value in the real world — which, following the law of supply and demand, obeys what customers are willing to pay for each one of them. Of course, it also affects the food.

You'll be able to modify this pricing from the menu configuration panel to learn how it affects the clients’ expectations. Needless to say that selling a low-quality cup of coffee or stale buns as they were made of gold will make your customers angry, so be careful with that!

How does the pricing work? For starters, coffee will have a standard price of $6 (even the custom ones) and food will be $11. But each category will have different ranges. You will be able to sell coffees from a range of $1-$15 whereas food range will be a bit higher, $1-$25.

Keep in mind that you will be able to set up different prices for different coffee categories. But the real deal comes when you get better beverages thanks to the roasting mechanic. The better coffee you get, the higher the price your customers will be willing to pay! What you need to keep in mind is that price will be tied to the quality of the coffee and food you are serving. That means that low quality goods will mean that customers won't be accepting to pay a lot of money.

Last but not least, location will also play a role when pricing your goods. Their quality will be highly dependent on the staff you hire as well as on the ingredients you use.



[h3]Improvements & Bug Fixes[/h3]

• In the customised drinks creation system, honey won’t be identified as sour anymore.
  
• We reduced down to 30% the percentage required to unlock the "Trader" achievement.
  
• We have improved the collisions of customers with the cashier to fix the bug that caused them to freeze while placing their orders.
  
• If you're preparing coffee in the brewer when the DuLatte Awards activates, there's a chance that you can see the timer on the screen as the event happens. The new update is fixing that bug.
  
• We fixed a bug that prevented business acquired before unlocking Akihabara from counting towards the shop's mission objectives.
  

Is there any other bug fix or upgrade you expected in this new update? You’re invited to let us know in the live stream event we’ll be running on our store page at 19 PM PST (4 AM CEST), leave it in the comments section of this blog post, or open a new thread in the Discussion forums. Also, we’re waiting for you on our community Discord server, where we gather to talk about our favourite beverage from time to time.

Enjoy your next coffee and have a great weekend,
The Riff Studios team

Correction: The Livestream is happening on Saturday July 16th at 7pm PST


Hello there, coffee lovers:

We're very happy to inform you that we're in optimal conditions to carry out the live stream event we planned for the beginning of July... so it's finally happening next week on Steam! There we will show you firsthand all the contents of the new update, talk about our plans for the upcoming months and share with you all our experiences as tycoon game developers. Plus, we may indulge in coffee madness and do something really crazy to make the event more fun — who knows what you'll miss if you don't come?

We're still balancing our schedules to choose a date that fits for both of us (the one you'll see now on Steam is not accurate), so make sure to check our Twitter account or this entry in the coming days to learn more.

Have your first coffee of the weekend to our health!
The Riff Studios team

Hey there, coffee lovers:

Here we are one more day to keep you up to date with the development of Coffee Shop Tycoon. Today, we bring some news about the next major update according to our roadmap, which is the one focused on economy balancing and user expectations. As those who follow us on Twitter may already know, we've been working hard in our spare time to complete the new content in time for its release in early July. At least, that was our plan until one of our team members got positive in corona last week.

Of course, this won't mean a big delay with respect to the original date. Our big guy is recovering little by little and he now feels much better, so the update will be ready in two or three weeks... if we don't find any further inconveniences in the way! That's what we wanted you to know, just in case you were worried about the absence of news.

In the meantime, we'll keep updating our dev blog with fresh information about the content that will come with this patch and more tutorials for you to make the most of all the features in Coffee Shop Tycoon. Last but not least, we planned a surprise live stream on Steam. We'll let you know the details a day or two before it happens so you all can tell your friends and see us!

Without further ado, we wish you all a peaceful and funny weekend. Please drink a hot coffee for our convalescent colleague.

Best regards,
Riff Studios

Hello there, coffee lovers:

Summer has officially arrived in the Northern Hemisphere! Though some of you might have cleaned and stored your quilts long ago, the beginning of a new season is a very common benchmark to carry out this kind of household task. Also, there are lots of people who feel like redecorating their homes and offices to welcome this stage of the year, which in terms of human psychology is usually tied to positive concepts like freshness, and excitement. So, well, what we mean is that you, dear coffee shop manager, should care about your shop design too!



The decor is just one of the requirements you must meet to reach a higher level in our current reputation system, which starts with a three-star scale that later turns into the usual scale of precious minerals: your coffee shop may obtain a bronze, silver, and golden bean as a symbol of its status.

Good reviews and a high-quality coffee are the factors that make the real difference but, as it happens in real life, customer satisfaction also has to do with how your place makes them feel. Depending on the size of each shop and the level it has, the reputation system will demand a different amount of decor points. They’re pretty easy to get because each piece of furniture has a unique value of 12 points.

Chairs are the only element that sums 6 points per item, but shall only be added to the final score when they’re put together with a table. And speaking of these elements, please remember the valuable information we shared last April in our dev blog: “There’s a 60% chance that customers who were very happy with their order and sat down to drink it, go back to the counter for another coffee to go”. Keep it always in mind!

You are free to decorate your shops as you wish from there. Each time you level up and complete a special roasting challenge, you'll unlock new furniture and accessories to use at any of your cafes. Stick to a simple, minimalist style, take inspiration from the particularities of each new location you move to, or, why not, even try a themed shop! It’s up to you.



We hope you will be able to use this short guide to running one of the most reputed coffee shops in the world through the power of shop decor. As said, this part of the game doesn’t have much complexity compared to the more closely related aspects of product management, so if you have any suggestions for improving it we would be pleased to hear from you. Next week, we’ll be talking about the effectiveness of each kind of drink in the reputation of your shop.

Remember to follow us on social media for more game tips, and join our community server on Discord to be in touch with us.

Enjoy your next coffee,
Riff Studios

Hello there, coffee gourmets!

We are glad to have you on board with us one more week. Creating a tycoon video game requires some research into the subject matter, and this was no exception for Coffee Shop Tycoon. It wasn't a particularly hard task for us to get started as we've always been big fans of this delicious beverage but, indeed, we did have to analyze the most relevant aspects of managing a cafe and learn a lot of new concepts in no time. Today we're sharing this knowledge with you all in a short list of 5 things we learned from the coffee shop industry. Let's get started!

[h3]It takes a world to produce a good cup of coffee[/h3]
The production of coffee is a fascinating topic! It takes between 4 to 7 years for a coffee tree to reach maturity; at that point, it produces cherries that can be harvested by hand or through machinery. These cherries are then processed to remove the outer layers of the fruit, revealing the coffee beans we all know and love. Coffee roasters purchase these raw seeds to extract their best properties to produce high-quality coffee. The final tasting profile will depend both on the coffee's origin and the roaster's goals.

But we are not done yet; the barista takes the coffee to the finish line. There are many brewing practices, each producing an exciting outcome. If you take the same coffee and compare the flavor of espresso vs. a pour-over, you will immediately notice how different even the same coffee can taste.

So, as you can see, producing a good cup of joe is very complex. Next time you find yourself enjoying this glorious drink, think about all the work that went into it to give you that experience.




[h3]Light roasted and dark roasted coffee have the same amount of caffeine[/h3]
Contrary to popular belief, the process of roasting doesn't change the amount of caffeine in each coffee bean. The only thing that will affect the amount of caffeine in your drink is how many beans you use to brew it. Here is where it becomes interesting!

Depending on how you measure your coffee, you might end up with more caffeine or not. Dark roasted coffee beans are larger in volume since they have expanded with heat but weigh less. Consequently, if you measure your coffee by volume, dark roasted coffee will mean fewer coffee beans than light roasted coffee, hence producing a less caffeinated drink. But if you measure by weight, since each dark roasted coffee bean weighs less, you will end up with more coffee beans and, therefore, more caffeine than a light roasted coffee.




[h3]Good quality water is just as important as good quality coffee[/h3]
This might be obvious, but oftentimes you don't give it a second thought. If you want to taste a coffee flavor that is only driven by the coffee properties, try to filter your water. Tap water has chemicals to prevent the growth of bacteria. The smell and taste of these chemicals can ruin a wonderful cup of coffee.




[h3]Coffee can go extinct with climate change[/h3]
Coffee can only be produced in some parts of the world. It is susceptible to temperature, light, and humidity levels. It is estimated that rising temperatures due to climate change can reduce the areas suitable to produce coffee by 50%. This will not only affect the amount of coffee we produce but also the flavor. The soil, elevation, and conditions of each region give the coffee its distinct flavors and aromas. If the weather changes, coffee will need to be produced at different altitudes, changing its properties.




[h3]You have probably only tasted Arabica coffee[/h3]
There are two major types of coffee, Robusta, and Arabica. Depending on where you live, you might have only tasted Arabica coffee. Before arabica coffee started to be associated with quality, it was common to come across supermarket coffee that used Robusta as a filler. Nowadays, Arabica is considered the standard and a higher quality coffee, so it is hard to come by Robusta beans.




Some community members are familiar with these ideas since they have worked in cafes and restaurant businesses for many years, so we’d love to know their points of view. After all, tycoon games should be all about a balanced mix of expertise in the topic to address and lots of crazy ideas to turn the usual tasks and work routines into a super fun gaming experience. We think Riff Studios is on the right way when it comes to achieving this, but a little push never hurts!

With all that said, the only thing left is encouraging you both experts and fans to express your thoughts on this in the comments section, or maybe the DIscussions area. Also, there’s a wonderful community server on Discord that you can join today — this is the best time to do it because we are on the verge of many interesting changes in its structure!

Enjoy your coffees, we’ll see you in the next entry!
Riff Studios