For students and teachers

Printable business simulation worksheets for short classroom use.

Use the simulators as 15-minute or 30-minute activities to connect operating decisions with revenue, cost, profit, capacity, and customer satisfaction.

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Classroom setup

How to use the simulations

15-minute activity

  1. Assign one simulator and one worksheet.
  2. Students play one short run or several in-game days.
  3. Students record the starting decision, one metric result, and one improvement idea.
  4. Close with a two-minute share-out: what helped profit, and what hurt it?

30-minute activity

  1. Students run a baseline strategy for 8-10 minutes.
  2. They change one decision lever and run again.
  3. They compare revenue, cost, margin, satisfaction, and capacity metrics.
  4. Teams explain whether the second run was a real improvement or only looked better.

Motel worksheet

Occupancy, RevPAR, channel fees, room condition, and review reflection.

Open motel worksheet

Racket court worksheet

Utilization, memberships, staffing, maintenance, and court-hour margin reflection.

Open racket court worksheet

Dry cleaning worksheet

Pricing, turnaround, stain quality, machine capacity, staffing, backlog, reviews, and profit reflection.

Open dry cleaning worksheet

Pet store worksheet

Product mix, grooming capacity, animal care, habitat cleanliness, staffing, reviews, and profit reflection.

Open pet store worksheet

Grocery store worksheet

Pricing, freshness, shelf availability, checkout staffing, shrink, reviews, and profit reflection.

Open grocery store worksheet

Coffee shop worksheet

Pricing, staffing, queue time, drink quality, pastry attach rate, waste, reviews, and profit reflection.

Open coffee shop worksheet

Food truck worksheet

Event location, menu pricing, prep capacity, cook staffing, queue time, food quality, waste, reviews, and profit reflection.

Open food truck worksheet

Car wash worksheet

Wash package pricing, bay utilization, chemical cost, labor, memberships, reviews, equipment uptime, and profit reflection.

Open car wash worksheet

Fitness studio worksheet

Membership pricing, classes, trainer staffing, churn, equipment condition, marketing, reviews, and recurring profit reflection.

Open fitness studio worksheet

Hair salon worksheet

Appointment pricing, stylist utilization, walk-ins, product sales, wait time, retention, tips, reviews, and profit reflection.

Open hair salon worksheet

Auto repair worksheet

Diagnostic time, parts margin, mechanic staffing, bay capacity, comeback repairs, trust, reviews, and profit reflection.

Open auto repair worksheet

Landscaping worksheet

Route density, crew staffing, fuel, seasonal demand, equipment maintenance, contracts, reviews, and margin reflection.

Open landscaping worksheet

Bakery worksheet

Production planning, ingredient cost, freshness, waste, morning rush capacity, wholesale orders, reviews, and profit reflection.

Open bakery worksheet

Bookstore worksheet

Inventory curation, events, staff recommendations, slow-moving stock, online competition, reviews, and margin reflection.

Open bookstore worksheet

Childcare worksheet

Enrollment, staffing ratios, tuition, safety quality, licensing pressure, parent satisfaction, and cash flow reflection.

Open childcare worksheet

Simulator-specific teacher prompts

Prompts for the new retail and service simulations

Dry cleaning

15-minute prompt: Run one shop, then identify whether turnaround, backlog, stain quality, or staffing was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a fast-turnaround strategy against a quality/capacity strategy. Which produced better profit after rework and machine pressure?

Pet store

15-minute prompt: Ask students to connect one retail or grooming decision to animal welfare, reviews, and profit.

30-minute prompt: Compare a growth-heavy store against a care-heavy store. Which created more durable customer trust?

Grocery store

15-minute prompt: Ask students to find the biggest constraint: shelf availability, freshness, checkout wait, shrink, or labor.

30-minute prompt: Compare a discount/promotion strategy with a freshness/supplier strategy. Which produced stronger margin?

Coffee shop

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether queue time, drink quality, inventory, or waste was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a promotion-heavy café against a staffing/quality-focused café. Which improved profit and reviews together?

Food truck

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether location demand, queue time, prep inventory, food quality, or waste was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a high-traffic event strategy against a prep/quality-focused route. Which improved cash and reviews together?

Car wash

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether bay capacity, chemical inventory, wash quality, labor, or reviews was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a budget express-wash strategy against a premium detailing/membership strategy. Which produced stronger profit and satisfaction?

Fitness studio

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether class capacity, trainer coverage, equipment condition, churn, or reviews was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a budget open-gym strategy against a premium classes/membership strategy. Which produced stronger recurring profit and satisfaction?

Hair salon

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether stylist utilization, wait time, product inventory, retention, tips, or reviews was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a quick-cuts strategy against a premium color, retail, and rebooking strategy. Which produced stronger profit and satisfaction?

Auto repair

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether diagnostic time, parts inventory, mechanic coverage, bay capacity, comeback risk, or trust was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a quick-maintenance strategy against a diagnostics and quality-control strategy. Which produced stronger profit and trust?

Landscaping

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether route density, crew coverage, fuel cost, equipment condition, seasonal demand, or contracts was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a dense weekly mowing strategy against a premium seasonal cleanup or contract strategy. Which produced stronger margin and satisfaction?

Bakery

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether production planning, ingredient stock, freshness, oven capacity, morning rush wait, wholesale orders, or waste was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a daily bread strategy against a pastry, cake, or wholesale strategy. Which produced stronger profit and freshness?

Bookstore

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether inventory fit, staff recommendations, events, checkout wait, slow-moving stock, online competition, or margin was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare a discount used-book strategy against a curated staff-picks, comic release, or author-event strategy. Which produced stronger margin and reviews?

Childcare

15-minute prompt: Ask students to identify whether enrollment, staffing ratios, tuition, safety quality, licensing readiness, parent satisfaction, or cash flow was the main bottleneck.

30-minute prompt: Compare an accessible tuition strategy against a premium early learning or infant/toddler care strategy. Which produced stronger parent satisfaction and cash flow?

Teacher prompts

Reflection questions and suggested discussion answers

Reflection questions

  • Which number looked good at first but did not prove the business was healthy?
  • What was the most important tradeoff between growth and profit?
  • Which cost was easiest to ignore during play?
  • For service and retail simulations, which quality metric protected long-term demand?
  • For coffee shops, did more traffic still help after queue time, labor, ingredient cost, and waste?
  • For food trucks, did a busier location still help after permit cost, prep capacity, queue time, and waste?
  • For car washes, did premium packages or memberships still help after bay capacity, chemicals, labor, and reviews?
  • For fitness studios, did more memberships still help after class capacity, trainer labor, equipment condition, churn, and reviews?
  • For hair salons, did more walk-ins still help after stylist labor, product cost, wait time, retention, and tips?
  • For auto repair garages, did more repair requests still help after diagnostic time, parts cost, mechanic labor, comeback repairs, and trust?
  • For landscaping companies, did denser routes still help after crew labor, fuel, equipment maintenance, seasonal demand, travel time, and contract mix?
  • For bakeries, did higher morning or wholesale demand still help after baker labor, ingredient cost, freshness pressure, oven capacity, and waste?
  • For bookstores or comic shops, did events or broader inventory still help after staff labor, buying cost, slow-moving stock, online competition, and margin pressure?
  • For childcare centers, did higher enrollment still help after teacher payroll, staffing ratios, safety quality, licensing pressure, and parent satisfaction?
  • What would you change if you had one more run?

Suggested discussion answers

  • Revenue, bookings, or completed trips can rise while profit falls if cost, fees, or capacity pressure grows faster.
  • Higher prices, more staff, better quality, and more marketing can all help, but each has a cost or demand risk.
  • Students should separate fixed costs from variable costs and explain which decision changed which cost.
  • Good answers for dry cleaning, pet stores, grocery stores, coffee shops, food trucks, car washes, fitness studios, hair salons, auto repair, landscaping, bakery, bookstore, and childcare should connect quality metrics—turnaround, welfare, freshness, availability, queue time, drink quality, food quality, wash quality, class quality, service quality, repair quality, equipment condition, route time, freshness, ingredient stock, inventory fit, recommendation quality, safety quality, licensing readiness, staffing ratios, parent satisfaction, slow stock, parts inventory, churn, retention, comeback risk, waste, or shrink—to reputation and repeat demand.
  • Strong answers compare two runs and use evidence from metrics, not only a general opinion.

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