UrbanBrew Coffee Roasters

Calculations required:

Lincoln Park: 2,500 sq ft × $480/sq ft = $1,200,000 total → $240,000 down payment (needs $40K more)

Wicker Park: 2,000 sq ft × $525/sq ft = $1,050,000 total → $210,000 down payment (needs only $10K more)

Logan Square: 2,200 sq ft × $350/sq ft = $770,000 total → $154,000 down payment (affordable with $46K to spare)

Key insight: Logan Square is currently affordable. Wicker Park needs only $10K more;  a small, achievable gap. Lincoln Park is a stretch at $240K but potentially attainable.

Great interviewees will link Exhibit 1 metrics (Wicker Park: closest to transit at 0.3 miles, highest dining rating at 9/10) with Exhibit 2 costs and proactively say: “If we can boost revenue by X, we can afford a better location.”

Key insight: Catering & Events has the highest margin (65%) and fastest CAGR (15%), but UrbanBrew only derives 10% of revenue from it vs. 40% for competitors. Growing catering revenue can generate enough profit to cover higher-cost down payments, making Wicker Park or Lincoln Park feasible.

Re-summarize: UrbanBrew wanted to determine which Chicago neighborhood to expand to and how to increase profitability.

Recommendation: Open a new flagship in Wicker Park (or Lincoln Park/Logan Square, all acceptable with clear reasoning).

Reasoning: Wicker Park balances financial feasibility with strong customer metrics, closest to transit (0.3 mi), highest dining rating (9/10), and the down payment gap is only $10K above budget. While it has 8 competitors, strong foot traffic and dining culture support differentiation.

Risk: Must raise $10K for Wicker Park down payment; 8 existing competitors may pressure initial customer acquisition.

Next step: Direct increased focus to catering & events revenue (65% margin, 15% CAGR). Increasing catering mix from 10% to 20% would generate ~$39K additional annual profit, more than enough to close the $10K gap and fund a marketing push.