During these past three Thursdays, September 12th, 19th, and 26th, our school’s students in Mr. Posner’s economics classes participated in a “food war” between groups. Each class was split into several groups of 3-5 people, and the goal of the project was to make as much profit as possible by selling a product. The sale took place after school for a little over 30 minutes.
The groups sold a variety of food items during the three event days. While some groups sold items like pizza and tea, other groups sold mochi donuts and cupcakes. Some groups were able to be sponsored by large businesses like Crumbl Cookies, while other groups decided to make or purchase the food themselves. The event was very successful, as there were many student and faculty customers eager to purchase food and drinks from the sellers.
During the event, every group had to employ the economics concepts that they had learned so far in the year. If they had too much stock and too few customers, many groups decided to lower their prices to increase demand for their products. In other cases, some groups had too little stock and too many customers, and they decided to raise their prices to make more profit.
At the end of the event, several groups sold out of stock, while other groups still had leftover food. The groups with leftover food realized they had a surplus in supply, and the groups with no stock left realized they had a shortage in supply.
The amount of profit made by the groups varied largely. Some groups made large amounts of profits exceeding 300 dollars, while others only made 40-100 dollars. However, a handful of groups were unable to break even and made a negative profit during the event. These groups likely had a surplus of food and were unable to sell all of their products for a profitable price.
Jacob Pacia, a Junior who sold Boba drinks during the food selling event, shares, “It was a great project, and I got to learn the processes of supply and demand and how it can vary depending on the product.” Jacob’s group was able to completely sell out of stock and earn a total of $180.00 of profit. He shares that he raised the prices of his boba from $5.00 to $6.00 near the end of the selling period to try and maximize his profit.
Ultimately, students expressed that the project was a fun experience that allowed them to see economic principles they learned in practice and earn some money at the same time.
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