Cafe World launches Weekly Amazing Cafe Competition

Cafe World has launched a Weekly Amazing Cafe Competition. The winners will get 100 Cafe Cash plus according to Zynga Instant Fame among the other 10 Million Cafe World Players.

The Rules

According to the submission page, the beginning of every contest will be Thursday at 3pm. (PST). The rules as stated are shown below.

• Your image should be posted in the thread provided. No links, please!
• The winners will be chosen the following Wednesday at 3pm (PST).
• We will announce the winner on the fan page on Thursday at 3pm (PST).
• Please submit at least one picture of your entire Café, feel free to paste another picture zoomed into a special part. Only one design per week.
• The Café World Community Manager will contact you for your UID if you are the winner.
• You will win 100 Café Cash and your Café will be featured on the fan page.
• No photoshopped images will be allowed; including backgrounds
• Please refrain from posting any insulting or offensive images. After all this is meant to be a fun experience for the entire community!
• Do show your creative side. We will judge based on originality, effort, presentation and uniqueness of the entry.
• If you need instructions on how to post your picture of your cafe, follow these instructions.

Analysis

This is a great strategy by Zynga the makers of Cafe World. People love to show off their Cafes and it will naturally spur and increase in spending on decorative items. With the exclusive and generally more unique items being in Cafe Cash the reward to Zynga will be good.

New Cafe owners should be careful not to overspend on decorative items, including chairs, tables, wall, windows, doors, without ensuring that they have enough cash to buy food. If they do they might find themselves, to Zynga's benefit having to spend Cash to buy Farmville Cash and coins or depending on neigbours for gifts.

One thing, persons who find themselves in that predicament can do is sell some items, at a significant loss, to pay for their cooking expenses.

• Submit your Cafe To Zynga Forum.

Cafe World: Wedding Cake Issues being addressed

A number of persons have been commenting and complaining about issues with the wedding Cake. A quick search turned up a notification sent out by Zynga. Here is a note from Zynga, the makers of Cafe World.

Updated 03/29/2010 11:17 AM
We are aware of some problems with Wedding Cakes losing some progress, and are currently investigating this issue. Please be patient while our development team looks into the cause of this problem, and works toward a solution.

The complaints centered around, clicks to help not being registered and the progress of the cake not updating or retrograding.

Interestingly, the Cafe was down for maintenance last night and hopefully that was an issue being addressed. Hopefully Cafe World will correct the issues quickly and "allow the wedding to proceed".

Cafe World VIP Dinners again for 48 Hours

Cafe world has announced that in VIP dinners for 48 hours only. This is a great way to gain points quickly with a catch. The dishes take 18 hours to cook. The reward is that each serving of the 99 servings produces 99 coins. The promotion started this morning at about 2:00 a.m. EST.

Hiya chefs! In honor of our 10 million fans, the VIP dinner is back for less than 48 hours! It’s 99 servings, paying 99 coins each, and it’s FREE to cook! If you are already a member of the email club, you’ll be able to start cooking right away! If you are not a member yet, just click the VIP dinner in the cookbook to join.

In terms of statistics , there are no points for preparation. The Cafe World VIP Dinner details are below

Cost: 0 coins
Servings:99
Revenue:99 per coins serving
Points: 175 points (1 cleaning stove, 0 preparation, 174 serving)
Time: 18 hours

Coins per hour: 544 coins per hour
Points: 9.72 per hour.

Cafe World is pushing hard to get members to sign up to the email club. Almost all of the new features and bonuses are being made to members of the email club.

This promotion should end Thursday Morning April 1, 2010.

Cafe World Super Stoves are here

The promised super stoves are now available in Cafe World and the cost is a whopping $50 Cafe Cash per stove. The benefit is that in one click, the preparation stage of the dish is over. This compares with three(3) clicks currently needed in the dish preparation stage although some persons, claim the number of clicks are more.

How do you get the free super stove? (only one is available at this time).

• To get the free super stove you have to be a member of the email club. You should see pop-ups about reserving the stove.
• Ensure you have one empty stove.
• Once the stove is available, click the 'customise' icon , then the 'stoves icon',
• You will need to remove one of your current stoves, i.e. put in back in inventory. Drag the stove there.
• Then add the new super stove i.e drag your new super stove to the Cafe
• You are done and you can try your new stove.

You can buy as many as you want for Cafe Cash. Remember if you do not put a stove back in the inventory you will probably not see the stove inventory clearly.

Analysis

The super stove cost up to 4 times the as much as the previous highest price stove as shown in the image seen above. Whether it is worth $50 Cafe Cash (US$ 10) or not, is up for debate.

If you are hardcore player then it might be. However, for me it will not be an option. Zynga needs to make money and this stove might just be a hit but it could be a miss. This stove can possible be used to cook those 3-10 minute dishes with ease.

Interestingly Cafe World is have a Cafe Cash Sale possibly timed for the release of the super stoves.

Cafe World introduces Ice Cream Sundae

Cafe World has introduced Ice Cream Sundae, a slightly different kind of dish than chefs are used to . This one is of the dessert kind. This kind of recipe is for those with a sweet tooth. This dish is available at level 55 and above.

Below are the details of Ice Cream Sundae:

Level: 55
Cost: 4000

Servings: 780

Revenue: 8 coins per serving

Time: 18 Hours

CP: 255 Points (170 serving, 84 preparation, 1 cleaning stove)

Total Revenue: 6240 Coins

Profit/Hour: 156 Coins

CP/Hour: 14.1 Points

Analysis

Again, this is not a dish to shout about. The returns are low in terms of coins and points. Indeed the ROI for tying up 4000 coins is a low 3% per hour. At level 55, this dish is not really worth it.

Cafe World Dishes: Chicken Adobo and Moco Loco

Cafe World recently introduced two new dishes that we did not report on. They are Chicken Adobo and Moco Loco

Below are the details of Chicken Adobo

Cost: 1000 coins

Servings: 450

Revenue: 5 coins per serving

Time: 4 Hours

CP: 100(60 serving, 39 preparation, 1 cleaning stove)

Total Revenue: 2250

CoinsProfit/Hour: 308.75

CoinsCP/Hour: 25.00 Points

and

Below are the details of Moco Loco
Cost: 800

Servings: 1050

Revenue: 4 coins per serving

Time: 20 Hours

CP: 194 ( 18 serving, 175 preparation, 1 cleaning stove)

Total Revenue: 4200

CoinsProfit/Hour: 169.25 Coins

CP/Hour: 9.75 Points

Analysis

These two dishes are not to anything to shout about. However the Chicken Adobo is is not a bad 14 hour dish for persons who are at level 28 and above not yet able to prepare delicious Chocolate Cake.

Moco Loco falls down on Coins per hour and Points per hour and combined with its 20 hour cycle, I am not sure how useful this dis will be to chefs.

Cafe World and Mafia War

The outcry that erupted when Zynga attempted to serious cross-promote their own Mafia Wars in Cafe World is something marketers should take note off. The key is know your audiences, no matter how small the number of products you offer.

While Zynga's product offerings are smalling in numbers those that are consuming the products are in the millions. Farmville is estimated to have 75 million active users per month with Cafe World and Mafia Wars 30 and 25 million in February 2010 according to a CNN article.

Niches

Just like in the real word there are niches, within the Social Gaming niche there are many niches. There are many tastes and believes. There are those who are not into Mafia related games or Poker related games. There are those that are into Cafe World and Farmville that are not into Mafia Wars or virtual chefs that do not want to be virtual farmers.

There are those that might pay poker or Mafia Wars but don't necessarily want their children learning the Mafia Lifestyle.

Keep Mafia Wars and Poker out of Farmville, Cafe World and Petville. Those farmers, chefs and pet owners that are into Mafia Wars will naturally find themselves there. No need for cross promotions.

Values

Personally I am not into Mafia Wars cause I do not like anything that glorifies the gangster lifestyle. My beautiful country Jamaica has is problems with gang-related murders and violence. Poker and gambling is also something that I not into. Zynga has to learn to understand the values of the different niches

My advice to Zynga, pay attention to the niches as you ponder carefully your cross promotions efforts.