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Shifting scale: the neighborhood cafe

L2

Situation: you run a neighborhood cafe that gets 100 customers a day. 20 seats, 2 staff including the owner, 1 espresso machine. Right now it runs smoothly, with a short line forming only briefly at peak hours.

Imagine this cafe's daily customers becoming (1) 10x, at 1,000, (2) 100x, at 10,000, and (3) 1/10, at 10 — each in turn. For each scale, describe separately 'what breaks' and 'what newly emerges.' 'It gets busier / quieter' is not an answer. Pinpoint the first thing that snaps at each scale, and how the very character of the operation changes. You must address all three directions.

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