How businesses make money

Kinga | Oct 12, 2025Oct 10, 2025

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this ESL lesson on business models are to:

• discuss factors that lead to business success;
• practise vocabulary for business sales;
• discuss and watch a video on all-you-can-eat restaurants.

In this lesson, students discuss what makes a business successful, explore how businesses operate and examine business vocabulary (e.g. retailer, supplier, wholesaler). They reflect on problems and solutions related to companies’ profits, watch part of a video (to 02:15) about all-you-can-eat restaurants and work with common business models. Students also come up with their own ideas for thriving businesses.

WARM-UP AND VOCABULARY

This ESL lesson on business models starts with a warm-up. Students think of a successful local business. They look at different factors (e.g. competition, location, marketing) and explain how they might help the business’s success. Afterwards, students look at statements about types of businesses. They choose the correct definition of business expressions (e.g. break even, demand, manufacturer). Moving on, students read the statements from the previous task again and name the type of business they might describe (e.g. clothes shop, café, restaurant). Then, they choose three businesses and think of factors that could increase their earnings. After that, students look at pairs of situations involving businesses and how they operate. They think of one problem in each situation that might influence the company’s profit. Students then choose the problem that they think is easier to solve in each pair, and say how they would do it.

VIDEO AND DISCUSSION

In this part of the ESL lesson on business models, students watch a video about all-you-can-eat restaurants. First, they explain what they are, and then say how some factors (e.g. staff, layout of the food) help these types of restaurants make money. Then, students watch part of the video to check their answers. Afterwards, they discuss questions about restaurant business models and strategies. Following that, students read short descriptions of common business models (e.g. franchise, freemium, e-commerce). They then analyse and compare business models and create new versions of real-life businesses. Finally, students choose a small business from a list (e.g. a food truck, a bakery franchise, a bike repair shop) or come up with their own idea. They describe the factors and steps they would need to take to make it successful. Students use vocabulary for business and sales.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This ESL lesson on business models also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students complete sentences using the target vocabulary from the lesson. They then choose three problems and list possible solutions. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.

WORKSHEETS

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