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Our Story: From Cart to Roastery – the present perfect and past simple for company history

This B2 Business English lesson plan teaches the present perfect for a company's story, with the past simple for its dates.

Grammar
The past simple for dated steps (We opened our first café in 2014.), the present perfect for results up to now (Our team has grown.), and since, for and yet.
Topic
A coffee company's history, from one cart to twelve cafés, on its website and on a new hire's roastery tour, with words like milestone and word of mouth.
Activities
An Our story page to read, a roastery tour to hear, self-checking drills, a LinkedIn chat and a story wheel, then an About us text and a recorded story.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: Where It All Began

    • PictureUnlock
    • Open a box and discussOpen the boxUnlock
    • Study the vocabulary: company historyVocabularyTry it
    • Match the phrases to the situationsMatchUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Reading: The "Our Story" Page

    • Read the article: Our storyArticleUnlock
    • True or false? Check the "Our story" pageTrue or falseUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: Wrenfield's storyQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Listening: The Grand Tour

    • Listen to Claire showing Tom around the roasteryListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: the roastery tourQuizUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: Back Then or Up to Now?

    • Study the scheme: past simple or present perfect?Grammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct tenseChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: a profile for the staff newsletterFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Drag the time words into the gapsDrag and dropTry it
    • Fill in the table: irregular verbs in company storiesFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct sentenceQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Speaking: Your Story So Far

    • Choose the best replyChatTry it
    • Spin the wheel and tell your storySpin the wheelUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework: Tell Your Own Story

    • Fill in the gaps: Claire's LinkedIn postFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: phrases with the same meaningMemory gameUnlock
    • Write an "About us" text or a LinkedIn "About" sectionWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
    • Record your story: your company or your careerSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

22 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Business growth vocabulary

10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • expand into a market
  • take on staff
  • a track record
  • word of mouth
  • break even
  • a customer base
  • go from strength to strength

Grammar: present perfect and past simple for company history

A company's story needs two tenses. The past simple tells what happened at a finished time, step by step: In 2014, we opened our first café. The present perfect gives results up to now and what hasn't happened yet: We've never had a café outside the US. Learners put each milestone on a timeline, choose since or for, place the time words and ask When…? or How long…?

Past simple or present perfect?

Finished time or up to now? How to tell a company's story and talk about your career.

A company's story on a timeline

Dated points take the past simple: 2012: Claire started with one cart. 2014: the first café opened. A span that runs up to now takes the present perfect, have or has + past participle: Since 2018, wholesale has grown. Watch the irregular participles: grown, built, chosen, won.

Wrenfield's story on a timeline

pastnow
  • 2012: Claire started with one cart
  • 2014: the first café opened
  • since 2018: wholesale has grown
  • now: 12 cafés, about 180 people

The present perfect

have / has(just, already, ever, never)past participle

We have opened cafés in Salem and Seattle. Tom's just joined the team.

Negative and question: We haven't opened a café abroad yet. Have you met Ryan?

Irregular: grow → grown, begin → begun, build → built, choose → chosen, take → taken, win → won, sell → sold, buy → bought

Finished time or up to now?

A finished time takes the past simple: in 2012, last year, three weeks ago. The present perfect covers experience, a result now, or a period still going: Have you ever worked with hotels? The samples haven't arrived yet. We've had a partner in Hamburg since last year.

UseTime wordsExample
Past simple: a finished time, said or clearin 2012, last year, three weeks ago, when I was…, yesterdayClaire set up Wrenfield in 2012.
Past simple: a story, step by stepthen, after that, soon, a year laterWe moved into the warehouse and started roasting.
Present perfect: experience up to now, no time givenever, never, beforeHave you ever worked with hotels?
Present perfect: a past action with a result nowjust, already, yetThe samples haven't arrived yet.
Present perfect: a period that is not oversince, for, so far, this week, How long…?We've had a partner in Hamburg since last year.

Since, for and the other time words

Since takes a point in time and for a length: We've had the roastery since 2017. Just, already, ever and never go between have and the participle, yet ends negatives and questions, and ago takes the past simple: She left three weeks ago.

since or for?

since + a point in time

  • since 2018 · since last year · since March · since I joined
  • We've had the roastery since 2017.

for + a length of time

  • for a week · for six months · for years
  • Tom has worked here for a week now.
  • A finished period takes the past simple: I worked in a café for three years.

Where do the time words go?

  • just, already, ever, never: between have/has and the participle: We've already met.
  • yet: at the end of negatives and questions: Have you met Ryan yet?
  • so far, since…, for…: at the start or at the end: So far, it's been a good year.
  • ago: after the length of time, with the past simple: She left three weeks ago.
  • American English: in conversation, the past simple is common with just, already, yet: I just got back. Did you meet Ryan yet? Practice the present perfect here.

When…? or How long…?

When…? asks for a finished time, so it takes the past simple: When did you join? How long…? takes the present perfect: How long have you worked here? This morning depends on the clock: I've had three calls at 10 a.m., I had three calls at 4 p.m.

Questions and stories

When…? takes the past simple: When did you join? How long…? takes the present perfect: How long have you worked here? For experience, ask Have you ever…?; Did you ever…? usually fits a finished period (In college, did you ever…?). At work, give the news in the present perfect, then the details in the past simple: I've worked with hotels before. I managed two in my last job.

this morning, this week, this year

Is the period still going on? Use the present perfect: It's 10 a.m. I've had three calls this morning. Is it over? Use the past simple: It's 4 p.m. I had three calls this morning.

Typical mistakes at work

  • We have opened our first café in 2014.

    We opened our first café in 2014.

    A finished time (in 2014) needs the past simple.

  • I work here since March.

    I've worked here since March.

    since + up to now needs the present perfect.

  • I've worked in sales since five years.

    I've worked in sales for five years.

    since + a point in time; for + a length of time.

  • When have you joined the company?

    When did you join the company?

    When…? asks about a finished time: past simple.

More lessons on this grammar: Present perfect lessons and exercises · Past simple lessons and exercises

Try the present perfect for milestones exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 11 auto-checked exercises
  • 3 games
  • 2 teacher-checked tasks
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 1 audio clip
  • 1 picture
  • 1 transcript

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • tell a company's story in the past simple, with dates and steps: In 2017, we moved into a former warehouse and started roasting our own coffee.
  • give results and news up to now in the present perfect: We've built a customer base of about 300 clients. We haven't opened a café abroad yet.
  • choose since or for, and ask When did you join? or How long have you worked here?
  • write an About us text or a LinkedIn About section with milestones, results so far and what's next

Lesson 2 of Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield continues the unit First contacts. It picks up where lesson 1's scheme stopped, at since and for, and brings the present perfect vs past simple, first contrasted in English A2.2, to work: company milestones, careers and When did you join? Lesson 3 then turns to question tags at a business lunch. A company's story is where the two tenses meet: the dates of its milestones, and what it has achieved since.

The warm-up starts with discussion boxes about company stories and careers, then ten word cards with pictures and audio, from set up a business to go from strength to strength, and a matching task. Students read the Our story page of Wrenfield, a fictional coffee roaster in Portland, Oregon, from one green cart in 2012 to twelve cafés, then hear its founder show a new account manager around the roastery in an AI-voiced dialogue with a quiz. After the scheme come five self-checking exercises, among them a table of irregular verbs in company stories. In the speaking chapter, students answer an office manager's LinkedIn messages as the new account manager, then spin a wheel to tell their own story.

Homework has two self-checking tasks, a gap-fill on the founder's LinkedIn post and a memory game of phrases with the same meaning. Students then write an About us text or a LinkedIn About section and record a two-minute story of their company or career; the teacher reviews both.

Grammar:
present perfect · past simple · present perfect vs past simple · since and for
Topic:
company history · company profile · career milestones

Teaching tips

  • Put four years on the board before the reading: 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2018. Pairs guess what happened in each, then check against the Our story page and add a line for today.
  • Pause the roastery tour after each question and have students predict the answer: a date and the past simple for When did you open the first café?, the present perfect for Is there anything that hasn't worked out yet?
  • With an in-company group, build the employer's timeline together: dates and milestones in the past simple, then three present perfect sentences about what has changed since.
  • For one-to-one professionals, rework their LinkedIn summary: which lines need a date and the past simple, and which need since or for? The homework's About section can then be the real thing.

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The whole course: Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield

20 lessons at B2 in American English that follow a year at Wrenfield Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon, as founder Claire Morgan and her team win a Dutch hotel contract. Learners network, write emails, run meetings, negotiate, handle complaints and present figures, with one grammar point per lesson.See the course

  1. Unit 1 First contacts

    networking, a company story, a business lunch and emails: present tenses, the present perfect, question tags, indirect questions

    1. Lesson 1Making ContactsPresent simple and present continuous at work
    2. Lesson 2 · you're hereOur Story: From Cart to RoasteryPresent perfect and past simple for company history
    3. Lesson 3The Business LunchQuestion tags and short answers
    4. Lesson 4Emails That Get AnswersIndirect questions and polite requests

  2. Unit 2 Meetings and figures

    scheduling, sales figures, running a meeting and negotiating: future forms, trends, gerunds and infinitives, conditionals

    1. Lesson 5Setting Up MeetingsFuture forms for meetings and schedules
    2. Lesson 6The Monthly FiguresDescribing trends
    3. Lesson 7Running a MeetingGerunds and infinitives in meetings
    4. Lesson 8Negotiating a DealFirst and second conditionals in a negotiation

  3. Unit 3 Problems and growth

    a complaint, a late shipment, a launch and hiring: the present perfect continuous, the passive, comparatives, relative clauses

    1. Lesson 9Handling a ComplaintPresent perfect simple vs continuous
    2. Lesson 10The Late ShipmentThe passive in all tenses
    3. Lesson 11Launching a ProductComparatives and superlatives with modifiers
    4. Lesson 12Hiring the Right PersonDefining and non-defining relative clauses

  4. Unit 4 Reports, prices and feedback

    reporting back, explaining prices, expenses and feedback: reported speech, linking words, modals of obligation, past modals

    1. Lesson 13Reporting BackSay vs tell in reported speech
    2. Lesson 14Explaining PricesLinking words of contrast, cause and result
    3. Lesson 15Travel and Expenses: Can I Claim That?Modals of obligation, prohibition and permission
    4. Lesson 16Giving FeedbackShould have, could have and didn't need to

  5. Unit 5 Looking back and ahead

    what went wrong, other cultures, an agency and next year: the third and mixed conditionals, past deduction, the causative, the future perfect

    1. Lesson 17What Went WrongThird and mixed conditionals
    2. Lesson 18Working Across CulturesModals of deduction, present and past
    3. Lesson 19Working with an AgencyCausative have and get
    4. Lesson 20The Road AheadFuture continuous and future perfect

Questions about this lesson

How do you write a company history in English?
Write a company history in the past simple, with a date for each step, then use the present perfect for what it has achieved since: We opened our first café in 2014. In 2017, we moved into a former warehouse and started roasting. Our team has grown to about 180 people. End with what's next: Our first café abroad opens next spring.
When do you use the present perfect instead of the past simple?
Use the present perfect for experience, results and periods that aren't over, and the past simple once a finished time is given or clear. We haven't opened a café abroad yet, but we opened our first café in 2014. At work, give the news in the present perfect and the details in the past simple: I've worked with hotels before. I managed two in my last job.
Is it "since" or "for"?
Since marks a starting point, and for a length of time: since 2018, since March, since I joined; for a week, for six months, for years. For a period up to now, both take the present perfect: We've had the roastery since 2017. A finished period takes the past simple: I worked in a café for three years. And never since five years: it's for five years.
Is it "We have opened our first café in 2014" or "We opened our first café in 2014"?
It's We opened our first café in 2014, because a year is a finished time, which takes the past simple. The same goes for last year, three weeks ago and yesterday: Last year, revenue reached about $14 million, not has reached. Without the date, the present perfect works: We have opened cafés in Salem and Seattle. A quiz in Our Story: From Cart to Roastery, a B2 lesson on edio.ai, sets this exact trap.
Is it "When did you join?" or "When have you joined?"
Say When did you join?, because When…? takes the past simple: it asks for a finished time. For a period up to now, ask How long…? with the present perfect: How long have you worked here? Since March. In the same way, Have you ever worked with hotels? asks about experience up to now, while Did you ever…? fits a finished period: In college, did you ever work in a café?
What is a business milestone?
A business milestone is an important stage or achievement in a company's growth: a first café, a new market, a revenue figure. With a date, it takes the past simple: In 2018, we started our wholesale business. Counted up to now, it takes the present perfect: We've built a customer base of about 300 clients. On edio.ai, a wheel prompt in the B2 lesson Our Story: From Cart to Roastery asks for three milestones of your own career.
What does "word of mouth" mean?
Word of mouth means people recommending you to their friends, so customers arrive without advertising. Word of mouth soon brought in more customers. Customers told their friends about the cart, so the lines grew. It's uncountable and often follows by or through: We grew by word of mouth. Before a noun, it takes hyphens: word-of-mouth marketing. Students meet it on a coffee company's Our story page in Our Story: From Cart to Roastery on edio.ai.
What does "break even" mean?
To break even is to earn as much as you spend, with no profit and no loss. It took the cart a while to break even. After a slow start, the cart finally earned as much as it cost to run. The past is broke even, and the noun and adjective take a hyphen: the break-even point. A firm that breaks even has covered its costs, often a first milestone for a small business.
What does "track record" mean?
A track record is past results that show what you can do. A buyer who asks for proof that you've delivered on time to other clients is asking about your track record. People speak of a good, strong or proven one: a track record of on-time delivery. The present perfect states it: We've worked with plenty of large offices. That reply comes up in a client chat in Our Story: From Cart to Roastery on edio.ai.
How do I teach the present perfect to business English learners?
Start from a real company timeline, the learners' own or a model one: dated milestones in the past simple first, then what has changed since in the present perfect. Learners then interview each other with When did you join? and How long have you worked here?, and every Have you ever…? question gets a past simple follow-up. Collect the time words that come up and sort them into two columns, one for each tense.
What's good homework for practicing the present perfect at work?
An About us text or a LinkedIn summary is good homework, because it needs both tenses: dates and turning points in the past simple, achievements and periods up to now in the present perfect. In Our Story: From Cart to Roastery on edio.ai, a gap-fill on a founder's LinkedIn post and a memory game check themselves, and the text of 100–150 words and a two-minute recorded story go to the teacher.
Are there interactive exercises for the present perfect at work?
Yes: time-word drills and LinkedIn-style chats show at once whether the tense was right. This page plays three parts of Our Story: From Cart to Roastery, a B2 Business English lesson on edio.ai, without an account: a founder showing a new hire around her roastery, a drag-and-drop of since, for, ago, yet and other time words, and a chat in which students answer a possible office client. The other exercises are locked.
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