Restaurant Simpossible

[Metropolis Man]

All done. Perk points = 11,785. Star rating = 1.70

Total = 11,785 X 1.70 = 20,034

[Eighty8Keys]

I posted my score last Sunday, but don't see it on the leaderboard yet. Here it is again:

Total Perk Points = 19255
Total Star Rating = 18.5/10 = 1.85
Total = 19255 X 1.85 = 35621

Thanks!

[Metropolis Man]

Yikes - so sorry Eighty8Keys.

[MomOfMany]

My game was bug filled. Always had a table of sims that didn't leave until closing and got hit with the chef bug so no matter skill level my chef never did better than normal food quality on the every last day I found a way to get excellent quality but by then it was a bit late. Lastly sometimes Tuesday evening my sim got stuck then a little after than 3 other sims got stuck including a waiter. So I called it quits then and just ended a bit early.
Perk Points = 17,326
Star Rating = 1.95
Total = 33,785

[Metropolis Man]

Hmmm...was hoping for a few more scores. It's the 29th in Europe, so no more scores for those players. I guess U.S. can still post.

[Metropolis Man]

This event is now closed. Nice job, Minnie Mouse. Grats to all participants. A very interesting concept for a challenge, @ratchie -- thank you for the rule set.

Everyone is now free to discuss strategy.

[LenaLJ]

Stuff around me sadly did that i forgot to post my score in time, i remembered it at 3 i the night when i woke up and knew i forgot something...

[Metropolis Man]

Awwww, Lena - I am so sorry. I was wondering if you forgot. Oh well. You're a fighter and I know you'll get right back into it.

[Minnie Mouse]

Thanks again, team, for a really awesome challenge. I really love restaurants, so this challenge was a lot of fun for me (bugs and all). Lena, I'm really sorry to hear you forgot to post your score... That's really sad. I was fully expecting you and Ratchie to knock me down a couple of notches by the time the challenge ended.

Anyway, here's my strategy. Again, sorry for the lengthiness. I feel like I'm always too verbose when posting these things, but I never know what to leave out...

Ratings Strategy

• I used lot traits to increase the quality of the food and the speed in learning cooking skills. (3rd lot trait reserved for Private Dwelling, although this didn't prevent Vlad from breaking in to... clean up dishes? Yeah...)
  
  • I considered using a lot trait to improve charisma and comedy, but decided it was easier to recover from poor social interactions than bad food.
• I spent as much money on training as possible, even though I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to hire the same staff at the next restaurant.
  
  • For me, it was hit and miss with rehiring. One restaurant, I got 4/5 of my old staff back. The next, I could only get a single chef. If anyone had strategies here, I really want to hear them!
• I used the best ingredients possible, and only marked up prices to 150%.
• If I had low-level chefs, I removed high-level dishes (difficulties 4 and 5) from the menu.
• I comped food strategically – generally anyone with a 2 or 3-star rating. Not enough to severely impact my profit, but enough to get my ratings up fast. By the end of each 48-hr period, customers were almost always naturally achieving a 5-star rating.
• I used the warming thingies outside, and nice décor inside to improve atmosphere.

All restaurants except Hogan’s had a 5 star rating by the end of the 48-hr period.

Perk Points Strategy

• I only closed my restaurants in 2 or 3 hour intervals. Just enough time off to prevent my staff from becoming unsatisfied quickly. (I also praised and promoted them regularly to avoid dissatisfaction)
• After the first day, I always had the Meal Rush perk active to get more customers.
• My sim never left the restaurant. So, she formed a club on the first day and used Rally the Troops to fill energy, food, and bladder needs. Other needs were filled during spare time at the restaurant.
• My sim interacted with every customer. During rush periods, she didn’t always have time to use every interaction. But she got most of them!
• I was also strategic about my order of interactions, to prevent possible routing conflicts with the waiters. (Bug note: If your sim and a waiter route to the same table at the same time, and that table is against the wall, the waiter will likely fail to take that customer’s order… ever. This also occurs occasionally for tables not against the wall.)
  
  • Welcome before the waiter comes (if possible – otherwise wait till after order is placed)
  • Check on Table and Prioritize Food after they place their order
  • Purchased the customer recommendation perks ASAP to increase frequency of recommendations

This gave me about 7500 points per 48-hr period.

Other Strategy

• After Hogan’s, I purchased restaurants from most to least expensive, to prevent possible money worries.
• I also purchased all restaurants unfurnished to cut down on costs and only buy what I needed.
• In some restaurants, I modified interior walls to relocate the kitchen to a more convenient area.
• I didn’t place tables against walls, and I tried to allow lots of space around them to minimize routing conflicts.
• I didn’t hire elders because I didn't want them to die during a shift.

I think that’s pretty much everything. Thanks again for a fun challenge.

[Eighty8Keys]

Congratulations @Minnie Mouse! As far as I'm concerned, there is no such thing as being too verbose. I enjoy reading every detail.

[MarianT]

Congraulations, @Minnie Mouse! I'll keep your tips in mind when my dynasty heir buys her restaurant.

[Isabelalabe]

Congrats Minnie Mouse. Also congrats to the team and all participants.

Minnie Mouse strategy is really interesting. I didn't know that closing for a couple hours is enough for the employees. Somehow I assume they need at least 8-12 hours of rest (just like me ^^). Because I assumed that, I opened my restaurant almost 24 hours a day but there were two shifts, 12 hours each. After the shift I fired all employees and hired the new set. I always train all of them during their stay. Firing them cause negative relationship and they were quite upset but they will usually come in as customers later which is when I talk and praise and be funny until the relationship become green. I have maximum number of employees at all time so at the beginning of the challenge most of the employees have low skills but I will always have a pool of them with more skills to hire later. Overall, it worked but didn't work as well as I expect cause some of them got new jobs and I didn't have as many choices to hire as I would like.

I did many things similar to Minnie Mouse like the order of restaurant to buy, the quality of food, pricing, meal rush, and so on. I was forced to hire elders twice and they died on the job. It was bad but also funny to see everyone stop eating/cooking and cry for awhile and then come back and continue to eat. I welcome and check on table for every single table but the rest of the interactions are random. I have to spend time on my ex-employees so didn't have much time left for all interactions. Oh and my sim live on potions. I don't have the club content.

It is also good to know about the glitch as well. I had strange things happened quite a lot. Some will get 5-start while the other left with 1, now I know why. Once the stars on some customers just disappear but they were still eating. Nevertheless, it was fun.