Debunking the Popularity Myth / some Coffee Bar Notes

When max Popularity in Restaurant City was 50, it was all the craze to be a 50 Popularity layout. Now its much higher, folks are still spending huge amounts of coins on Popularity Items, and talking about "oh my 95 Popularity Layout" like its a very important thing to get.
Question is - is it really doing YOU Any Good?

This post assumes that what you ultimately want from Popularity is Coins.

1) 10 Popularity = 3 Customers Entering per Minute

So at level 40, you have 80 Popularity, you get 24 Customers Per Minute.

"Awesome! 24 Customers every minute!"
Hold your horses. The next question to be asking is :

2) How Many Customers Can I Serve?

That's "Serve". Not "Entertain", as customers using Arcades, Bowling Alleys etc, don't give you any Coins now.

3) But my Popularity is Max! It shows I'm handling Most of my Customers and Need more Popularity!

Well, having Max Popularity only means only means that you are Upsetting Less Customers than you are Serving
ie. for each 1 Customer giving a thumb down, you have at least 1 Customer that gives you a thumbs up.
You could have just 1-2 seats, 1-2 stoves, 1 Waiter and lots of Arcade Machines & Janitors. No Thumbs-down = Max Popularity
Hence, Popularity keeps going higher and is eventually Maxed.
BUT - are you making as Many Coins as you could?

4) So, How can I Make More Coins / Serve More Customers?

As long as your Max Popularity is above 70, and you apply variations of the Layout here with the Relevant Tips, you should be doing fine.

If you have Customers that can't find a Seat, use your "Servables" first, meaning your Lounge Bar (if you have a spare worker) and your Sushi Bar.
After that, toss on the entertaining functionals like Bowling Alley and get a few Arcades off the side

Edit on 25 Sep 10 : Inserted the above portion in Bold, realised I forgot to mention them. They're obvious, but also easy to miss out when you've been making a lot of design adjustments for too long lol

And yes, that means you Never Have to Buy ANY Popularity Items, which have terrible Return-On-Investment.

For those who aren't familiar with the ROI term, it means
Popularity Items (Soups, Obelisks) Cost FAR MORE Coins than they will help you Earn.

Note that I may be making a separate, very technical post on Efficiency & Popularity that is really just for personal interest's sake.

PS : as of 25 Sep 2010, found out that Popularity actually does help you make more Coins when the Restaurant is not open / offline.
The increase in coins is probably minimal, making ROI still pretty much horrible, but I would like to get more concrete data before closing the case :) will update in future with a separate post when data is in!
Cheers!

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Bonus : Coffee Bar Capacity

It isn't really related, but oh well just going to post here :)

The Coffee Bar can handle 4 Seats efficiently, if
- fully upgraded (as of 22 Sep 2010)
- Waiter can only move 2 squares : 1 square at the Coffee Machine, and 1 square to serve some tables. Just like this...

Note there's 5 chairs but only 4 can be used to eat, and 2 of the usable seats do not require the Waiter to move at all.

Otherwise, stick to 3 Seats, meaning the Waiter should/can always remain in 1 square.

Update : Posted pic up :)

Up for Grabs - 15,000 Coins & More!

Just a lil post to share the joy with some of the people out there playing Restaurant City :) I guess my friends will be accepting F/R as they get them.

Joan Smith

• 5,000 Coins from Gourmet Chef award
• 2 Coconuts from Lounge Bar
• 1 Cherry from Lounge Bar
• 1 Pineapple from Lounge Bar
• 500 Coins from Glorious Statue
• 500 Coins from Lounge Bar

Jonah Smith

• 5,000 Coins from Gourmet Chef award
• 1 Coconut from Lounge Bar
• 1 Pineapple from Lounge Bar
• 500 Coins from Glorious Statue
• 500 Coins from Lounge Bar

Joann Smith

• 5,000 Coins from Big Spender award

Hope you guys like it!

PS : if you haven't yet, do check out the following and leave comments.

• 25-30K Profit a Day from 1 Shift
• 17.5 Customers Served Per Minute

Your feedback is most appreciated, and if you like it, do share this blog around.
Thank you!

Best Stove & Worker Layout

An Ideal Layout in Restaurant City will ensure that you have the highest number of customers served per minute.
ie. It makes you the most money per minute

Just because it maintains Popularity / causes Popularity to go up, does not make it efficient. Of course, a good layout should also be Aesthetically pleasing :)

This post assumes that :

• you are not using PF Cash to purchase any stoves / drink machines
• there are no Drink Bars
• you have a max of 9 workers
• there are no Arcade Machines
• there are no Time-Extenders (Mariachi Band, Giant TV, Statue of Cookery, Bubble Drink Tower)

So how do I measure Efficiency?

1. Let the restaurant run for 1-2 minutes, until the customer flow is consistent.
2. Write down the amount of money
3. Wait another few minutes (2-3 minutes)
4. Write down the new amount of money
5. No. of Customers Served per Minute = ( New $ Amt - Old $ Amt ) / (Number of Minutes * $2 per Customer)

All the tests were done with the same account running at 70 Popularity, with 9 Staff. There's also a Sushi Bar I forgot to remove, but it probably didn't affect very much since no one ever goes to it. The stoves operate at about 3-4% improved speed (ie less than 1 second faster), and the drinks 4-5% improved speed.

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BEST Layout - 6 Cooks, 3 Workers (3 sets of 3 Workers)

9 Staff, having 3 sets of 3 workers (2 Cooks, 1 Waiter) each handling 9 tables.
Result = 17.5 Customers Served per Minute

Note that I'm only getting 21 customers entering per minute.
Plus, its without any other knick knacks like Giant TV, Mariachi Band, etc.

Its worth noting that due to improved speed of stoves & drinks on that account of mine, handling 9 became feasible. If using all regular stoves and drinks, suggest handling 8 seats or so.

For those who just want the answer to this Post, you can stop reading now :)

Note that if you're levelling a new account, at low levels before your Drinks are unlocked, you can have 1 waiter handle 3 stoves serving 9 tables while boxed into 3 squares. It should be more efficient than 1 waiter 2 stoves 1 drink, so it can directly handle 9 customers.

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Alternate Layout - 5 Cooks, 4 Workers

5 Cooks 4 Waiters in a Row, each Waiter having access to 2 stoves.
Result = 16.0 Customers Served per Minute

OR

5 Cooks 4 Waiters in a Rectangle, each Waiter having access to 3 Stoves.
Result = 15.5 Customers Served per Minute

There doesn't seem to be much difference in effectiveness of these 2, so yeah its really up to how you want to arrange it. This layout is really only an option for those who like to cluster up their entire cooking / eating area.

The principle of these 2 layouts is that each Waiter serves from more than 1 stove to 5 seats or so, so there's less chance at any one time that any customer will be dissatisfied and leave.
Regardless, its significantly behind the 3x3 Layout.

There's of course many other 5 Cooks 4 Waiter layouts, but these 2 are (theoretically) in my mind, the most efficient. The Row layout restricts the Waiter 2x1 squares each, the Rectangle keeps the waiter to 3x1 squares each. That may explain the better efficiency, though the difference of 0.5 Customer Served per minute is still pretty close.

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Waiter Efficiency Tips

• "Box Up" Waiter into an area of max 3x1 squares, or if you want to for aesthetics, 2x2 squares.
• When your Waiter is in the Centre square (for 3x1 squares), he can use the Drink Machine and both Stoves and serve at least 3 tables.
• Buy a few items that Extend Waiting Time (eg. Statue of Cookery, Mariachi Band, Giant TV, Drink Tower).
• Get Faster Drink Machines and Stoves (duh). I feel that faster Drink Machines are more crucial.

If you follow the above, you can serve 9 tables / chairs decently with 1 waiter, 2 cooks.

Other General Notes / Rules of Thumb

• One Stove can serve 3-4 tables effectively.
• A normal Stove takes 20 seconds to Cook a Meal.
• Hence using 6 Cooks, you can achieve max 18 Customers Served per minute, assuming NO drinks are ordered and Waiters INSTANTLY lift the food off the stove.
• At 17.5 Customers Served per minute, the 3x3 layout gets pretty close to that.
• Having many Tables / Chairs lead to many disappointed Customers. Use Arcades instead.
• If you can't afford Arcades (yet), put Chairs with no table in front of them for Customers to Wait

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Help, I can't get Waiters in the Right Places!

1. Arrange the whole set up, less Stoves
2. Place 1 Stove down for each 1 Waiter. The Waiter will appear directly in front of the Stove.
3. Save the Layout, Save the Game, Refresh.
4. After the game reloads, add in the remaining stoves. Do NOT touch the first few Stoves.
5. Save the Layout (waiters may be at wrong places at this time). Save the Game, Refresh.

Voila!

If you still have difficulty with the Waiters, see Playfish's guide on Island Layouts.