Return of the Coffee Bar - Money Money Money!

I don't often post a second time so close to the previous, but I just got too excited about this... so here goes :

When the Coffee Bar first hit the stores, it was all the Craze and led to what some may consider the Almond Rush.

After that, it was followed by a disappointing period where folks realised it was just a massive, overhyped stove, and even required a Waiter to attend to it. Based on at least one forum poll, most people were rather disappointed and just felt well, it'll just come and go, or remain as a big Decorative Item with minimal special Use.
Personally, I thought the last post I did with the Coffee Bar (practically only a Picture) would be the last thing I ever blogged about it.

Boy, was I wrong, and never happier to be wrong.

Congratulations to Playfish, you somehow managed to pull the act TOTALLY back together.
The last recipe, Millionaire Shortbread, not only is exquisitely nice to look at - you can see the golden leaf actually glide from side to side beautifully - it actually has the wonderful effect of causing the All Coffee Bar Dishes and Drinks to double the earnings per Customer

Yes, it may not sound like much compared to one extra Worker that many were hoping for.
But, for those disappointed because we didn't get one extra Worker, do note that
properly arranged, Millionaire Shortbread WILL make you MORE money than an extra Worker.

Running at 95 Popularity, I get about 4-6 more Coins per Minute.
This may not sound like much, but that's more than I got from using the Lounge Bar, or Items that increase Waiting Time by 1 Second.

So if you guys been wanting to get a million Coins for the Eiffel Tower (or any other overpriced Popularity item, lol)
Go Get This!

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How To Arrange the Coffee Bar

To get the most Bang for Buck out of the Millionaire Shortbread money effect, we observe that :

• Coffee Bar has the fastest Drink Machine EVER at 30% Speed
• Coffee Bar dishes can net up to 6 coins per Dish
• Coffee Bar cannot serve 5 Seats / Tables well by itself.
• Coffee Bar serving 4 Seats / Tables underuses its Drink Machine.
• Waiter gets very bored at Coffee Bar serving just 4 Seats / Tables

So, we decided to try and make the most out of the Bar (and also our Waiter), by making the following changes, and utilising our earlier 2 Cooks 1 Waiter layout (if you don't know what that is, click here ) :

• Use the Coffee Bar to serve as 1 Stove and 1 Drink Machine
• Place 1 More Stove so that the place can handle 9 Seats / Tables

However, the following issues will come up...

1) The Extra Stove seems to be serving more Customers
It may sound weird, but for once, do consider using a Slower Stove.

2) Keeping the Island to 3x1 allows Only 8 Seats / Tables
Note that the Coffee Bar front, with the Basket of bread, takes up 1 space
hence Hold the Ctrl button Down and Move the Stove onto the Basket, and then use the Stove's space for another Table / Customer.

So your final set up might look like this...

In the Pic, the whole Coffee Bar is raised a little off the ground, you can see that by comparing against the uppermost table. Hence, Alex's stove is actually occupying the exact same square as the Basket.
Yes, the furniture looks a little mismatched, but we just wanted to maximise our gains first, and fix Aesthetics later.

Note your Coffee Bar can be on one side of the seats, it can look more like a long Coffee bar.
But your Waiter will have to walk longer to reach all 9 Tables.

PS : if you have difficulty getting your Waiter into the Island, please look at the end of the post here

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Since I did post so close to previous, just a lil note to make sure the previous Post and its Freebies are not lost, just a little note :

FREE 9 Coffee Bar Ingredients : Just add Our Profile.

Many More Happy Days in Restaurant City!
See you soon with hopefully much more Coins!

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 :)