/createfood Component Cost Reduction

[Ink]

Short description: Adjust the component pricing for the /createfood script.

Detailed description: To the best of our observation, the component cost for food is calculated pretty simply.

 

Component Cost for Item = (Item Value x 0.10) + 5

 

To those who do not know, one component costs $5. (Item Value x 0.10) means that the script charges half the item's value in components--this is why whoever creating the item pays half the item's value into the business bank, PLUS there will always be a 5-component charge ($25) added on top which the business eats.

 

Item Value	Required Components	Component Cost	Cost as Percent of Value
100	15	75	75.00%
200	25	125	62.50%
300	35	175	58.33%
400	45	225	56.25%
500	55	275	55.00%
1000	105	525	52.50%
5000	505	2525	50.50%

 

Most restaurants on this server sell low-value items (usually $100 or less, but most below $500)

 

The current system seems to suggest that you must sell something at or below its script value. While I've not seen this rule officially anywhere (not to say it doesn't exist in some thread) it's a reasonable assumption. If you make a $100 bowl of soup, your business will be selling it for $100. This makes sense for a lot of products on the server such as jewelry, musical instruments, or other consumer goods--especially since the extra $25 charge becomes a smaller part of the total and a 50% profit per sale is reasonable for consumer goods. Because of the relatively low cost of the food item however, that $100 bowl of soup costs the cook making it $50 and costs the business an extra $25 resulting in an overall profit of $25 for its sale. 

 

For food, however, this is a problem. Restaurants are already a relatively unappealing script type, and unless you're selling outrageously expensive food items a restaurant makes almost no profit at all from selling food. In real life, restaurants are usually turning much larger margins on their food--as an example in one restaurant I've worked in a $16 entree only cost the kitchen a little under $3 to prepare (18.75% cost as percent of value). This is a little more crafty on part of the chef than normal; most restaurants strive for about a 25-35% cost as percent of value. 

 

Commands to add: 

 

Turn the cost calculation for /createfood to be:

Component Cost for Item = (Item Value x 0.05)

 

Item Value	Required Components	Component Cost	Cost as Percent of Value
100	5	25	25.00%
200	10	50	25.00%
300	15	75	25.00%
400	20	100	25.00%
500	25	125	25.00%
1000	50	250	25.00%
5000	250	1250	25.00%

 

The person creating this item will pay the full 25% to the business bank.

 

Items to add: None

How would your suggestion improve the server? Restaurants are a good thing for this server, and they deserve to make a little more money. 

Additional information: None

[Dalekfodder]

Meanwhile the profit margins are low given the relatively reduced prices of the food items, I guess this would fit well with the set of "good nudges in the right directions".

[Momo's Revenge]

I feel the same. The cost margin became very obvious too when I was doing a catering rp and needed a big amount of items. The people serving don't really make anything really off sales unless they overinflate the price of the item.

[maramizo]

I'm not sure.

My diner has been a literal gold mine, making an easy 20k a day. I don't mind selling food at ridiculously low prices (I've sold $3 meals - but also note it's a low income neighborhood).

 

The fact that I can make anywhere near 20k is incredible to me, let alone the additional 12k through shifts. That's 32k from these two alone. I don't need more money. I don't even take money from anyone that works the counter because of how much I make.

 

So on the one hand, I understand that margins are how businesses operate, on the other, I understand that this is well compensated for given the script money we make.

 

Maybe this should be done as a way to test a replacement for the 20k, that way we have smart marketing tactics take the lead and make businesses boom.

 

Maybe it'll only inflate the currency.

 

I'm undecided.

[knppel]

32 minutes ago, maramizo said:

So on the one hand, I understand that margins are how businesses operate, on the other, I understand that this is well compensated for given the script money we make.

The compensation comes only from entering the business, though- serving the food itself is financially irrelevant in any scenario (unless we sell a gold steak for 5k).

The same goes for paychecks- inside a restaurant business it's possible to feed people 4k/hour.

 

This means that ic profitable rp around is only possible within a scripted restaurant.

Delivery services? Forget it, as these people do not enter your place and thus do not grant the disproportionate government funds.

Serving people infront of your restaurant where you have tables? Not an option either as you effectively lose money.

 

That's why I am against the government funding in its current stance, and only suggested to raise it in character as I'd profit from that.

Yes, it rewards some sort of rp, but it's not designed in a way to really take all options one might roleplay while operating a business in account.

As such, it ultimately prevents more rp (like people also playing infront of businesses opposed to inside) than it encourages, imho.

 

[Ink]

19 minutes ago, maramizo said:

I'm not sure.

My diner has been a literal gold mine, making an easy 20k a day. I don't mind selling food at ridiculously low prices (I've sold $3 meals - but also note it's a low income neighborhood).

 

The fact that I can make anywhere near 20k is incredible to me, let alone the additional 12k through shifts. That's 32k from these two alone. I don't need more money. I don't even take money from anyone that works the counter because of how much I make.

 

So on the one hand, I understand that margins are how businesses operate, on the other, I understand that this is well compensated for given the script money we make.

 

Maybe this should be done as a way to test a replacement for the 20k, that way we have smart marketing tactics take the lead and make businesses boom.

 

Maybe it'll only inflate the currency.

 

I'm undecided.

 

So, you do a valid point that the /openbusiness bonus is very helpful for all businesses, no matter what type they are. Our server is definitely set up right now to reward one-man-show style businesses. If your business can operate with just you alone and you have a 4k/hr /startshift script, you can make 32k (and now 52k) in one night of RP. That's just from government pay! If you throw in sales and tips, those numbers can spike really high. Now, that's 52k for between 3-5 hours of RP (depending on how quickly you are posting emotes)--so 10.4k/hr to 17.3k/hr--which is a very nice return, but reasonable enough when you consider you're running a popular RP venue for the server's enjoyment for a significant chunk of RL time.

 

This is just the way the script works. It really benefits that. And you mentioned you hire people so the "one-man-show" doesn't necessarily apply there. But you also benefit from a script which allows you to hire people for free as well. While you're making 52k an opening, these individuals are making 12k without you losing a single cent. 

 

All this being said, it's easy to say you feel as though food's totally in a good place. Yet what about for an event such as a birthday party where you're catering? Suddenly you do not benefit from the /openbusiness, and your employees do not get automatically paid and need you to manually pay them out of your own pocket. You also do not get paid automatically by the server. This means that the catering service has to be paid for by the revenue from food... except food is not worth much, and the component cost is really high.

 

Or consider catering an event. If you are catering an event where, let's say you have 20 attendees and the hosts requested a variety of 5 items. 100 food items. Let's say you priced each one at $100. This is $10,000 of a total bill of food--a rather ritzy expenditure for your average party. Unfortunately, the component cost alone is currently $7,500, so serving 10k of food gets you 2.5k in profit to use to pay employees involved in serving this food. For me to break even (and make no profit at all) I need to charge $10,000 for the food, and at least $4,000 an hour each for the people I have serving it. If it's a two-hour event, I might save costs by saying I only need my staff there for one hour for food service, but I'd still want two employees ideally so they can roleplay with each other and have more fun. So that's $8,000 for labor, $7,500 for components--for me to make no money at all but just to create this opportunity I need to charge $15,500. Keep in mind I also need to pay someone to make this food as well, but I left that expense out of the equation because at least most people have /startshift for that. I'd essentially be donating my time in making the sale and organizing the logistics for this just so my two employees can each make 4k. And at the end of the day, how many people do you know who are really that excited about spending 16k just to have food at a party. 

 

This is why very few businesses do delivery RP (most do "carry-out") -- and this is why it's difficult to get restaurants interested in catering without it being a really high profile event or being very well-paid (or it'll just be the owner and a friend catering it for you, not the owner and dedicated employees). For the large-scale food event put on by the LSGOV, my expenses on creating all the food (at $0 value per item) was $26,000. That was just how much it cost me to make the food for that event. Granted, that event massively overestimated how many food items would be needed, but it was a realistic amount in theory, and made sense in RP.

 

When it comes to the subject of inflation, there are multiple ways the concern is not applicable to this case. Selling food to another player is a closed loop transaction and it moves the money strictly from one player to another (with a loss of 25% to the server's components economy). This is not going to inflate the economy--if restaurants make more money, this will not suddenly make a lot of people wealthier. If anything, it will merely increase the number of restaurants, and I don't believe that's a bad thing--restaurants are probably more conducive to realistic day-to-day RP than night clubs and actually encourage characters to talk to each other.

 

Last but not least, the current components cost for food encourages people to sell more expensive food items. The more expensive you sell the item, the closer you bring your profit margin to 50%. If you sell your food for a low cost, you either make no money or lose money on each sale. This is a noble effort--businesses such as Lil Armenia Kebabs sell food items for $25-$35 a piece and it's a really humble stance to take. But the server's economy is such that a shot of whiskey costs $200, stepping your foot inside a night club tends to run $500, and an hour of honest work (such as at a restaurant) makes you $4,000. 

 

A GTA:W character can work one hour and go out, have a 3-course meal with dessert (each as a separate item), with two drinks, and pay about 1500-2500 [assuming they tip]. That leaves them enough money to pay for the entrance to the night club afterwards and to have 2-3 more drinks with a tip left for the bartender. That's way more mileage than 1 hour of work will get you IRL, and for most people that's more mileage than a full day of work gets people in 2021 Los Angeles. 

 

A lower component cost means people can make an honest return selling low-cost food items. It also means businesses can be more creative with how  they sell and provide food. It just generally makes the food market a more appealing place to RP. 

 

Food isn't the sexiest thing to RP, but I'm sure everyone on this server appreciates having good IC restaurants to RP in. It's hard to find people to RP cooks and waiters, especially without your business being a front for a faction. More money in restaurants is a good incentive for people to try this RP out, get creative with it, and to hire more people.