Part 5: Where it all began

Episode 5: Where it all began



Over there… yep, that's good.

Now move that other light a little more to the left… ok a little more… more… now stop, that's great!

And that last one on the right; tilt that down a little bit, around ten more degrees… Perfect!

Alright boys, I think that's it. Good job everyone! The stage looks great!

So you ok working at seven 'til nine?



Sure, no problem

Alright, I'll see you tonight then.

You got it.



Nice of Robert from the last game to come help us set up the stage. We can now hire entertainers!

It's a bad idea.



This screen shows how our restaurant's rating is calculated. Getting a higher restaurant rating is important, and entertainers contribute to that, so you'd think that they would be quite useful. However, entertainers barely make any difference at all to the rating calculation.

The restaurant's overall rating is a combination of your food, service and environment ratings, from which the game then deducts your price and complaints ratings. These factors are all weighted differently in the calculation, and the thing with the lowest weighting of all is the environment factor. The environment rating itself is a combination of your decoration, comfort, exterior and view and live performance ratings, with live performances being weighted the least out of all of these. So your live performance rating makes the smallest contribution to the least important factor in calculating your restaurant rating. At the same time, setting up stages for live performances takes up a lot of space in your restaurant which could have accommodated more paying guests, and you have to pay performers several times more than your productive employees. Basically, performers are worthless leeches that will drag you down and barely do anything for your restaurant.

HOWEVER, I have this strange feeling that I should not ignore live performers, and that I should try to make sure that I have access to the very best live performers if I don't want to have to restart a mission with a really bullshit mission objective far later in the game. Just a hunch. So welcome aboard, performers!



Treize à Table is boringly ordinary at the moment. I'm going to move some tables around and try to optimise the layout, but I'll keep the default walls, floor and tables until we can have a vote about it.



There we go. Like a factory!



Shortly after we open for business, this management consultant tries to sell me a ticket to her lecture on business productivity. The only thing notable about this is that I had to click through four dialogue boxes before I could tell her to go away.

After getting rid of the management consultant, I get called to another table. What'll they want to sell us this time?



I've read about your restaurant in the papers Armand, and I must say the food is everything they say it is. I like it very much…

It's always a pleasure to hear from a satisfied customer.

Only a customer, Armand? I'm hoping I'm more than that to you… a friend perhaps?

I had a feeling today that a very important patron was coming in tonight…

I tease, I tease... So, kidding aside. How are you Armand?

It has been very hectic lately I should say. Managing a successful restaurant is tiring work no?

It is the price of success wouldn't you say?

I must confess I'm especially happy now, since you've finally had a chance to taste my cooking.

Haha… yes well, I'm glad I've finally been able to drop by as well.

How was your trip by the way?

…oh, you know, the usual. I'm required to attend these formal functions every now and then. Hobnob with tycoons and movie stars. It's all very superficial…

…but you need to do it to get any work done.

That's right. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining. I live a privileged life. It's just that, sometimes, it can get a little too much, and the spotlight can be overwhelming at times.

Which is why I enjoy being here so much…

It's a joy for me to hear you say that, Michele.

Ah shoot, I don't want to eat and run, but…

…and I do have a kitchen to attend to. So… I'll see you around?

Hopefully not too long… Here's my number in case you feel the urge to call.

Maybe we could meet up again sometime…

I would like that.



Armand, I don't think becoming a TV personality has been good for you.

Anyway, I noticed at this point that we got a new batch of recipes from our recipe research. It seems the game sometimes doesn't tell you if you earn the recipes in a month where you transition to a new mission.



This is our new French dessert, strawberry lasagne. Delicious.



On the other hand, this new American dessert recipe for gin soufflé* sounds more promising.

*Sloe gin soufflé does not contain sloe fruit or gin.



Green tea with milk? Iced green tea with milk?



Continuing the proud tradition of mixing things with very low pH values with milk is the pineapple cooler.



This is amazingly profitable for a coffee shop recipe, so I'm not even going to make fun of it.

After I return to Treize à Table, George decides to pay us a visit.



Armand, my good man! I just got the latest word on the show.

You have good news?

Well we hit our numbers so…

…that’s a good thing right?

We're managing! So yes, that is a good thing. And that's something I can't say for the other shows on our timeslot.

What's our next game plan then?

Well we just keep on plugging that's what. We'll hit our stride eventually. But you'll need to keep up the charm and perform even better. The next few weeks will be crucial to the show's survival…

Alright then. Thanks for coming over George.

We're adequate!



Now that we've set up a stage for performances, guests will start trying to hook us up with their friends' worthless garage bands and improv groups and Juilliard-trained violinists. Pfft. BUT, because of my newfound respect for stage performers, I enthusiastically take the guest up on his offer.



It turned out to be a good call. The violinist isn't any better than the pianist, but he does charge $7 less per hour!



A guest sells me this recipe for $16,875. That does not look like a scone.



I also buy this cranberry tea recipe. At least this contains cranberries (but not tea).



Guests are really throwing recipes at me today. This one was $40,500! It's got a nice quality rating, but the gross profit per serving is only $2.02. What's even the point.



It's the end of the month, and I'm failing the mission objectives. I briefly wonder why before I realise that I never actually told the performers to come perform at the restaurant. I tell the violinist to start showing up at six.



Charles Young comes to do a set, and I quickly realise why he's $7 cheaper than the pianist. I don't know the name of the piece that he's playing, but it's on the level of Itsy Bitsy Spider.



But our guests were impressed, and we pass the mission!

Now we need to do something about Treize à Table




These are the wall, floor and table options for the restaurant. The top row of tables are fine, the ones from G onward are awful, so picking one of those might make things challenging for me.



Treize à Table has a huge number of tapestries and paintings we can use. Since this restaurant was in Restaurant Empire 1, I still have all the old edited tapestries and paintings from the old LP, but I figured it'd be fun to try some new stuff this time!



And here are the unique floor-mounted decorations.

Thread poll: what décor should we have in Treize à Table?

Vote on wall, floor and table design. For example, to vote for wall type C, floor type D and table type B, vote "CDB". The winning combination will be whatever has the most votes when I play the next mission. Also, let me know if you want me to add any of the floor or wall decorations.