Q&A: Businesses & Hobbies

Note - If you have a counter that sells food & drinks and also have food/drinks on Retail surfaces, Customers/fellow visitors will buy and eat/drink those items on the premises too)

If I'm understanding you correctly.  You can essentially replicate the Home Chef Hustle food sale gameplay!

Random question on selling stuff.

If an item is sold, does it get the "Needs restocking" sign retail stores get? And if they do, do craftables need to be crafted again in order to restock them (you don't in retail stores)?

Also, with lots with counters (bars, cafés, boba teas etc), can you set the menu or is it just all the foods and drinks usually available?

Can the board be placed in a room smaller than 11x8? Will it just reduce the number of attendees and not teaching anyone outside the room?

Lice Cold Retail Freezer didn't seem to sell anything, but I might have missed seeing it. Sims were busy listening to Lectures and not buying much.

Counter Service is where you buy items from the counter (bar/café/boba etc) and then take it to a table (or take it away, in some cases) to eat it. It's not Table Service like Restaurants, where you sit, order and someone brings food to you. (Note - If you have a counter that sells food & drinks and also have food/drinks on Retail surfaces, Customers/fellow visitors will buy and eat/drink those items on the premises too).

You mentioned displays from GTW working on B&H lot. Does the Lice Cold Retail freezer work as well?

but with the pack can eat via Counter Service

I'm not following can you explain further?

SMALL BUSINESS SYSTEM

BUSINESS OBJECTS

Sharing is Caring Hobby Whiteboard - The board itself is 3x1, but leave a row of tiles in front for the instructor to stand there. Its catchment area for skill objects is 11x8, including the row with the board itself. Like with Yoga Mats, anything within the border counts for Classes (even partially in counts with Yoga, but haven't tested that yet).

Sharing is Caring Hobby Whiteboard Catchment area visible only in Build Mode.

SMALL BUSINESS SYSTEM

OWNED BUSINESS CROSSOVERS/UPDATES
Business Items - Various decorative signs and decals are cross-pack, so you could use a DO decal on your new B&H sign if you wish, or vice versa. Functional Open/Close signs from B&H do not work for other business types, and default to the Closed image if placed decoratively.
Retail [GTW] - You cannot live on Retail lots. Various sales displays and surfaces have been updated to work like the ones in B&H when placed on Small Business lots, including the bakery and ice display cases, display shelves and pedestals. Mannequins don't seem to work for sales, but Sims will Try On Outfits from them if you have that set as a Business Activity.
Restaurants [DO] - You cannot live on Restaurant lots. You can use the Chef Station as a standard stove, or hire Caterers (not Chefs) on it, but it seems to be missing some newer stove interactions like Canning [CoL] and Family Recipes [B&H]. Sims cannot order food like they would at a Restaurant, but with the pack can eat via Counter Service (like Cafés) or help themselves to food that is not set for sale.
Vet Clinics [C&D] - You cannot live on Vet Clinic Lots. Vet examination/surgery/lab objects can be used on Small Businesses (to make pet treats, cure pets and train the Veterinary skill), but there are no Business Activities, nor Employee Tasks that direct Sims to use them autonomously. The pet treat vending machine can be filled with treats on Small Businesses, and looks full, but Customers visiting the lot cannot buy from it. You CAN give/attend Classes/Lectures for the Veterinary skill via the Hobby Whiteboard, so you could have a Vet School, for example.

SMALL BUSINESS SYSTEM

SETTING UP [UNOWNED?] BUSINESSES TO VISIT
The only new Build Mode element to Small Businesses is the room allocation tool. All other Business settings are accessed via the Owner's Business Panel. Selling a Small Business you are living on just makes the lot Residential again without the (Small Business) suffix. Unowned Small Business Venues seem to have no visitors or autonomy, like Generic lots.

You can still set up Businesses to visit, like you would Retail etc, you just can't sell them after setting them up like you do with Retail. will also need to ensure that your Owners or their Employees have the appropriate skills for Classes/Lectures/Mentoring, if that service is offered. Just set the owners to Unplayed when you are done, and maybe give them Custom Neighborhood Stories settings so they don't move out of their Home Business or quit their Small  Business jobs. The only thing I'm not sure of here is how restocking works for shops. Service only businesses should run fine though.

PASSING DOWN BUSINESSES ON DEATH
Iirc, the Gurus said that if a Small Business isn't passed down in life by the Owner, it'll transfer to a household member on death. As Sims can only Register one Small Business each, it would have to pass to someone who doesn't already own one. I have not tested this in gameplay though. I HAVE checked to see if Small Businesses can be passed down on death via the L&D Will... The answer is no.

Thank you for doing this.

I am really interested to see if there are any updated mechanics for vets and restaurants, particularly if we are now able to have residential properties as part of these too.

There is no comma. This Business Activity sets autonomy for Horses - they will play with Horse Balls and use Horse Obstacles. Humanoid Customers on the lot will interact with Horses according to Business Activities that change humanoid Sim autonomy (such as Be Friendly or Care for Pets). Employees will also interact with Horses according to Employee Tasks.