Running a Bakery

@AlbaWaterhouse For individual servings, you have to have your sim take a plate and then have them set it down and not eat it. Once you get the servings separated you can set them for sale. At least, it worked that way when Frank ran his deli before Dine Out came out. And I never used the restock feature either. Once he closed down at night he would just replace it with new items he made.

He sold all kinds of meals and not just baked goods. He sold whole turkey dinners and lobster and things. Made good money!

https://i.imgur.com/Dofnttt.png

Thanks for the tip!
I just tried following your instructions to have my sim grab a serving and pick up a cupcake, but unfortunately single cupcakes can't be set for sale apparently. I'll try now with other foods that come in plates.
It's a really good idea to also have some other types of food like whole turkeys!

@Dannydanbo Good point! Are you using the cupcake machine @AlbaWaterhouse ? Or just the regular ovens?

I did a creepy-themed bakery on my game. My Sims sold things like Zombie Cake, Ambrosia, and Cowplant Essence Pie. There was an upstairs area for the customers and a downstairs area that with an Employees Only door. Downstairs was where I kept the ambrosia ingredients and had the kitchen area. My Sims eventually started selling the Ultimate Vampire Cure as well, so I had a lot of potted plants down there. The cowplant was in a separate room next to the main building. My Sim tried to tell customers not to go in there, but some just didn't listen... ;)

Usually one Sim would be downstairs baking and sending stuff up while the other was selling. I never restocked items except when the founder died and his next of kin hadn't quite worked up the skill levels for the more expensive items.

I honestly didn't realize single cupcakes weren't sellable, as I never tried it. I always made them in batches, and if a Sim took one... well, I wasn't going to try to put a half-eaten cupcake on sale, anyway. ^_^;;

I haven't tried a cafe yet. I'll have to give it a shot. Sounds like fun. :)

@katrinasforest Frank would do that too. Set out some free cupcakes on the counter. He considered it good and friendly customer appreciation. In his mind ( mine) once they tasted some of his wares, they always came back to buy something!

This thread is making me want him to reopen his deli. The restaurant is okay, but he LOVES to cook and he loves interacting with people more than a restaurant allows.

@AlbaWaterhouse

Aw, thank you. ^_^ It's on the gallery, if you want some good overview shots: https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/gallery/E3CBA958DC4711E8897DB573E4FD424D

But here's a few close up pics I took:

The household getting ready to open for business:
http://www.fanfiction.katrinasforest.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ElliotsBakery-768x432.png

The downstairs:
http://www.fanfiction.katrinasforest.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10-30-18_9-07-26-AM-768x432.png

And, of course, the cowplant room:
http://www.fanfiction.katrinasforest.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/10-30-18_9-18-54-AM-768x432.png

I'm sure other people have much more complicated and interesting builds. But this was one of my first, so I'm proud of it.

It's a shame Sims can't run their own cafe, but I suppose since you can sell drinks and baked goods in a store or open a restaurant, the team figured they had "cafe" already covered one way or another.

@fullspiral That's a good idea! Usually the cupcakes ended up being "sampled" by the employees by accident. But putting them out for customers to have a taste is an excellent idea.

What sorts of things do you sell in your deli?

@katrinasforest Anything that could be cooked or baked was sold. Sometimes in individual portions, but also as full meals. I would put things in the lice cold freezer too. That helped with keeping the customer line down for ringing through because the would be auto purchase from the fridge. Frank never hired any staff and ran it himself.

@fullspiral That's a neat idea. Reminds me of those stores where you can buy fully made meals you just have to heat and serve.

I never hired any extra staff, either. I liked the idea of having the family do everything. I'd have staff if I ever did a store with one Sim by themselves, though.

I also made a bakery recently.

You can bake a batch of something and then when you click on it you can click on pick up a serving. That makes the Sim put the single plate in their inventory. You will definitely make more money this way as single plates sell for as much as the whole plate of whatever it was.

The warming rack is also a great investment as you can put items in there and they are automatically put for sale. Oddly enough I kept it in my kitchen and the customers seem to know it's there and they keep trying to get to it but the door is locked.

It's cheaper to just rebake the items rather than restocking but it is time consuming. Getting cheaper restocking as a perk is something to strive for sure. But it's fun just baking and restocking after the store is closed too. ?

"Dannydanbo;c-16869686" wrote:

"AlbaWaterhouse;c-16869470" wrote:

"Dannydanbo;c-16869436" wrote:

"AlbaWaterhouse;c-16869429" wrote:

"Dannydanbo;c-16869427" wrote:
That's why I do cakes and pies and groups of things like doughnuts or cupcakes. The big seller in a bakery is bulk, not single servings. That's what the cafe object is for.

Yes, cakes are a great idea. But I would love for my sim to be able to sell single donuts or single cupcakes, I know it wouldn't bring a lot of money but it is cute and realistic.
Oh well, it is what it is I guess. I wish we had a better way to do it, also to be able to sell the bread in a proper way instead of the loaf on a plate.

The way it's set up, if you want to sell single items like a Starbucks, build a cafe. You can call it a bakery if you want. If you want to sell in bulk like a Mrs. Fields, then use the cupcake machine.

But sims can't run a cafe, that's the shame.

Correct me if I'm wrong because I have never tried this, but if you add the cafe object to a lot other than a cafe lot type, can your sim man the object like you can a bar?

I think so. In the pic I posted above, I had the cafe counter, and Frank just hired a barista when he was open. It didn't function well though and sims never seemed to order from it. As a retail venue, they only came in to buy from Frank. I imagine a sim could open a retail, but they would likely have to make the drinks and things and have them already on the counter for sale.