Restaurant Simpossible

[Metropolis Man]

Restaurant Simpossible

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Goal
Former teammate Rachel came up with this clever take on the popular Food Network reality TV show a couple of years ago, so we're revisiting that challenge. You have two weeks to make five different restaurants a success.

General Challenge Rules
The General Challenge Rules always apply. If applicable, exceptions will be noted below.

Specific Challenge Rules

• In CAS, create a YA Sim. Alien or Human. Vampires, Mermaids, and Spellcasters are not allowed.
• You must choose the Private Dwelling lot trait to prevent abductions, and no adding to the household.
• You must place Hogans Burger Bar, Sunnyside Up Diner, L'attente Bistro, Villa Bovine, and Chez llama.
• Use the motherlode cheat two times to give your Sim 100,000 Simoleans. You may not use the cheat again.
• Purchase Hogans Diner. Any changes you make must be internal - no structural changes to the building. Changing internal walls is fine, but not outside walls.
• After you are happy with your restaurant's success, note your star rating and perk points and then sell your restaurant.
• Use the profits to purchase another restaurant and begin the process again.
• Any hired staff can be rehired if they are available when you move to subsequent restaurants.
• You may use manage world's to bulldoze a previously owned restaurant. This is the only permitted use of manage worlds. You may not use manage household to delete any Sims.
• The challenge ends on Week 3, Day 1, 8 a.m. or if you go broke and are unable to purchase a new restaurant

Scoring

Perk Points. Purchased Perks, as well as any unspent Perk Points, carry over from restaurant to restaurant, so when you are done add together all spent and unspent points for your total.

Star Rating/10. Add up the total star ratings of all five restaurants and then divide that number by 10.

Total. Just multiply your Perk Points by your Star Rating/10 for your final score.

Example: Hogans Burger Bar acquires 3500 Perk Points and a 2-star rating; Sunnyside Up Diner - 2700 Perk Points and a 3.5 Star rating; L'attente Bistro - 3000 Perk Points and a 4-star rating; Villa Bovine - 2250 Perk Points and a 3.5 star rating; Chez Llama - 4000 Perk Points and a 5-star rating.

Total Perk Points = 15450
Total Star Rating = 18/10 = 1.8
Total = 15450 X 1.8 = 27810

Ch-Ch-Changes
The team does not want to edit and make changes to the ruleset once this event goes live, but we may have to. If an exploit is brought to our attention or we discover something else we reserve the right to ask affected players to redo their effort.

Have Questions?
Please think hard before you ask in the challenge thread because it may be strategy. What you may consider an innocent question could cause another player to go — “oh, I did not think of doing that.” It’s always safer to PM everyone on the team (Metro, LenaLJ, MarianT, and sdhoey) for clarifications. Thanks.

And the Winner is...
After this event has closed everyone is encouraged to discuss how they approached the event, but the winner especially is expected to do so in detail.

This Event is Now Closed

Player	Perk Points	Star Rating/10	Total
Isabelalabe	62265	2.50	155662
Nikitachi	39420	2.50	98550
LenaLJ	38525	2.50	96312
Elinoee	37745	2.25	84926
mismck	28855	2.50	72163
JocyMc	30850	2.30	70955
SoulGal7	24120	2.50	60300
sone	22095	2.25	51063
Sarleenia	21455	2.25	48273
SueDenim	20475	2.20	45045
Metropolis Man	21155	2.10	44425
crstasse	18300	2.05	37515
sdhoey	17885	2.05	36664
coolsim9999999	16935	2.00	33870
Nandarelle	16870	1.95	32896
Noyo	14860	2.15	31949
furbyqueen	17290	1.65	28528
Deklitch	--	--	DNF

[MystiKitty]

I like ideas that are inspired by other media. Food Network was go-to network when I watched TV. ^_^

[Rainbow Dash]

I love watching Masterchef Australia (I'm from New Zealand!), I have so many food crushes on so many celebrity chefs I wouldn't know who to create, I'm such a foodie!

Sadly, I might be skipping this one, running a business is something I never do (Honey Money is my first time) and I've heard horror stories about how buggy restaurants are. Money making challenges are not my strength and having no experience with restaurants definitely won't help matters especially against those who have done this one before. I only just moved up in the World Ranking, I don't want to jinx it now.

Maybe I'll practice and give it some thought ... 

Before I forget, are Spellcasters allowed?

[SoulGal7]

Just doing some tests on this now, and it looks like there is still a restaurant bug. Sims who are in your restaurant will get up from where they are sitting immediately on sitting down. I found some info on this issue, and thought I would share. Have tested dividers, as suggested, which help. Have not tested half walls or fences as yet. https://sims4.crinrict.com/eng/2016/06/dine-out-issues-and-workarounds/

[Metropolis Man]

Added the following rule:

• You may use manage world's to bulldoze a previously owned restaurant. This is the only permitted use of manage worlds. You may not use manage household to delete any Sims.

[Metropolis Man]

Important rule edit...

• In CAS, create a YA Sim. Alien or Human. Vampires, Mermaids, and Spellcasters are not allowed.

[furbyqueen]

28528.5

I'll be afk in a few days so I only got one run-through. As usual I probably won't place very high anyways :'D

[Metropolis Man]

28528.5

I'll be afk in a few days so I only got one run-through. As usual I probably won't place very high anyways :'D

Please be more specific in how you attained your total -- i.e. look at the rule set scoring example listing perk points and star rating. Thanks.

[furbyqueen]

17290 perk points (11500 spent + 5790 unspent)

Stars/10: 1.65 (3.5, 4, 4, 4.5, .5)

1.65 x 17290 = 28528.5

[JocyMc]

I enjoy playing with restaurants, but they are so buggy!  This was a fun challenge.

Total Perk Points = 30850
Total Star Rating =23.5/10 =2.3
Total = 30850 x 2.3 = 70955

[sone]

Hazel Donahue finished with a score of : 51,063.75

Perk Points: 22,695
Star Rating: 22.5/10 = 2.25

[Elinoee]

Fun challenge about restaurants 

I got 37745 perk points and 22,5 stars (/10=2,25)
2,25x37745= 84926,25 points

[Metropolis Man]

Great score, Elinoee. Just a FYI for you and any others posting scores with decimals -- I am dropping them. If it turns out there would be ties, then we can look back and rank players accordingly.

[crstasse]

okay, so I gave this my best shot and all went well until the last restaurant, which had a number of bugs. 

I hope I've added this up correctly.

Star rating (4, 4.5, 4, 4, 4) giving a total of 2.05 star rating.

Perks, total = 18,300 (2,850 unspent)

Overall score of 37,515

[Noyo]

 My score (in details):

Hogan's Burger: 2950 pts - 4 star rating

Sunnyside Up Dinner: 2000 pts - 4.5 star

L'Attente Bistro: 2250 pts - 4 star

Villa Bovine: 2700 pts - 5 star

Chez Llama: 4960 pts - 4 star

So, final - total score is: 14.860 x 2,15 = 31.949 pts

For me, interesting point is, i bought the Dine Out game pack last year,(as bundle), however i tried very first time to owning - running a restaurant, strange but true. It was fun, except a couple of bugs, well, as usual. Regards, good luck for the rest.

[Deklitch]

I couldn't work out what to do once I started, so put me down as DNF as I gave up.

[Metropolis Man]

I couldn't work out what to do once I started, so put me down as DNF as I gave up.

Dek - do you mind stating how many days you gave it before calling it quits? Did you accumulate any score at all?

[SoulGal7]

My sim, Chef Sammy Powers successfully completed the Restaurant Simpossible challenge, with the following scores

Stars:  All restaurants obtained 5-star rating = 25/10 = 2.5
Perks: 23,350 perk points (770 unused) x 2.5 = 58,375

I had a few problems with the restaurant critics coming to the lot and then leaving. Finally, 2 gave me some reviews. And, of course, sims sitting and then getting up, so missed out on the meal recommendations. I had a chef and waiter not show up two days in a row on my last restaurant, Chez Llama, but even with the bugs, it was fun.

[Deklitch]

I couldn't work out what to do once I started, so put me down as DNF as I gave up.

Dek - do you mind stating how many days you gave it before calling it quits? Did you accumulate any score at all?

Not at all.

It was about to the end of week 1 and it was only 1 star for the first one. I think I would have been under 100 perk points, or perhaps under 50 perk points.

In other words very low and it was very painful for me

[coolsim9999999]

When my Sim, Rachael Ray was done with all the restaurants, she had acquired the following:
Hogans Burger Bar - 2,590 perk points and a 4-star rating;
Sunnyside Up Diner - 3,000 perk points and a 4-star rating;
L'attente Bistro – 4,050 perk points and a 4-star rating;
Villa Bovine – 3,175 perk points and a 4-star rating;
Chez Llama -  4,120 perk points and a 4-star rating.

Total Perk Points = 16,935

Total Star Rating = 20/10 = 2.0

Total = 16,935 X 2.0 = 33,870

Thanks for another awesome challenge, team, as always!  Congratulations on becoming a team member, GlazeyLady .

Coolsim

[techiechick]

When we're adding up our Perk Points, do we try to subtract the points that carried over from previous restaurants?

[Whimsical Peanut]

This year unfortunatelly, due to work & business travels, I didn't manage to submit many scores although I did start a few challenges.

I am at my test run now and I got a bug where the food is served but guests are not eating it and keep losing stars until they eventually leave.
Also another bug where after finishing their food they are not leaving at all just sit there and my staff is getting very tired & tense

In these cases are we allowed to use resetsim?

Cheers!
WP

[Metropolis Man]

When we're adding up our Perk Points, do we try to subtract the points that carried over from previous restaurants?

No. From the rules...

Perk Points. Purchased Perks, as well as any unspent Perk Points, carry over from restaurant to restaurant, so when you are done add together all spent and unspent points for your total.

[Metropolis Man]

This year unfortunatelly, due to work & business travels, I didn't manage to submit many scores although I did start a few challenges.

I am at my test run now and I got a bug where the food is served but guests are not eating it and keep losing stars until they eventually leave.
Also another bug where after finishing their food they are not leaving at all just sit there and my staff is getting very tired & tense

In these cases are we allowed to use resetsim?

Cheers!
WP

Yep, in that case which is clearly a bug you're fine in doing resetsim.

[techiechick]

No. From the rules...

Perk Points. Purchased Perks, as well as any unspent Perk Points, carry over from restaurant to restaurant, so when you are done add together all spent and unspent points for your total.

OK. I might be confused, then. So when we post our score stating how many perk points were earned by each restaurant, is that number just the amount of perk points in hand at the point we sold the restaurant? (Added to whatever perks we purchased while that restaurant was active?)

So say when I sell Hogan's Burger Bar I've purchased 1500 points worth of perks, with 375 remaining in hand. My score for Hogan's would be 1875. When I go to calculate my score for Sunnyside Up Diner, I don't subtract those 375 from however many points I have in hand when I sell Sunnyside?

[Metropolis Man]

No. From the rules...

Perk Points. Purchased Perks, as well as any unspent Perk Points, carry over from restaurant to restaurant, so when you are done add together all spent and unspent points for your total.

OK. I might be confused, then. So when we post our score stating how many perk points were earned by each restaurant, is that number just the amount of perk points in hand at the point we sold the restaurant? (Added to whatever perks we purchased while that restaurant was active?)

So say when I sell Hogan's Burger Bar I've purchased 1500 points worth of perks, with 375 remaining in hand. My score for Hogan's would be 1875. When I go to calculate my score for Sunnyside Up Diner, I don't subtract those 375 from however many points I have in hand when I sell Sunnyside?

I just popped in my Discord channel and asked Glazey if unspent perks carry over from restaurant to restaurant. She said she was pretty sure they do -- yes, I know I should know the answer myself but I am not fully versed in that content myself. But, if that's the case, your Hogan's Burger Bar score is 1500 because the 375 is carried over to Sunnyside Up, and on and on. So, you'll get a grand total of unspent points at the end of the 5th restaurant.

[SoulGal7]

When I posted my score, I didn't add the unused perk points to my score, just listed them as unused. Did I do that wrong?

[Metropolis Man]

When I posted my score, I didn't add the unused perk points to my score, just listed them as unused. Did I do that wrong?

Yes, and I am sorry I did not catch that earlier. I'll fix your score.

[SoulGal7]

Thanks, I still think I did the score wrong. So sorry about this. So, say if Hogan's Burgers had 1,950 perk points, then Sunny Side Up had 4,050 points, would you then also add the $1,950 perk points from Hogan's Burgers to the Sunny Side Up perk points? So then the total would be Hogan's Burgers - 1,950 + Sunny Side Up 4,050 + Hogan's Burgers (again) 1,950 = Total 7,950? or would it be Hogan's Burgers 1,950 + Sunny Side Up 4,050 = Total 6,000?

Sorry, I am just really confused on the scoring part about that carry-over. I did write down all the perk points each individual restaurant made, so if I did the score wrong, I can resubmit. Thanks

[Metropolis Man]

Thanks, I still think I did the score wrong. So sorry about this. So, say if Hogan's Burgers had 1,950 perk points, then Sunny Side Up had 4,050 points, would you then also add the $1,950 perk points from Hogan's Burgers to the Sunny Side Up perk points? So then the total would be Hogan's Burgers - 1,950 + Sunny Side Up 4,050 + Hogan's Burgers (again) 1,950 = Total 7,950? or would it be Hogan's Burgers 1,950 + Sunny Side Up 4,050 = Total 6,000?

Sorry, I am just really confused on the scoring part about that carry-over. I did write down all the perk points each individual restaurant made, so if I did the score wrong, I can resubmit. Thanks

Just keep track of how many perk points you spend on each restaurant. That is their individual score. Unspent perk points that you would have by the time you sell your 5th restaurant would just be added to that restaurant's score. Does that make sense? Can anyone else explain how to do this better?

[techiechick]

Just keep track of how many perk points you spend on each restaurant. That is their individual score. Unspent perk points that you would have by the time you sell your 5th restaurant would just be added to that restaurant's score. Does that make sense? Can anyone else explain how to do this better?

I understand now! Thank you. I think it'll be much easier just to track spent points and then tack on unspent points at the end.

I do still want to try out this challenge, have done a few practice runs and am feeling like I am getting the hang of restaurants a little bit.

[Metropolis Man]

Just keep track of how many perk points you spend on each restaurant. That is their individual score. Unspent perk points that you would have by the time you sell your 5th restaurant would just be added to that restaurant's score. Does that make sense? Can anyone else explain how to do this better?

I understand now! Thank you. I think it'll be much easier just to track spent points and then tack on unspent points at the end.

Exactly.

I do still want to try out this challenge, have done a few practice runs and am feeling like I am getting the hang of restaurants a little bit.

Awesome. Knock 'em dead. I need to crank out my effort also this week.

[sdhoey]

@Metropolis Man I know I late, but yes, unspent perk points rollover. So I just keep track of the points I am spending.

[Sarleenia]

This was a fun challenge, despite all the (numerous!) bugs in my restaurants!

Total perk points: 21455
Star rating: 22.5/10 = 2.25

Total score: 48273

[Metropolis Man]

This challenge ends Sunday night, so get those scores in soon.

[Nikitachi]

Total Perk Points = 39420
Total Star Rating = 25/10 = 2.5
Total = 39420 X 2.5 = 98550

I did my best, given the extremely glitchy conditions. Half of the time no one wanted to work, no one wanted to check out :K

[sdhoey]

Total Perk Points = 17885
Total Star Rating = 20.5/10 = 2.05
Total = 17885 X 2.05 = 36,664

[Isabelalabe]

Restaurant is one of my favorite parts in the sims. This did take lots of patience as there were lots of glitch and I am proud to finish it.

Total perk points: 62265
Star rating: 25/10 = 2.5

Total score: 155662.5

[LenaLJ]

Finishing early this time. Who would have seen that comming right?
I do not like restaurants, there are still to many bugs to be had with them sadly. If not i would spend more time on them.

Score is:

Perk points: 38525
Star rating: 25/10 = 2,5

Total score: 96312

[Metropolis Man]

"Man, your table is ready...Man...table for 6."

Recipe: "I'm glad that challenge is over. Time to go home."

Girly: "We just got here and our table is ready."

Sound: *starts playing the guitar* "Liberty, Liberty, Liberty...Lib-er-ty"

Sporty: "Recipe! The dining room is over here. You're walking into the kit--[CRASH!]."

Metropolis: *waves to the forum* "Hi, everybody."

Crazy: "For 9 years he unplugged us. Kicked us to the curb. Now, he thinks I'm going to open my mouth and say something profound. Parents, cover your children's ears. Mister, you have got this coming...Sul Sul!"

-----------

Perk Points: 21155
Star Rating: 2.10
Total = 44425

[mismck]

That was way more fun than I thought it would be!!! Thank you Challenge Team for another great event!

Perk Points: 28,865
Star Rating: 2.50

Total: 72,163

[SueDenim]

Sims 4 restaurants.
So realistic.
I can't count the number of times I've gone to a restaurant, gotten seated, immediately gotten up, wandered to the back to go dumpster diving, talked to my friends, broken a toilet in the bathroom, and stood in the corner for a while, then three hours later (after never returning to my chair or going near a waiter) complained about the wait times.


Tiana Grenouille, restaurateur, finished with
Star: 2.2
Perk points: 20475

[Nandarelle]

Well, that went smoother at the beginning than at the end...

Stars / 10: 1.95
Perk points: 16870

Total: 32896

[Metropolis Man]

This challenge is now closed. Everyone is free to discuss strategy and how they approached this event.

Congrats to Isabelalabe...quite a difference in perk points between 1st and 2nd place. It will interesting to hear how they got so many. Thanks to all participants.

[Isabelalabe]

I think the most important thing here is patience. Here are some things I did.
- My sim lives in restaurant. Usually, she opens the restaurant then take a nap when customers are being seated. Also, she frequently uses the potion (sleep replacement and Moodlet Solver) which she can afford from the Fortune Aspirations.
- I started with Hogans Burger Bar > Chez llama > Villa Bovine > Sunnyside Up Diner > L'attente Bistro. Generally I bought more expensive restaurants first so that I don't have to worry much about money. Bistro was last because I like its open space.
- The restaurant is open for a 11-12 hours shift and closed for 2-3 hours. I try to schedule so that it is open during the rush hour (10 am - 2 pm and 6 pm- 9pm)
- She only serve level two food and always use 25% organic ingredients to keep the customers happy. Also decoration is very important to get 5 star.
- I only hired young adult and adult, never elder and pay them well to keep them happy.
- It doesn't matter much whether I can hire the previous employees. I always train them and they will be good enough to get 5 stars in 3-4 shifts anyway. For the last restaurant where I spend most time with, employees are very good, chefs cook at fast speed and I used Fast Eaters to maximize the perks. 
- I sell the first four restaurants as soon as they reach 5 stars so that I can focus on just collecting perks on the last one. For the first four, I often comp food especially if there is only one customer. Welcome, check on table and prioritizing food are the must for all tables in every restaurant. 
- I found that recommending the dish cause glitch, so I often skip them. To avoid glitch, I have a strict schedule. My sims will check on table, welcome and prioritize food after the waiter got their order. After they got the food, she comp food. This means that in the last restaurant, I got a maximum of 25+25+25+25+35 = 135 perks per table.  Note that since the chefs are good, I sell higher level food with higher price to get money to comp food more.
- I always use Meal Rush and advertisement.
- Based on these strategies, it took less than 48 hours to get 5 stars and I got a few thousand perks per shift.

[Elinoee]

Congratulations @Isabelabebe ! You got so much perk points,it's amazing.

My sim never slept,never ate ,never went to bathrooms and nearly never washed himself: he was member of a small group  and used the "rally the troops" interaction as often as needed.
So he kept doing interactions with customers: welcome,check on table,prioritize food,recommend dish,and,often,offer drinks,desserts or even the entire dish.
@Isabelabebe,could you tell me what "comp food" means? (my game is in french)
When I had no interaction with customers available he went to his employees to congratulate them or offer them promotions,to keep them happy all the time.

My sim was outgoing,cheerful and self confident. I put the lot traits homey,convivial and chef's kitchen for all the restaurants.
I placed all five restaurants in Newcrest:maybe it was a mistake because I felt I didn't have much customers,even with the highest level of advertisement.

I divided the two weeks equally between the 5 restaurants,so 2,8 days per restaurant approximately then sold it and got the next one.
The members of the little group had to clean up and repair broken things,which was quite useful. They also had to paint so that my sim had a little money: the restaurants didn't give him any at all!
The restaurants were opened most of the time,I only closed once per 24 hours,for one hour or so. Maybe it was a second mistake?
I put some music on in all restaurants,added great decoration items,a stove for the second chef and refurbished those that were not ergonomic for the waiters (deleted stairs and put all the tables in the same area for example)

The first I got was Hogans Burger,then Sunnyside up Dinner,then chez Llama,then L'attente Bistrot,then Villa Bovine (no strategy in there).
Only Villa Bovine and Sunnyside up Dinner managed to get 5 stars,the other got 4 or 4.5 stars.

As many of you,I got a lot of glitches,it was terrible,especially the bad reviews from customers who never sat down!
The customers always complained about the waiting time,though I had 2 chefs and always ask them the highest speed.
The employees didn't work very well,despite the fact they were always happy...

[coolsim9999999]

Congratulations Isabelalabe .  Great strategy!

[SoulGal7]

@Elinoee - "comp food means" le repas est gratuit

[SoulGal7]

Well, here was my strategy. I bought my home lot in Newcrest - Comfy Cubby and put nothing on it. First restaurant, Hogan's Burgers, was in Oasis Springs on the Pebble Burrow lot. I downloaded all the Maxis restaurants unfurnished and built them up from there. My sim lived at the restaurant, and I put in a shower and a bed in the kitchen. Hogan's Burgers was made into a starter restaurant. Since it was so cheap, to build up the room scores, I went collecting and collected frogs and fossils and put them on display. Both automatically give an environment score of 3, and they were free! Any decor items that were placed had to give a room score. I also joined the Goodtimers Club and only called them when I needed to rally the troops. I trained all my staff, and added a 2nd chef first. When I had enough simoleons, I opened a second restaurant, Sunny Side Up in Willow Creek on the Bargain Bend lot. So, would basically run one restaurant and then head to the other one. When Hogan's Burgers got 5 stars, I demolished it and then placed Villa Bovine on the same lot. This restaurant was my favorite and went up to 5 stars rather quickly. Then when Sunny Side Up got 5 stars, I demolished it and placed L'Attente Bistro. I was lucky to be able to hire some of the same staff, although sometimes they were not in the same categories that they had been when they were in the previous restaurant. I did not hire elders, as during my trial run, I had 2 of my elder servers die in the restaurant. For the last restaurant, Chez Llama, I built a restroom downstairs, so customer and staff would not waste time heading upstairs to go to the restroom. By this point, I had almost all the perks, except Chef Hat and Good Management. I had a few problems with critics who would just leave, even though there were seats available, also customers not getting served. And a chef and server not showing up for 2 days straight, although they were happy. I used meal rush quite a bit in the last two restaurants. I always made sure my sims greeted customers, and try to make a meal recommendation -- sometimes they got up from the table and walked off somewhere - check on table. For the two critics that actually gave reviews, I had given them either free drinks or free desserts. I watched the customers and if they weren't happy offered free drinks or free dessert and a few times free meals to get their reviews to 5 star. My markup from the start was the highest (300%?) and made sure food in the 2 lower restaurants were Level 1. The last 2 restaurants, because I had trained staff, I could offer level 4 and 5 dishes. It was a wonderful challenge, but too bad about the glitches with restaurants.

[Deklitch]

Ah, I thought

* You must place Hogans Burger Bar, Sunnyside Up Diner, L'attente Bistro, Villa Bovine, and Chez llama.

Meant you had to place all five of them at the start of the game, but obviously not.

I don't get the process of playing the restaurants despite reading up on it, as demonstrated by my handful of points at the end of week 1.

Thanks for sharing your strategies.

[Isabelalabe]

Glad to hear strategies from others. I just want to add few things.
- I did put all five restaurants in the beginning but demolish it one by one after they are sold.
- I felt like 'giving free drink" (or desserts) is not worth it. The customers will take time to order again and the chefs cook again, the waiter serve again and they eat.. all these processes for just 25 extra perks. I felt that letting them finish and leave means new customers will come in and 135 perks per table is a better deal. That is why I only 'comp food'.
- All my restaurants only have one big open space, no second floor. I put two chef stations in the middle of the room and put tables around them.
- I don't use any music because some customers/workers got distracted by it.
- Only a couple customers died in my restaurants and it was near the end of the shift so I just close.
- I don't have club content. 
- I only use 150% price (or lower) in the first four restaurants. Again, my idea was to get 5 stars as fast as possible and move on. It would have been harder if we start with less money. Here I don't feel money is the issue at all. 

[coolsim9999999]

I used the Bargain Bend lot for all 5 restaurants because of the great constant spawning of Sims behind and in front of Garden Essence and in front of Bargain Bend (before they disappear over the bridge.)  I knew about that lot from Honey Money, and last year, I did a Rags to Riches character on my own, and I found out about that lot for selling stuff, and it worked for restaurants, too!  I also looked at the winning strategy from the last time we did Restaurant Simpossible, and I followed it closely.  Both of those things helped a lot to increase my score.

My Sim lived in Oasis Springs on a very cheap empty lot with only a few items on it, but she slept, etc. at the restaurant, so, it didn't matter, anyway.  She was cheerful, self-assured and a dance machine.

[techiechick]

I'm sorry to have missed out on this challenge - I started it and got to about day 3 and then real life got in the way. Curses!

I liked hearing about your strategies. I was going to do the "buy an empty lot for your home and then live in the restaurant" strategy too, but didn't think of using multiple shifts per day to get the employees trained faster. I bet that made a lot of difference to the star ratings really fast!