RCT2-Food/Stall Pricing

I'm trying to figure out how to make my food/shop stalls more profitable. Obviously, in the game total revenue is more important than number of items sold, since the running cost is fixed. (Selling 100 burgers at $2.50 each is better than selling 150 burgers at $1.50)

What do you think is the best way to price the stalls? Anything from hamburgers and soda to t-shirts and souveniers.

I'm having trouble making a lot of money in the scenarios where the ride price is fixed at "free" and you have to charge a gate admission. Hey, while were at it, any rule of thumb for entrance price would help too.

You'll find a hundred different theories on this, all of them probably valid and useful in some way.

My approach:

Bump all food/souvenir stalls up roughly 50 cents per item. For food this will usually land you in the profit range of $1.00 to $1.50 per item. This has always worked for me. It's just a general rule and there are exceptions - but for the most part, you'll find my stalls in that range.

Info kiosks - I just bump maps up a dime (two if I'm feeling greedy) 70 or 80 cents each. I set Umbrellas at $4 and when it rains bump them to $7.

Don't foregt to charge for restrooms. 20 cents is a prce everyone will easily pay. Go a little higher when you need cash.

I know in general, you can price higher - much higher. But this works for me.

On scenarios where entrance is free and guests pay per ride - the money should be coming from rides, not stalls. Coasters have a base price of $2 to ride. I add a dollar to that for every excitment point a ride has to start with.

So if my latest coaster has an 8.75 excitement rating - I'm going to start by charging $10 a ride. Then advertise the ride. From there slowly bump the price up until people refuse to pay - then back off a hair. That's you're price. You'll have to lower it as rides age.

Flats are the other half of the equation in pay per ride scenarios. Charge out the ass for them. Better ones like the freefall and roto drop can easily command 7 or 8 dollars a ride.

Mid-level thrill rides (magic carpet, inverting ship, enterprise, etc) can get $4 a ride.

Work your way down the ride pricing them agressively - the lowest priced ride in any of my pay per ride scenarios is $1.50 and that's things like the carousel, ferris wheel and slide.

I'm guessing you're just not agressive enough on ride pricing.

On pay to enter scenarios (much more challenging to me) just charge the absolute highest amount that the poorest guests enter with.

Build enough to start attracting guests, then take a moment to click on them and see how much cash they have before entering the park. It's ALWAYS a $10 or so range. You'll soon see the minimum that the guests are carrying with them upon entering the park - charge that amount! This means everyone enters and you get the maximum amount of money from each guest.

Your mileage may vary.

WHAT!!! you charge for your restrooms and maps? Well damn Scrooge Mcduck, you seem like you got this pegged! :)

Thanks Gonch. I've got the pay-per-ride parks down very well. I've charged as much as $14.00 per ride for a new coaster, and watched the peeps get off the ride and run right back for the entrance! Obviously this only works for a short time, but it is fun while it lasts.

Moneywise I can rake it in quickly with those. It's the free ride/entrance fee only that gives me fits.

On the Umbrella topic: I've seen you can charge up to $9.90 per umbrella when it is raining, and nobody seems to care. That seems to be the threshhold price.

Anyway, thanks for the stall pricing. Amnity Airfield specifically I'm having a hard time with. I get to about year two and realize there's no way I can get 3,000 guests in the park by Year 4! Thing is, most of the "expert" scenarios don't seem too tough (build 10 coasters, excitement over 7.00, ride length 3,937 feet). For some reason Amnity gives me trouble more than anything.

Charge $45 entry on Amnity. That's the lowest number of $$$ peeps enter with. Slap a few cash machines around and they'll get more as they enter the park.

Wow. There's my problem. I just started charging $26 with two small coasters, and a few flats. And I thought that was high?! DOGH!

It seems that deleting the airstrip puts some money in the bank as well.

Don't forget that in pay one price parks, you only make money if people are entering the park. So advertise out the wazoo. Keep all the advertising campaigns that make sense going at all times. Obviously the free rides campaign is useless since you're not charging for rides.

Two good tips in the above posts:

1. In 'pay to enter' parks ALWAYS have park advertising running. From the moment you open until the second the scenario ends, be advetising the park. On top of that advertise each coaster as you add it. You shouldn't be adding coasters quicker than the advertising runs out - not even close. Slow steady building is the key to "number of peeps" scenarios.

2. Deleting the existing theme items and paths is how I start EVERY scenario. It really is the first thing I do. In the case of Amnity Airfield - you can pay off your loan and have something stupid like $14,000 left. That's an excellent start to any scenario.

Amnity is weird in that it's a huge map with few rides (available or to research). You have to rely on coasters which is something my style of scenario play doesn't do. My style revolves around the Thrill Rides - they're the real bread and butter and the key to success in most scenarios. Coasters as the main draw is tough because they cost so much to build and you have to build so many (In the case of Amnity) - add to that the 'pay to enter' thing and you have one of the tougher (in my opinion) scenarios to complete.

*** Edited 3/3/2004 11:46:04 PM UTC by Lord Gonchar***

In the pay one price parks, I also flush my park occasionally. Close the front gates, close all the rides and put up one way signs to direct all the guest to the gate. I've become increasingly efficient at it (Matrix style) and if you flush 90% of you guests, when you open back up, they'll pour through. Cheap, I know, but it works.

Yes, I think flushing people out is a very good way to go, especially on Gravity Gardens, which I found nearly impossible to beat until I tried this (although I beat Amnity Airfield the first time, all thanks to the 965763486 path tiles that they leave there for you to delete).

I have found cash machines to be especially valuable as well. If you put one by the entrance and charge as much as the poorest people have, sometimes they will walk right up to the ATM first thing and get out more money for stalls, T-shirts, etc.

They are even more useful in pay-per-ride scenarios. When I add a big coaster to a scenario, I charge out the wazoo for it and stick a cash machine and t-shirt stall right outside the exit. Because of the incredible flow of peeps through a new coaster, these stalls quickly pay for themselves and start racking up a profit, and the cash machine allows broke peeps to get money and pay another $14 dollars to ride the coaster again! :P

I charge for restroom use as well. Cruel, but an easy way to keep the money coming in.

Reminds me of a poem..."Here I sit, broken hearted. Paid a nickle and only farted." :)

Wasn't there a general movement towards that in real life in the early 80's?

I seem to remember having to put a dime in public restroom stalls (and my dad *****ing and crawling under just to 'prove a point') at certain places.

For some reason I want to say one of those places was Conneaut Lake Park. Which if I'm correct puts us around 1982.

Just me or does anyone else remember that?

London still charges for public restrooms.

So that's why England smells like urine...

Camden Park charges either a nickel or dime to use a stall. You can brave it and use the one without a door for free! That was back in 2000, but I'm sure it's the same now.

Oh man, I never thought of DELETING the paths for Gravity Gardens. Good grief - maybe I could actually survive that one then!

You charge more than $.20 for the restroom? Dang, they scream if I charge even the $.20. I guess they'll still use it even if they say "I'm not paying that much for Restroom __" huh?

I've charged up to $50 per entrance into a park, but will usually also toss out 1/2 off coupons a couple weeks per month.

Wow, I've been way too cheap though in my prices!

Usually what I find works is charging nothing for the entrance fee and the excitement rating for rides. For instance, if I have a coaster that has an excitment rating of 5.48, I would charge $5.40.

Does anyone have a suggestion for "# Peeps at the end of October, year __ with a rating of 600" parks? *** Edited 3/15/2004 1:07:51 AM UTC by Coasterjosh***

Hmm...I have some suggestions for you Coasterjosh.

What I do for those "X number of peeps" scenarios: As mentioned before, clear out all unecessary footpaths and scnerty. Then, I take a pretty hefty loan. This way, I can continue building rides without much financial constraint. At this point, do some park advertising and watch the peeps roll in. At this point, I usually spend a few months, or even up to a year, not building, just doing a little mantinence, and keeping the park rating high. Since I have plenty of rides, the peeps really won't get bored for awhile, all the while building up funds once again. If the interest rate is high, I'll pay off some of the loan, and build a some more, to keep the guests happy and entertained, and to attract some new guests. This usually works pretty well for me, except in scenarios with a short time limit.

For those so many guests after X yrs scenarios, I advertise the heck out of the park if I have to have a high # of guests in place. Give aways + regular marketing the park types.

And that is interesting where you have the ride ticket price match the excitement rating. I'll have to try that. :)

I hate it when I am getting close to october of year X, and people start leaving in huge bunches! :(
Sometimes, I put a "NO ENTRY" sign in front of the exit...
What should I do?