Early Access to Beta Provided by EA/ Firemonkeys (Presented by EA Creator Network)
A brand new event is available from the Hot Simmerin’ Summer July 2022 update. MidTown Café is a new business venue where you can hire staff, upgrade equipment, and grow your café to be the most talked about business in the new map location, MidTown!
You must be level 27 or over to begin. This event will be available until you are ready to complete it so there is no rush!
How can I start my café? Build MidTown Terminal, you will find it next to the Children’s Store in Simtown:
Once built you will be able to access the café from the bus terminal and the tutorial with Barry Ista will begin:
THE FIRST TIMER FOR THIS EVENT WILL BEGIN WHEN YOU START THE TUTORIAL
At the café you can click on the menu button in the top left corner to view your progress and everything you need to know about MidTown Café, click here to see this in more detail
You can start shifts from here too, a shift lasts 4 hours and you can complete 2 in a 24 hour period:
What do I have to do? You will manage the Full of Beans Café by serving customers and fulfilling their orders with speedy service. Employ specialist staff and upgrade your café’s equipment to ensure all your customers’ needs are met. Customers will rate your service which then earns you rewards.
There are 2 types of customers:
- Walk ins- these are regular customers who will walk in off the street and pay Café Credits when served
- Tourists- these arrive on buses and are part of Tour Groups so many arrive at once. They also pay in Café Credits but you will also earn Likes from these customers. You need to earn Likes to progress and unlock new equipment and prizes on the progress bar.
What are Café Credits used for? Café Credits are used to upgrade equipment, hire staff, send staff on training and pay their wages:
What are Likes used for? Likes unlock rewards on the progress tab in the Café Menu:
There are 3 types of tourists:
- Influencers- they have blue timers above their head and if served before the blue timer turns to green you will earn bonus Likes
- Moneybags- they have yellow timers above their head and if served before the yellow timer turns to green you will earn more Café Credit as they will give you a tip
- Impatient- they have orange timers above their heads, these are shorter timers than the green one so you need to serve them first to avoid your staff getting stressed
Not all customers have these timers walk ins and some tourists will have the green timer which is the regular timer, if any of the timers run out before they are served they will become angry and cause stress to your staff.
How do I deal with impatient customers? Tap on them and select bump to move them to the front of the queue:
You can do this for any sim you want to serve first so if they have a green timer that will run out before someone else or if they are an influencer or moneybags type of customer you can bump them up to serve them before they lose their extra rewards.
What happens if customers get angry? Angry customers mean your staff will become stressed, a meter will appear above your staff members head when they start to become stressed:
If this meter gets full they will have a stress event:
If they have 2 stress events in 1 shift they may call in sick:
If they have 3 stress events in 1 shift they will quit:
How do I avoid stress events? You can click on a member of staff who is getting stressed and select ‘send on break’ Once they have finished dealing with the current customer they will head outside for some air, this will empty their meter. They will return to work when their meter is empty:
Staff will automatically take a stress break once they have a stress event
What happens if they quit? If a staff member quits you can hire them back at the end of the shift for Café Credits, it is cheaper to rehire than to hire a new member of staff:
How do I get to MidTown Café? You can click on the bus terminal in Simtown or from the active tasks tab:
All staff and customers are non playable sims so you can’t really control them apart from sending staff on breaks or bumping customers up the queue. This means you can bring 10 of your own sims to the café, they won’t be able to work at the café and serve customers however they can enjoy the surroundings but you cannot bring your sims to the café while a tour is going on.
Watch my Guide to MidTown Café walkthrough video here
Tours
To start a tour you need to click on the Tour Bus Button in the top left corner under the Café Progress Button:
You will then get a pop up to select which tour you want to complete, tours can either be Easy, Challenging or Risky. You will always get the Easy option but then the other will be a harder option so either Challenging or Risky.
Harder Tours have more tourists and more likely to have moneybags, influencers or impatient tourists but shorter queue times so you can earn more rewards but you need to be more efficient when serving them to avoid stress to your staff by bumping certain sims to the top of the queue:
You can complete 4 tours a shift and a shift lasts 4 hours, between each tour there is a cool down period of up to an hour.
Serving Tourists is the only way to earn Likes to progress in this event and unlock rewards
MidTown Café Menu
Tab 1: Reward Progress & Café Issues
Reward Progress Bar- there are 45 levels to complete to fully upgrade this café, prizes are unlocked by earning Likes which you earn by completing tours:
Some levels have Milestone Rewards, you need to complete these stages in the time limit to earn those items for free otherwise you will need to purchase them to continue:
It will cost Café Credits to purchase café equipment if you don’t complete in the time limit:
It will cost social points if you fail to reach any of the café upgrade milestones on time, you have to pay before you can even complete another shift. I really don’t like that this costs social points, not everyone has that many to spend on this and the fact you can’t even continue completing shifts until you pay it doesn’t seem fair:
THE FIRST TIMER FOR THIS EVENT WILL BEGIN WHEN YOU START THE TUTORIAL
The table below shows all the levels you need to complete, the rewards you earn for each level and how many likes are needed to unlock these rewards. You can also see the time limit to reach certain milestones as well as the cost if you fail to complete in time:
| REWARDS | LIKES NEEDED | TIME LIMIT | COST FOR MISSING TIME LIMIT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toaster | 5 | 1 day | Toaster- 255 Café Credits |
| Toaster Specialist & Toast | ||||
| 2 | S1,000 | 35 | 3 days to reach level 5 | |
| 3 | Chai Lattes | 65 | 3 days to reach level 5 | |
| 1LP | ||||
| 4 | Cheese Toast | 105 | 3 days to reach level 5 | |
| 1LP & 1SP | ||||
| 5 | Shake Maker | 145 | 3 days | Shake Maker- 340 Café Credits Prize Pack- 45SP |
| Shake Specialist & Vanilla Shakes Prize Pack |
||||
| 6 | S2,000 | 185 | 4 days to reach level 10 | |
| 7 | 2LP | 235 | 4 days to reach level 10 | |
| 8 | Lattes | 275 | 4 days to reach level 10 | |
| 2SP | ||||
| 9 | Chocolate Shakes | 325 | 4 days to reach level 10 | |
| 2LP & 2SP | ||||
| 10 | Sandwich Display | 395 | 4 days | Sandwich Display- 850 Café Credits Prize Pack- 60SP |
| Sandwich Specialist & Sandwiches Prize Pack |
||||
| 11 | Ham and Cheese Toast | 465 | 6 days to reach level 15 | |
| S3,000 | ||||
| 12 | 3LP | 590 | 6 days to reach level 15 | |
| 13 | Mochas | 735 | 6 days to reach level 15 | |
| 3SP | ||||
| 14 | Rolls | 860 | 6 days to reach level 15 | |
| 3LP & 3SP | ||||
| 15 | Pastry Display | 1,085 | 6 days | Pastry Display- 1,280 Café Credits Prize Pack- 110SP |
| Pastry Specialist & Macarons Prize Pack |
||||
| 16 | Banana Shakes | 1,310 | 7 days to reach level 20 | |
| S4,000 | ||||
| 17 | Avocado Toast | 1,560 | 7 days to reach level 20 | |
| 4LP | ||||
| 18 | Donuts | 1,755 | 7 days to reach level 20 | |
| 4SP | ||||
| 19 | 4LP | 2,005 | 7 days to reach level 20 | |
| 3SP | ||||
| 20 | Focaccias & Café Upgrade | 2,295 | 7 days | Costs 25SP to proceed with event |
| Prize Pack | ||||
| 21 | S5,000 | 2,520 | 7 days to reach level 25 | |
| 22 | Strawberry Shakes | 2,810 | 7 days to reach level 25 | |
| 5SP | ||||
| 23 | S6,000 | 3,065 | 7 days to reach level 25 | |
| 4LP | ||||
| 24 | 4LP | 3,355 | 7 days to reach level 25 | |
| 4SP | ||||
| 25 | Cash Register & Danishes | 3,715 | 7 days | Cash Register- 3,750 Café Credits Prize Pack- 180SP |
| Prize Pack | ||||
| 26 | S7,000 | 4,035 | 9 days to reach level 30 | |
| 27 | 5LP | 4,355 | 9 days to reach level 30 | |
| 28 | S8,000 | 4,755 | 9 days to reach level 30 | |
| 5LP | ||||
| 29 | Bagels | 5,115 | 9 days to reach level 30 | |
| 5LP & 4SP | ||||
| 30 | Salad Display | 5,475 | 9 days | Salad Display- 5,600 Café Credits Prize Pack- 240SP |
| Salad Specialist & Green Salads Prize Pack |
||||
| 31 | S9,000 | 6,025 | 9 days to reach level 35 | |
| 32 | Kale Salads | 6,750 | 9 days to reach level 35 | |
| 6SP | ||||
| 33 | 5LP | 7,475 | 9 days to reach level 35 | |
| 5SP | ||||
| 34 | S9,000 | 8,200 | 9 days to reach level 35 | |
| 6LP | ||||
| 35 | Croissants & Café Upgrade | 8,925 | 9 days | Costs 45SP to proceed with event |
| Prize Pack | ||||
| 36 | Pasta Salads | 9,585 | 18 days to reach level 45 | |
| S9,000 & 6SP | ||||
| 37 | S9,000 | 10,450 | 18 days to reach level 45 | |
| 6LP & 5SP | ||||
| 38 | S9,000 | 11,170 | 18 days to reach level 45 | |
| 6LP & 6SP | ||||
| 39 | S10,000 | 11,890 | 18 days to reach level 45 | |
| 6LP & 6SP | ||||
| 40 | Potato Salads | 12,755 | 18 days to reach level 45 | |
| S10,000, 7LP & 6SP | ||||
| 41 | S10,000 | 13,535 | 18 days to reach level 45 | |
| 7LP & 7SP | ||||
| 42 | S10,000 | 14,315 | 18 days to reach level 45 | |
| 8LP & 6SP | ||||
| 43 | S10,000 | 15,095 | 18 days to reach level 45 | |
| 8LP & 7SP | ||||
| 44 | S10,000 | 15,875 | 18 days to reach level 45 | |
| 8LP & 8SP | ||||
| 45 | Café Upgrade | 16,810 | 18 days | Costs 60SP to finish the event |
| Prize Pack |
I’ve unlocked a piece of equipment but it isn’t in my café, why? This will be added at the end of the shift:
Café Upgrades are also completed after the shift
Café Issues– underneath the progress bar you can see any issues that have occurred, this is usually due to a piece of equipment not being upgraded enough to fulfil customer requests or if a member of staff is unavailable or one hasn’t been hired to use a certain type of equipment:
You can also start shifts from this screen
Tab 2: Upgrading Equipment
Some progress rewards are Tour Requests, this mean a piece of equipment needs to be upgraded so you can make different items that customers want to buy, if you don’t upgrade your equipment you won’t earn as many Café Credits by completing tours:
In the table below you can find the upgrade costs for all the café equipment (they all cost Café Credits):
| LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 3 | LEVEL 4 | LEVEL 5 | LEVEL 6 | LEVEL 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COFFEE MACHINE | 319 | 372 | 425 | 452 | 510 | 578 |
| TOASTER | 383 | 446 | 459 | 510 | 612 | 694 |
| SHAKE MAKER | 1,020 | 1,047 | 1,156 | 1,360 | 1,632 | 2,394 |
| SANDWICH DISPLAY | 1,020 | 1,190 | 1,360 | 1,700 | 2,550 | 2,720 |
| PASTRY DISPLAY | 2,400 | 2,520 | 2,720 | 4,400 | 4,800 | 5,120 |
| CASH REGISTER | 6,750 | 8,663 | 9,000 | 11,250 | ||
| SALAD DISPLAY | 6,300 | 7,350 | 8,400 | 10,500 | 12,600 | 13,440 |
This table explains how many Café Credits (CC) you will earn from the customers with each upgrade, I haven’t included items in this table if they make the same amount of Café Credits as the previous level, for example, at level 2 with the coffee machine you still sell Coffee for 1CC, but it is included in level 3 as you earn 2CC.
| LEVEL 1 | LEVEL 2 | LEVEL 3 | LEVEL 4 | LEVEL 5 | LEVEL 6 | LEVEL 7 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COFFEE MACHINE | Coffee- 1CC | Chai Latte- 2CC | Coffee- 2CC | Latte- 4CC | Coffee- 3CC Chai Latte- 4CC |
Mocha- 6CC | Coffee- 4CC Chai Latte- 5CC |
| Chai Latte- 3CC | Latte- 5CC | Latte- 6CC Mocha- 7CC |
|||||
| TOASTER | Toast- 2CC | Cheese Toast- 3CC | Toast- 3CC | Ham and Cheese Toast- 4CC | Toast-4CC Cheese Toast- 5CC |
Avocado Toast- 6CC | Toast- 5CC Cheese Toast- 6CC |
| Cheese Toast- 4CC | Ham and Cheese Toast- 5CC | Ham and Cheese Toast- 6CC Avocado Toast- 7CC |
|||||
| SHAKE MAKER | Vanilla Shake- 2CC | Chocolate Shake- 3C | Vanilla Shake- 3CC | Banana Shake- 5CC | Vanilla Shake- 4CC Chocolate Shake- 5CC |
Strawberry Shake- 7CC | Vanilla Shake- 5CC Chocolate Shake- 6CC |
| Chocolate Shake- 4CC | Banana Shake- 6CC | Banana Shake- 7CC Strawberry Shake- 8CC |
|||||
| SANDWICH DISPLAY | Sandwich- 3CC | Roll- 4CC | Sandwich- 4CC | Focaccia- 6CC | Sandwich- 5CC Roll- 6CC |
Bagel- 8CC | Sandwich-6CC Roll- 7CC |
| Roll- 5CC | Focaccia- 7CC | Focaccia- 8CC Bagel- 9CC |
|||||
| PASTRY DISPLAY | Macaron- 4CC | Donut- 5CC | Macaron- 5CC | Danish- 7CC | Macaron- 6CC Donut- 7CC |
Croissant- 9CC | Macaron- 7CC Donut- 8CC |
| Donut- 6CC | Danish- 8CC | Danish- 9CC Croissant- 10CC |
|||||
| CASH REGISTER | 3 seconds faster payment |
2 seconds faster payment |
2 seconds faster payment |
3 seconds faster payment |
|||
| SALAD DISPLAY | Green Salad- 5 CC | Kale Salad- 6CC | Green Salad- 6CC | Pasta Salad- 8CC | Green Salad- 7CC Kale Salad- 8CC |
Potato Salad- 10CC | Green Salad- 8CC Kale Salad- 9CC |
| Kale Salad- 7CC | Pasta Salad- 9CC | Pasta Salad- 10CC Potato Salad- 11CC |
Your equipment and benchtops can both be customised to fit the theme of your café. Under the upgrading equipment tab you can click on the build/buy button on each item to change the colour of the equipment and under decor on the same tab you can change the benchtops from walnut to pine (or any of the other designs once you have unlocked them in this event):
Also under decor you can edit the queue markers, if you don’t want queue markers you can also remove them:
I love that you can edit all the café items, you can also edit the whole cafe building and make it look exactly as you want it, you can really make this place into your café rather than it being a standard business.
Tab 3: Staff Management
From this tab you can manage and hire staff.
Manage: Every shift they work they will gain XP but lose happiness. Once they earn enough XP they will be able to complete training to level up and earn perks:
- Faster ordering processing
- Slower stress gain
- Recover faster when on a break
- Greater stress tolerance
Clicking on the up arrow on a member of staff on the manage tab shows you all the staff levels and the perks they can unlock
-
- Level 1– no perks
- Level 2– Faster ordering processing (5 seconds faster)
- Level 3– Slower stress gain (5% slower)
- Level 4– Recover faster when on a break (5% faster)
- Level 5– Greater stress tolerance (can handle 4 stress events, rather than 3 before quitting)
- Level 6– Faster ordering processing (10 seconds faster)
- Level 7– Slower stress gain (10% slower)
- Level 8– Recover faster when on a break (10% faster)
- Level 9– Greater stress tolerance (can handle 5 stress events before quitting)
- Level 10– Faster ordering processing (15 seconds faster)
Once their happiness gets too low they will call in sick and will be unavailable for 3 hours. To avoid this you can select ‘time off’ on that member of staff in the Manage tab and they will take time off for 45 minutes, during this time they will be unable to work but once they return their happiness will be full again. If they call in sick due to low happiness they will also have full happiness when they return.
Stress is no good for your staff! We talked about this earlier in this post, click here to read about it
Hire: Under the hire tab you can see all applicants, the list will refresh every 24 hours so if you don’t see anyone suitable you can wait for a new set of applicants.
- You can see under their image what level they are on, higher level sims will cost more to hire.
- Staff are paid with Café Credits so you can see in the wages section how much they will cost per shift.
- Next to this you can see their happiness level, happier sims can go longer before needing time off so they will cost more to hire:
Every piece of equipment in your café will have a specialist. For the coffee machine it is your barista, for the sandwich display it is your sandwich specialist etc. Only specialists can use their perks on their assigned equipment so a barista can use the sandwich display, they just won’t earn any perks. You can see on the image below all the symbols for the different specialists:
You can hire a Temp with social points, they are a special staff type that has all the perks for all equipment. They also don’t get stressed but they only work one shift:
Managers: Managers can be purchased with real money to help you complete the café, they will earn you more Café Credits per tour and shift but they won’t help to earn Likes:
You can also purchase credit packs with social points:
Upgrading MidTown Café
At Levels 20, 35 and 45 you will unlock visual changes to the area of MidTown where the café is located. You will start with an area that looks rundown with not a lot going on and as you improve the café with each upgrade the landscape changes and more people hear about the area until you reach level 45 and you have a bright busy MidTown due to the café’s success!
Level 20: As well as the visual changes of art on the walls and shops opening up, the building next to the café has been demolished so you can increase the size of the café:
Level 35: The second building next to the café has also been demolished giving you a 12×24 grid to build on! You can completely customise your café and make it look exactly how you want:
Level 45: The café is complete and MidTown looks incredible!
If you don’t manage to reach one of these upgrade milestones in the time limit you will have to pay social points to progress in this event, see more information here
Customising your Café
My favourite thing about this event is that you can make the café your own by completing customising it, once you reach level 35 you will have the whole 12×24 grid to build on using all your buy mode items and build features! There are a few things you can’t move which are the benchtops, café equipment and 2 single doors as if you messed with these your café wouldn’t be able to function but everything else can be moved and designed to suit your style!
Once you complete the café you can still complete shifts to earn Café Credits, these can then be used to build and buy items for your café as all home store items at the café will now cost Café Credits rather than other currency:
Any items you buy with Café Credits cannot be stored and placed in a house, they can only be used in the café
Watch My Café Tour here:
Prizes
When you reach milestone levels you also earn buy mode prizes to use in your café and your sims houses.
Level 5
Kitchen Section: Steel (S172,000) and White (18SP) Milkshake Makers
Silver (S265,000) Black (S320,000) Blue (30LP) and Red (25SP) Café Coffee Machines
Level 10
Countertops Section: Walnut (S350,000) Pine (30LP) and Black (30SP) Sandwich Displays
Dining Room Section: Bronze (S26,000) and Rose Gold (3LP) Gaudy Stools
Oak (S105,000) Maple (S115,000) Walnut (10LP) and Pine (9SP) Slatted Glass Tables
Level 15
Countertops Section: Black Café Corner (5LP) Black Café Counter (7SP) and Pine Food Cabinet (35SP)
Decorations Section: Bronze (S59,000) Silver (S69,000) Rose Gold (6LP) and Black (5SP) Coffee Syrups
Black (S72,500) Blue (S80,000) Red (7LP) and Tan (6SP) Takeaway Cups
Level 20
Kitchen Section: Black (S31,000) Blue (S35,500) Pink (3LP) and Yellow (2SP) Macaron Jars
Walnut (S47,000) Black (S57,000) Oak (5LP) and Ash (4SP) Sliced Fruit Trays
Dining Room Section: Blue (S28,000) and Black (2SP) Gaudy Stools
Walnut (S78,800) Black (S86,500) Oak (8LP) and Ash (7SP) Pallet Dining Tables
Level 25
Kitchen Section: Bronze (S50,000) Silver (S60,000) Pink (5LP) and Black (4SP) Coffee Knock Boxes
Bronze (S68,000) Silver (S78,500) Rose Gold (6LP) and Black (5SP) Siphon Coffee Makers
Countertops Section: Pine Register (15LP)
Decorations Section: Oak (S45,000) Black (S55,000) Pine (4LP) and Ash (3SP) Coffee Bean Pictures
Level 30
Kitchen Section: Bronze (S115,000) Silver (S125,000) Rose Gold (14LP) and Black (10SP) Coffee Grinders
Lighting Section: Backlit Black (S23,000) Beige (S33,000) Green (2LP) and Brown (1SP) Wall Signs
Lit Bronze (S62,000) Silver (S72,000) Rose Gold (6LP) and Black (5SP) Menu Boards
Outdoor Furniture Section: Bronze (S56,500) Silver (S61,000) Rose Gold (5LP) and Black (4SP) Public Bins
Level 35
Countertops Section: White (S160,000) Black (S185,000) Grey (20LP) and Pine (14SP) Panel Registers
Black (S50,000) White (S55,000) Grey (5LP) Pine (5SP) Panel Counter
Black (S50,000) White (S55,000) Grey (5LP) Pine (5SP) Panel Corner
Bronze (S150,000) Steel (S160,000) Rose Gold (15LP) Black (14SP) Service Counters
Level 45
Kitchen Section: White (S128,000) Black (S132,000) Silver (15LP) and Red (11SP) Drinks Fridges
Gold Espresso Machine (25LP)
Decorations Section: Tan (S35,000) Black (S44,000) Brown (4LP) and Green (3SP) Coffee Bean Bag
Tan (S94,500) Black (S105,000) Brown (9LP) and Green (8SP) Coffee Bean Bags
Café outfits, shoes and hairstyles for female and male adult sims
If you don’t complete the milestones on time to unlock these prize packs you can purchase them from the café progress menu with social points
Watch my Guide to MidTown Café here:
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