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This subforum is for small businesses that do not require extensive subforums for organization. These Small Business Sheets are simply posted records of what a business is for, its expenses, its debt and the profit it makes.
All raw products are taken from the Syka codex, and Robert will find out about them from the botanists – the four listed here are four of many other potential products, depending on whether the fruits are in season, and whether Robert can get them or not.
Tropical fruit wines/ciders are quite common IRL in places with Syka's climate, so I have taken quite a bit of inspiration in planning out this. Ciders tend to take about a week to ferment fully, depending on the yeast, and the rest of the time is for conditioning the flavours, so easy-to-drink ciders will probably take a total of 14 days to be fit for sale, and hard ciders about 28 days.
Sugar and/or honey will be added to taste and to make it smoother, and the hard ciders will be created by adding additional sugar for more alcohol. The sugar may be produced locally by others (according to the Syka codex), but the honey will have to be imported since there is no beekeeper in Syka.
I am a bit concerned with the processing of the raw ingredients – the distillery will have to be limited to small batches, with one or two products made at any one time, in order for Robert to be physically able to make them – but afterwards, they can be stored.
Water can be obtained from wells or the Community Water Storage, but I'll have to either fudge that bit or RP it in threads. The heads and tails from distilling will be discarded, but I can see at least a bit of recycling happening.
The bottles are a bit hard to explain in Syka, since it doesn't have a glassblower, so they are more of a measure of the volume. Each bottle is 750 ml ≈ 25.36 fl. oz.. Alternatively, I think it may be possible for Robert to negotiate a contract with Nesra from the Communal Kiln for ceramic drinkware/storage.
In future, I hope to be able to negotiate contracts for provision of drink with other establishments in Syka - e.g. the Protea Inn, the Tidepool Bar, or even the Panacea.
A calculation of costs :
I first created a spreadsheet of liquor and drink prices from various locations - obviously there was quite a bit of variation, so this was more of a reference than anything else. The average sugar content per lb is used to determine the weight of fruit needed to make 1 gallon of cider, with apples as the standard.
Here we assume the following things:
20 lbs of apples (approx. 2 lbs of sugar) are used to make 1 gallon of cider.
Bananas: 15 lbs. ~ 3 GM/bottle Pineapples: 20 lbs. ~ 4 GM/bottle Mangoes: 15 lbs. ~ 3 GM/bottle Guavas: 22 lbs. ~ 5 GM/bottle Coconuts: 250 ml of water each, ~1.75 lbs, 30 lbs in total. ~6 GM/bottle
Cachaça: 95 lbs per 1 gallon (calculated from 1 ton of sugarcane ~ 80 litres.)
As for the price per lb, using the Price list as a guide, we set 1 GM/lb to simplify things, and then round up the price to obtain a price per bottle. I then adjusted the prices to take into account the labour involved, and further adjusted them so that they would be on par with the various prices around Mizahar and not exorbitantly expensive. The listed prices here would probably be in 'bulk', or as much as we can speak of bulk; any tourists or short-term visitors will be charged more due to the exotic factor, and also because fleecing tourists is a time-honoured tradition.
The high price of cachaça is because it contains about 5 times the alcohol content, and processing the sugarcane (i.e. chopping it and boiling to extract cane juice), plus distilling the fermented juice will take a significant amount of time (unless there is a mill of sorts for this kind of thing). Rectified spirits require repeated distillation of cachaça, and so will cost significantly more, since they will approach azeotropic ethanol.
Services offered:
Alcohol infusions and tinctures: Price on request.
Notes :
Using Robert's Philtering and Herbalism skills, Robert will offer to infuse the distilled sugarcane spirit with any provided herbs/fruits/botanical products. This obviously involves trial and error given his lack of knowledge of Syka's flora and his skill levels, so any potential buyers will be informed of such, and depending on how much of the raw product Robert needs to experiment with to determine the best method of infusion, a discount will be offered. Usually, the product will be pressed using the distillery press, or with mortar and pestle.
Base Income: Brewer: 7 GM/day
Skill Bonus: Competent Vinting: 3 GM/day
Sales Bonus: NIL
Ingenuity/Creativity Bonus: NIL
Total Income: 10 GM/day
Starting Assets:
All raw products for 2 gallons each: 400 GM (at 1 GM/lb)
Distillery (Simple): 800 GM Storage (Simple) (Underground raw product storage): 250 GM Wooden walls (400 sq. ft.): 400 GM Storage (Simple) (Cellar for aging/storage of finished products): 250 GM (All necessary equipment assumed to come with Distillery (Brewery/Winery in Price List)) Cottage, One-Room (Simple): 500 GM Patio, Wood (Simple) (For buyers to sit and enjoy): 200 GM
Total building cost: (800+250*2+400+500+200)*75% = 1800 GM
(Here I calculated the price of the Still from the Price List's Greater Alembic, and multiplied it by 2, using the prices of Glass versus Copper weapon material as a guide.)
Preowned assets (ref. CS Ledger for payment): 12 50-litre seasoned casks (2 casks full of remaining family whiskey) High-quality great chest 1 lb of distiller's yeast 1 lb of wine yeast 2 8 oz clear old-fashioned glasses Mortar and Pestle Rope, Hemp (50 ft.)
Debt:
Loan from Syka Founders: 2460 GM (To be arranged)
Notes :
The Alembic, and other equipment included with the cost of the distillery, will most probably have to be shipped in from Riverfall.
Indeed the small batch processing will limit the initial prosperity of this business which would reduce the sales bonus you would otherwise get from owning and operating. As you work on the business in-thread, you can build skills and resources related to producing your own raw material which will help with bonuses for ingenuity. A single small-scale still can easily produce more than a few gallons of spirits over the course of a few months. The more raw material you can produce and the larger the operation grows, the more product you can create and sell. For now however, the plan looks pretty sound.
Disclaimer: This approval is for the business plan itself and not the actual location. Final approval of the location is left to the attending Storyteller and any NPCs, current and future, must be approved through the Help Desk.
