Butcher

Description: The Butcher is a business that processes animal carcasses and animal hides and produces meat and leather for other businesses. While it does not produce finished consumer goods, it is an important part of the supply chain for multiple businesses. The Butcher produces meat from carcasses of multiple sizes, but the meat produced is the same. The two recipes only differ in the amount of meat produced. Strategy: Owning and operating the Butcher is very simple, as the recipes each only require a single material as input. However, there are only two goods produced by this business, with leather requiring an upgrade to unlock. This means that it can be easy for a player to flood the market with meat in an effort to make money. It is therefore a good idea to resist the urge to sell products until prices are favorable. This is offset, however, by the fact that both the Alehouse and the Bakehouse use meat in production, and most towns have at least one of each of these businesses.

Keeping the Butcher supplied can be difficult. All of the materials required for production at the Butcher come from the Estate Farm, meaning that a player who owns a Butcher depends on the production decisions of the owner of this business. If this farm is owned by the AI, then materials may become scarce. The Butcher does not have the flexibility of other businesses in these times to switch to another product.

Based on the challenges associated with either not having enough carcasses to produce meat or overstocking meat to the market, the Butcher should not be used as a reliable source of earnings or a first business. It is better to buy a Butcher as a second or third business to complete the supply chain of the Alehouse, Bakehouse, or Leatherworker. However, it should be noted that the Leatherworker is able to produce its own leather from hides, meaning it is better suited to complement other businesses by producing meat. * Base profit is calculated as the base price for all produced materials, minus the base price of all required materials. This does not take into account the markup when purchasing or the supply in the market. The most profitable good to produce is usually the one whose materials are most cheaply and readily available.