Emperor: Ministry Tabs/ Commerce/ Markets/ Food Shop

## Food Shop

Each Food Shop's target(maximum) supply is 800 Units of Food(Meals). The Buyer may be sent out when their Food Supply goes below 400 Meals.

### Shop search

The Food Shop searches a 35 tile radial area for a connected Mill that has the 'minimum desired quality' of Food Types available. If more then One Mill is connected the closest is evaluated first, then the second if minimum quality was not available. When 'minimum desired quality' and 'maximum desired quality' differ the second Mill may be chosen if the higher Quality is only available there. If 'minimum quality' is not found then a few days will have to pass(~2days) before the search is redone.
 See Emperor: Ministry Tabs/ Commerce/ Markets#Right Click Dialog for a reminder on setting minimum/maximum desired quality.

### Fetching for Food Quality

* 1 Food Type(Bland/Plain/Appet):
up to 600 Units of Food in 100 Meal increments.
* 2 Food Types(Plain/Appet/Tasty):
up to 600 Units of Food in 200 Meal increments.
[a 200, 400 or 600 Meal fetch]
* 3 Food Types(Appet/Tasty/Deli\*):
up to 600 Units of Food in 300 Meal increments.
[a 300 or 600 Meal fetch]
* 4 Food Types(Tasty/Deli\*):
up to 400 Units of Food in 400 Meal increments.
[a 400 Meal fetch]

1 condiment, both condiments, \*=Spices required
Each Condiment may decrease the fetch amount by at least 100 units or more.

See Emperor: Feeding the People#Getting Food to the People for more detailed information on Food Fetch variants.

Note: Condiments(Salt & Spices\*) increase Quality but add nothing to Quantity. Delicious Food Quality requires Spices. Buyer Servants are limited to 6 walkers, each carry up to 100 units of a commodity.
See Emperor: Ministry Tabs/ Commerce/ Markets#Buyer Servants for more information.
The Food Shop vs Population ideal is 1:800 with 1:1200 being acceptable within reasonable limits(distance to Mills, Food Shop:Mill Supply Storage & number of required Food Types). At 1:1600 ratio the Player will likely experience some Food Distribution issues; the severity/frequency is dependent on various factors. 1:2000 ratio isn't recommended, but well engineered food distribution systems have survived it and maintained housing stability.
See Emperor: Hygiene(aka Health) for detailed information on Food Quality effects on Hygiene.

### Multiple Food Shops

When multiple Food Shops are utilized the displayed Quantity is the total. Each Food Shop maintains its own supply account. The Shops tend to cycle as the currently active provider which gets passed to the next ID# Shop when their supply is exhausted. As a 'rule of thumb', a consistent 400+ Meals would indicate an unstressed Food Supply for two Food Shops(600+ for three Food Shops). Unstressed isn't ideal just acceptable.

### Food Security

Food Security is another means for the Player to evaluate Food Distribution. Food Security is the "Months Supply" as reported in the Commerce Panel. 8 months is just OK, 12+ months is good & 24 months would be perfect(if not a bit over-indulgent). This is a Citywide statistic thus doesn't reflect Housing Blocks individually.

See Emperor: Feeding the People for more information.

## Food Buyer

The Buyer is Spawned after the search algorithm has found a Mill. She will travel to the Mill and fetch the needed Food supplies provided they meet the 'minimum desired quality'. There is the possibility that another Food Buyer may have depleted the Mills Food supply enough to prevent the Food Buyer from fulfilling her Shopping List. The unfortunate Food Buyer will return to her Shop empty handed. Once there the search for a source Mill will begin again. If the Food Supply is in 'shortage' regularly, this may eventually cause the serviced Housing to devolve for lack of Food.

When returning with her fulfilled Shopping List, up to 6 Buyer Servants follow the Buyer, carrying the supplies to her Market. Because of the limit, the Food Buyer may alter her shopping list for meal recipe balance. There is no storage space for leftover fetch items at the Food Shop.