Inn At The Crossroads

[The Lord of the Crossing]

I imagine this is a charming place by the standards of Westeros and the period.  Assume you are lowborn with gold to invest in a small to medium sized business.  Tell me this.

1. Would your purchase this inn?  What improvements would you make?  Do you have any ideas to increase the revenue?  How many people will you employ and what qualities do you look for?
2. You decided against buying the inn.  What business would you buy in its place and why? 
3. Inn at the Crossroad or the Quill and Tankard.  Use your best guess.  Which is more profitable?  Which business will better fit your management style and why?
4. You chose to build your own inn and instead of buying an existing business.  Where would you locate this inn and why?  What can you do to maximize your profit at your chosen location?
5. Assume  these skilled business owners agreed to mentor you for a year.  They agreed to correspond with you and to make themselves available for consultation whenever you need advice.  What valuable advice can they each person give you?  Lord Walder Frey, Lord Petyr Baelish, Lord Weyman Manderly, Lord Mace Tyrell, and Lord Tywin Lannister. 

[Dorian Martell's son]

1: no, I would occupy it after the tenants were hung 
2: See 1 
3: The inn at the crossroads. Location location location 
4:  I would build an inn at the crossroads where the other inn burned down, possibly because of me
5a:  Show up late  and fuck the traditions 
5b:  If you can't get the girl you want, go after her sister, and if that doesn't do it for you, go for her teenage daughter  
5c: Lamprey Pie is amazing and always respect your liege.
5d: It's good to have Tarly
5e: If you are going to fuck someone up, do it in a spectacular way so it leaves an impression 

[Anck Su Namun]

1. Sure.  Lovely girls to serve the ale.  Strong men for security.  Good cooks.  Hardworking maids to clean the rooms.  Good service, good food, and fine lodgings.
2. Bordello because they make money
3. Crossroads is more profitable but the Quill & Tankard is better for me.  It's in the big city and I don't have to deal with road bandits. 
4. You can't beat a good location like Meereen for profit.  That's where I will build an inn near the pit of Daznak.  I can make money even with the loss of free laborers. 
5. Littlefinger knows how to run brothels.  His advice is most useful to the needs of my inn.

[Universal Sword Donor]

On 3/8/2018 at 7:10 PM, Noble Lothar Frey said:

I imagine this is a charming place by the standards of Westeros and the period.  Assume you are lowborn with gold to invest in a small to medium sized business.  Tell me this

I invest in whores because, unlike boats, they rarely sink and, unlike inns, they rarely burn.

[Free Northman Reborn]

Not going to answer each of the questions, but in general, no, I would not touch that inn with a bargepole. It is in way too dangerous a location for a commoner.

Instead, if as a commoner I had some gold to spare I would buy half the business of that brewer of black beer in White Harbor. The beer that sells for more per barrel than Arbor Gold, if the guy manages to produce enough to reach the export markets.

White Harbor is described as a clean and orderly city, with whitewashed brick houses with black slate roofs. It is out of the way of virtually every conflict in Westeros, and hasn't seen a wildling in centuries, if ever. It has never been captured by an enemy, and in fact as far as I know has hardly ever (perhaps never) even been besieged.

With my investment the brewer will hopefully be able to expand his production and turn his current hobby into a massive industrial empire spanning the entire Narrow Sea and beyond.

I will be safe and secure and wealthy, and live pretty much as good a life as a commoner can dream of in Westeros. I will likely be an influential figure in Lord Manderly's court - being one of the richest merchants in his city and a substantial contributor to his tax revenues. And even the Starks will likely look favourably on me once my beer reaches the required level of fame. Not to mention the foreign revenue I will be earning for their kingdom.

Anyway, that would be my plan, if I was a commoner with some gold to spare in Westeros.

[The Mountain That Flies]

On 3/10/2018 at 2:40 PM, Free Northman Reborn said:

Instead, if as a commoner I had some gold to spare I would buy half the business of that brewer of black beer in White Harbor. The beer that sells for more per barrel than Arbor Gold, if the guy manages to produce enough to reach the export markets.

This is a remarkably good plan with limited risks. Also I love dark beer. I’d like to buy some shares, please.

[Universal Sword Donor]

On 3/10/2018 at 1:40 PM, Free Northman Reborn said:

Not going to answer each of the questions, but in general, no, I would not touch that inn with a bargepole. It is in way too dangerous a location for a commoner.

Instead, if as a commoner I had some gold to spare I would buy half the business of that brewer of black beer in White Harbor. The beer that sells for more per barrel than Arbor Gold, if the guy manages to produce enough to reach the export markets.

White Harbor is described as a clean and orderly city, with whitewashed brick houses with black slate roofs. It is out of the way of virtually every conflict in Westeros, and hasn't seen a wildling in centuries, if ever. It has never been captured by an enemy, and in fact as far as I know has hardly ever (perhaps never) even been besieged.

With my investment the brewer will hopefully be able to expand his production and turn his current hobby into a massive industrial empire spanning the entire Narrow Sea and beyond.

I will be safe and secure and wealthy, and live pretty much as good a life as a commoner can dream of in Westeros. I will likely be an influential figure in Lord Manderly's court - being one of the richest merchants in his city and a substantial contributor to his tax revenues. And even the Starks will likely look favourably on me once my beer reaches the required level of fame. Not to mention the foreign revenue I will be earning for their kingdom.

Anyway, that would be my plan, if I was a commoner with some gold to spare in Westeros.

I am gonna need some more detail on the production of this beer and some of the beer -- maybe a dozen barrels or so -- to taste test and do quality control on, if I am going to invest in your business.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/005/574/takemymoney.jpg

[Free Northman Reborn]

26 minutes ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

I am gonna need some more detail on the production of this beer and some of the beer -- maybe a dozen barrels or so -- to taste test and do quality control on, if I am going to invest in your business.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/005/574/takemymoney.jpg

Haha. This is all I've got, I'm afraid:

Davos, Dance with Dragons, about what makes White Harbor appealing:

White Harbor's walls of whitewashed stone rose before them, on the eastern shore where the White Knife plunged into the firth. Davos had always been fond of this city, since first he'd come here as a cabin boy on Cobblecat. Though small compared to Oldtown and King's Landing, it was clean and well-ordered, with wide straight cobbled streets that made it easy for a man to find his way. The houses were built of whitewashed stone, with steeply pitched roofs of dark grey slate. Roro Uhoris, the Cobblecat's cranky old master, used to claim that he could tell one port from another just by the way they smelled. Cities were like women, he insisted; each one had its own unique scent. Oldtown was as flowery as a perfumed dowager. Lannisport was a milkmaid, fresh and earthy, with woodsmoke in her hair. King's Landing reeked like some unwashed whore. But White Harbor's scent was sharp and salty, and a little fishy too. "She smells the way a mermaid ought to smell," Roro said. "She smells of the sea."

And then, about the beer specifically:

Off the other way, in one of those houses that clung to the walls of the Wolf's Den like barnacles to an old hull, there used to be a brewhouse where they made a black beer so thick and tasty that a cask of it could fetch as much as Arbor gold in Braavos and the Port of Ibben, provided the locals left the brewer any to sell.

[Universal Sword Donor]

18 minutes ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

Off the other way, in one of those houses that clung to the walls of the Wolf's Den like barnacles to an old hull, there used to be a brewhouse where they made a black beer so thick and tasty that a cask of it could fetch as much as Arbor gold in Braavos and the Port of Ibben, provided the locals left the brewer any to sell.

So we need a fact finding expedition to locate the beer in white harbor. I see what you're saying. I'll assemble a crew of scoundrels, scallywags, and ne'er do wells. Oh and methodists!