In beta my franchise zoo had over $1b, now I'm about to go bankrupt. Help!

[Agathorn]

I had zero problems in beta making money in Franchise mode. Sure, I had a few false starts but once I figured it out I was able to make multiple zoos all profitable. My main zoo had over 1 billion dollars when beta ended. So taking what I learned then I should be fine now right? No!

My zoo is in year 20 and still losing a couple grand every year. I'm down to about 5k in the bank and trying to trim expenses everywhere I possible can. The main source of my problem is that guest donations on many of my habitats are just CRAP.

With 6 Habitats and a small reptile house with 3 exhibits, I am averaging around $20k a year in donations. When I had just the first 2 habitats I was averaging around 15k a year. In other words my donations either fell off globally by a large amount or all of the new habitats I built suck. But they don't because my visitor count has gone up every year, and the newer habitats are constantly crowded, despite bringing in little to no donations. One of those, my Gharials, are the most popular animals in the zoo. Apparently popular with cheapskates.

Guest satisfaction is good overall, except education which we all know takes a long to raise. I'm working on that. At this point I do have an info booth, food, and drink stands. They are all profitable, bringing in a couple grand a year. If it wasn't for those I would have gone bankrupt already.

Bottom line is donations are my lifeblood yet I am not bringing in enough donations to survive.

 

[ASalton1]

Are you researching your animals to unlock enrichment items for them? My zoo was failing too for awhile but once I added enrichment items (heat lamps, logs, etc. to the exhibits) my profits skyrocketed. Check animal happiness and fix any issues (space, hard shelter, etc) Also look at your finances in the zoo management tab and see where you are bleeding the most, cut back on non essential buildings, (multiple trade center, quarantines, etc) and extra staff. Check the staff tab, if an area is in the red/overworked add more if there are all green, cut some back. Yellow is your friend. Train staff to make them work more efficiently. Stop adding more animals until your zoo is profitable.

 

[Aiste]

Completely the opposite. I was balancing in bankruptcy in Beta (the reason - park ticket prices bug), now I'm a millionaire.
Raise more bronze, silver and gold animals through good genes. Look for good mates for your animals to improve animal appeal.

 

[Agathorn]

Are you researching your animals to unlock enrichment items for them? My zoo was failing too for awhile but once I added enrichment items (heat lamps, logs, etc. to the exhibits) my profits skyrocketed. Check animal happiness and fix any issues (space, hard shelter, etc) Also look at your finances in the zoo management tab and see where you are bleeding the most, cut back on non essential buildings, (multiple trade center, quarantines, etc) and extra staff. Check the staff tab, if an area is in the red/overworked add more if there are all green, cut some back. Yellow is your friend. Train staff to make them work more efficiently. Stop adding more animals until your zoo is profitable.

All my research for my animals is maxed out. Adding animals is about the only way to bring in more money but it doesn't bring in enough so i'm stuck in this weird limbo state.

I've trimmed everywhere I could - honestly I've trimmed TOO far cutting out staff to bring costs down, so all my keepers are overworked at this point but I'm managing to keep the animals healthy. I have an average animal welfare of 81% last I looked.

 

[Agathorn]

Completely the opposite. I was balancing in bankruptcy in Beta (the reason - park ticket prices bug), now I'm a millionaire.
Raise more bronze, silver and gold animals through good genes. Look for good mates for your animals to improve animal appeal.

My gold badged Gharial is the highlighted animal in the zoo tab yet that habitat brings in less than 2k a year in donations.