Does anyone know if it's worth the hassle to buy a cocaine business for my MC? I've read on various forums that it can be a money earner, others say it's a grind. Has anyone here got any experience with it?
You can make money doing it; it just takes some time before break even. I believe you tend to solo everything much like I do, so here's the deal:
All the info below assumes you've purchased all the upgrades. I blew off the security upgrade for a bit, then broke down and purchased it after it became irksome dealing with raids every couple of hours. Now I don't get raided but every few days have to kill a snitch or something asinine and time consuming. That, and the Dark Lester calls are the main annoyance.
The business costs $75k to resupply a full load. This is what I do because unless you have a few people to help you'll have to make 4-5 resupply runs to fill the supply bar solo. That's often exceeding 45 minutes to do solo and you can make a lot more than $75k in 45 minutes doing other things, so I buy supplies and basically leave it earning money in the background.
A full supply level will produce 2.5 product bars(half full) which sells for $210k with the long distance option. This will provide two vehicles for you to deliver, and is entirely doable solo. It will take ~2.5 hours of gameplay to run down those supplies and fill 2.5 bars of product.
It takes two full supply loads to fill the product bar entirely, which will provide you with 3 vehicles to deliver(or 4 bikes). A lot of these missions with full product load will be difficult or impossible(PostOP van delivery) to complete solo. A full load pays $420k.
As such, what I would recommend soloing would be to purchase the $75k supplies, and when it's gone sell it for the $210k. This will provide a GP of $135k, then take off the cost of operating the business. For me it's $13,400 per day because I own two businesses(I keep the farm barren of supplies and low product just as a place to hang out), however for just one coke factory I'm not sure what your charge will be. I end up making about $110k after expenses for roughly 20 minutes spent delivering.
A few notes;
After a shut down(due to running out of supplies, etc) the business will take a few minutes to get running again and will burn a bar of supplies before producing product. As such, I try and catch it when the supplies are under 1 bar at which point I buy new supplies and do a sale mission. By the time I finish selling the supplies have arrived and production never ceases, saving that extra bar. If I miss it, I sometimes do a single 'steal supplies run' or just pay $15k for 1 bar of supplies if I'm lazy or busy doing other things. If you let the business suspend for a few minutes and then resupply, the supplies burned while the business 'gets up and running' again will leave you with $168k sale price instead of $210k. This is why I'll do a single supply run if that happens as it's two vehicles for $168k and $210k; so might as well take the $210 for the same hassle. Purchased supplies take ~10 minutes to arrive, so plan your purchases accordingly to prevent suspension of production. That's why I just show up every 2+ hours and resupply/sell at once, then I go and do CEO/VIP stuff or ride my bike or get drunk in Santa Monica. I bought the expensive factory so I had to do this a large number of times(25+) to break even. That is why my last writeup detailing the businesses carried a warning that this is something that you will have to stick with long term to generate a profit.
If you are going to do this with other folks helping, then stealing supplies makes more sense. For example, with 5 people you can often fill the supply bar in one 'steal' mission. However, I know that isn't an option for many.
For the millenials here(aka tl/dr);
Purchasing supplies at $75k will give you 2.5 bars of product which sells for $210k providing a net profit somewhere around $110-125k(varies depending on your other businesses and how much time you spent with MC active) for ~20 minutes of your time delivering solo.
