The Restaurant

Master management mechanics, unlock all endings, and maximize your restaurant empire

The Restaurant is a captivating management simulation that challenges players to build and operate their own dining establishment from the ground up. Whether you’re a seasoned simulation enthusiast or new to the genre, this game combines strategic decision-making with relationship-building mechanics that create a uniquely engaging experience. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know to succeed, from basic mechanics to advanced strategies that will help you unlock all endings and maximize your restaurant’s potential. Learn how to manage resources effectively, build meaningful relationships with staff and customers, and navigate the complex systems that make The Restaurant such an addictive gameplay experience.

Understanding Core Mechanics and Resource Management

How Shopping Points and Action Points Work

Let me tell you about the first time I crashed and burned in The Restaurant game mechanics. 🍳 I spent all my Shopping Points on fancy decor, thinking it would bring in more customers. The next day, a special supplier showed up with rare ingredients I desperately needed, but I was completely broke on SP. I watched helplessly as the opportunity vanished, and my restaurant’s reputation took a nosedive. This painful lesson taught me that understanding the dual currency system is the absolute foundation of success in this resource management simulation.

In The Restaurant, you have two primary resources to manage: Shopping Points (SP) and Action Points (AP). Think of SP as your wallet for buying everything from ingredients to furniture, while AP represents your time and energy each day. 🕒 You earn SP primarily by serving customers successfully and completing certain story events, while AP refreshes daily, though the amount can be influenced by your staff and upgrades.

Here’s the golden rule I learned the hard way: always maintain at least 40 SP in reserve. This isn’t just a suggestion—it’s critical for progression. Special events, character hangouts, and unique story branches often require an SP investment to trigger. If you’re constantly broke, you’ll miss out on significant content and potentially lock yourself out of certain endings. This is a core part of any Shopping Points Action Points guide—understanding that SP isn’t just for daily operations but for unlocking the game’s deeper narrative layers.

Pro Tip: Treat your SP like an emergency fund. Once you dip below 40, prioritize earning over spending until you’re back to a safe balance.

AP management is all about daily efficiency. Every action—from cooking and cleaning to talking to staff—costs AP. Early on, you’ll feel incredibly limited, which makes action points optimization essential. You can’t do everything every day, so you must prioritize tasks based on your current goals. Are you focusing on customer satisfaction? Then cooking and serving should take priority over rearranging furniture.

Here’s a comparison of different resource management strategies I’ve tested throughout my playthroughs:

Balancing Your Budget and Daily Operations

Mastering The Restaurant budget management feels like learning to juggle while walking a tightrope. 🤹‍♂️ At first, I struggled constantly—either I had plenty of ingredients but no time to cook, or tons of time but empty shelves. The breakthrough came when I started treating each day as a self-contained puzzle where every decision impacts your resources.

Your daily operations strategy begins each morning with three key questions: What ingredients do I need? What staff tasks should I assign? And what special opportunities might appear? The most efficient approach I’ve found is to reserve 2-3 AP for unexpected opportunities while planning the rest of your day around must-do tasks.

Let me walk you through a typical day that demonstrates solid daily operations strategy:

Morning (6 AP available):
– 1 AP: Check inventory and supplier prices (crucial for smart spending)
– 2 AP: Purchase essential ingredients based on anticipated customer flow
– 1 AP: Quick cleaning to maintain restaurant hygiene
– 2 AP: Prepare one complex dish or two simple dishes in advance

Afternoon (6 AP available):
– 3 AP: Serve customers during peak hours (your main SP source)
– 1 AP: Brief staff check-in (prevents morale issues)
– 2 AP: Handle special customer requests or unexpected events

Evening (Remaining AP):
– 1-2 AP: Final cleaning and accounting
– Any leftover AP: Character interactions or minor improvements

This approach ensures you’re consistently generating SP through customer service while maintaining your restaurant’s basic operations. Notice how I’ve built in flexibility—those reserved AP points have saved me countless times when special customers or story events appeared unexpectedly.

The relationship between your daily choices and long-term progression is where The Restaurant game mechanics truly shine. Early in my second playthrough, I neglected staff relationships to focus entirely on profit. By week three, my service quality had plummeted because my unhappy employees were making mistakes. This created a vicious cycle where dissatisfied customers left poor reviews, reducing my daily SP income and locking me out of the “Restaurant Empire” ending I was pursuing.

Lesson Learned: Balance immediate profit with long-term investments in staff and facilities. That $50 SP table upgrade might seem expensive now, but the increased customer capacity pays for itself within days.

When it comes to how to earn shopping points efficiently, I’ve found these methods most reliable:
– Perfect service chains (serving multiple customers quickly without errors)
– Completing character story arcs (many provide substantial SP rewards)
– Special weekend events (always prioritize these when they appear)
– Maintaining high customer satisfaction over multiple consecutive days

Optimizing Staff Hiring and Customer Satisfaction

I’ll never forget hiring my first employee in The Restaurant. I chose based solely on their cooking stat, completely ignoring their personality traits and salary demands. By day four, they were constantly making mistakes that cost me valuable ingredients and AP to fix. This taught me that staff selection is one of the most nuanced aspects of The Restaurant game mechanics. 👨‍🍳

Staff hiring represents a significant SP investment but directly impacts your AP efficiency and customer satisfaction. Each staff member has hidden relationship values with other characters that can trigger special events when managed properly. My current game-changing strategy involves hiring one all-rounder early on, then specializing later when I can afford staff with particular strengths.

The connection between staff management and action points optimization is profound. A well-chosen employee can reduce your daily AP expenditure on certain tasks by 30-40%, effectively giving you extra actions each day. For example, a cleaner with high efficiency might handle all cleaning tasks for just 1 AP instead of the usual 2-3 AP you’d spend doing it yourself.

Here’s what I look for when building my dream team:

Essential Staff Qualities:
– Balance between salary demands and skill levels (don’t overspend early)
– Compatibility with existing staff (reduces conflicts that cost AP to resolve)
– Specialization that complements your playstyle (better cook vs. better cleaner)
– Availability for different shifts (coverage during peak hours is crucial)

Customer satisfaction operates on a snowball effect that directly influences your resource management simulation experience. Happy customers not only tip better (increasing immediate SP gains) but also spread positive word-of-mouth, leading to more customers the following days. This creates a virtuous cycle where increased customer flow means more SP, which allows for better upgrades, which further improves satisfaction.

The most common mistake I see players make is focusing entirely on customer service while neglecting staff needs. Your employees have their own satisfaction meters that dramatically affect performance. An unhappy cook will burn dishes 50% more often, wasting both ingredients and the AP you spent acquiring them. Meanwhile, content staff occasionally provide random bonuses like ingredient donations or handling tasks without AP cost.

The beautiful complexity of The Restaurant game mechanics reveals itself in how these systems interconnect. Your The Restaurant budget management decisions affect staff quality, which influences customer satisfaction, which determines your SP income, which circles back to what you can afford for tomorrow’s operations. Break any part of this cycle, and your restaurant empire dreams can collapse surprisingly fast.

My personal staffing strategy that led to my most successful playthrough:
– Week 1-2: One balanced employee, handle most tasks myself
– Week 3-4: Specialized hire based on my weakest area (for me, cleaning)
– Week 5+: Second specialized hire to create complete coverage
– Ongoing: Regular staff interactions (1 AP daily) to maintain morale

Remember that different staff combinations can actually unlock unique story branches. In one playthrough, hiring two specific characters with connected backstories opened up a special event chain that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise. This demonstrates how deeply intertwined the management and narrative elements are in this resource management simulation.

Ultimately, mastering The Restaurant requires viewing every decision through the lens of resource interdependence. Your staff choices impact your AP efficiency, which affects customer service quality, which determines your SP income, which enables future growth. It’s a beautifully crafted system where success comes from balancing all elements rather than maximizing any single one. Whether you’re aiming for a specific ending or just trying to build the perfect culinary establishment, understanding these core mechanics provides the foundation for whatever culinary empire you dream of creating. 🏰

The Restaurant offers a rich and rewarding experience for players who take time to understand its interconnected systems. By mastering resource management, building strong relationships with your staff and customers, and making strategic decisions about your restaurant’s direction, you’ll unlock the full potential of this engaging simulation. The beauty of The Restaurant lies in how your choices ripple through the game world, creating unique stories and outcomes based on your playstyle. Whether you’re aiming to achieve financial success, unlock all story endings, or simply enjoy the process of building your dream establishment, the strategies and insights covered in this guide will help you navigate every challenge. Take your time, experiment with different approaches, and remember that each playthrough offers new discoveries and opportunities to refine your management skills.