Best Stove & Worker Layout

An Ideal Layout in Restaurant City will ensure that you have the highest number of customers served per minute.
ie. It makes you the most money per minute

Just because it maintains Popularity / causes Popularity to go up, does not make it efficient. Of course, a good layout should also be Aesthetically pleasing :)

This post assumes that :

• you are not using PF Cash to purchase any stoves / drink machines
• there are no Drink Bars
• you have a max of 9 workers
• there are no Arcade Machines
• there are no Time-Extenders (Mariachi Band, Giant TV, Statue of Cookery, Bubble Drink Tower)

So how do I measure Efficiency?

1. Let the restaurant run for 1-2 minutes, until the customer flow is consistent.
2. Write down the amount of money
3. Wait another few minutes (2-3 minutes)
4. Write down the new amount of money
5. No. of Customers Served per Minute = ( New $ Amt - Old $ Amt ) / (Number of Minutes * $2 per Customer)

All the tests were done with the same account running at 70 Popularity, with 9 Staff. There's also a Sushi Bar I forgot to remove, but it probably didn't affect very much since no one ever goes to it. The stoves operate at about 3-4% improved speed (ie less than 1 second faster), and the drinks 4-5% improved speed.

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BEST Layout - 6 Cooks, 3 Workers (3 sets of 3 Workers)

9 Staff, having 3 sets of 3 workers (2 Cooks, 1 Waiter) each handling 9 tables.
Result = 17.5 Customers Served per Minute

Note that I'm only getting 21 customers entering per minute.
Plus, its without any other knick knacks like Giant TV, Mariachi Band, etc.

Its worth noting that due to improved speed of stoves & drinks on that account of mine, handling 9 became feasible. If using all regular stoves and drinks, suggest handling 8 seats or so.

For those who just want the answer to this Post, you can stop reading now :)

Note that if you're levelling a new account, at low levels before your Drinks are unlocked, you can have 1 waiter handle 3 stoves serving 9 tables while boxed into 3 squares. It should be more efficient than 1 waiter 2 stoves 1 drink, so it can directly handle 9 customers.

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Alternate Layout - 5 Cooks, 4 Workers

5 Cooks 4 Waiters in a Row, each Waiter having access to 2 stoves.
Result = 16.0 Customers Served per Minute

OR

5 Cooks 4 Waiters in a Rectangle, each Waiter having access to 3 Stoves.
Result = 15.5 Customers Served per Minute

There doesn't seem to be much difference in effectiveness of these 2, so yeah its really up to how you want to arrange it. This layout is really only an option for those who like to cluster up their entire cooking / eating area.

The principle of these 2 layouts is that each Waiter serves from more than 1 stove to 5 seats or so, so there's less chance at any one time that any customer will be dissatisfied and leave.
Regardless, its significantly behind the 3x3 Layout.

There's of course many other 5 Cooks 4 Waiter layouts, but these 2 are (theoretically) in my mind, the most efficient. The Row layout restricts the Waiter 2x1 squares each, the Rectangle keeps the waiter to 3x1 squares each. That may explain the better efficiency, though the difference of 0.5 Customer Served per minute is still pretty close.

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Waiter Efficiency Tips

• "Box Up" Waiter into an area of max 3x1 squares, or if you want to for aesthetics, 2x2 squares.
• When your Waiter is in the Centre square (for 3x1 squares), he can use the Drink Machine and both Stoves and serve at least 3 tables.
• Buy a few items that Extend Waiting Time (eg. Statue of Cookery, Mariachi Band, Giant TV, Drink Tower).
• Get Faster Drink Machines and Stoves (duh). I feel that faster Drink Machines are more crucial.

If you follow the above, you can serve 9 tables / chairs decently with 1 waiter, 2 cooks.

Other General Notes / Rules of Thumb

• One Stove can serve 3-4 tables effectively.
• A normal Stove takes 20 seconds to Cook a Meal.
• Hence using 6 Cooks, you can achieve max 18 Customers Served per minute, assuming NO drinks are ordered and Waiters INSTANTLY lift the food off the stove.
• At 17.5 Customers Served per minute, the 3x3 layout gets pretty close to that.
• Having many Tables / Chairs lead to many disappointed Customers. Use Arcades instead.
• If you can't afford Arcades (yet), put Chairs with no table in front of them for Customers to Wait

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Help, I can't get Waiters in the Right Places!

1. Arrange the whole set up, less Stoves
2. Place 1 Stove down for each 1 Waiter. The Waiter will appear directly in front of the Stove.
3. Save the Layout, Save the Game, Refresh.
4. After the game reloads, add in the remaining stoves. Do NOT touch the first few Stoves.
5. Save the Layout (waiters may be at wrong places at this time). Save the Game, Refresh.

Voila!

If you still have difficulty with the Waiters, see Playfish's guide on Island Layouts.