News Article

Tips for Running a Restaurant in The Sims 4 Dine Out Game Pack

Here are some tips on making the five-star dining experience of your Sim’s dreams.

**2016-06-08 Grant Rodiek

If you’ve picked up The Sims 4 Dine Out Game Pack,* you’ve likely already taken your Sims on a well-deserved trip to a fancy Restaurant. But what if you want to make your own? Here are some tips on making the five-star dining experience of your Sim’s dreams.

Place and Purchase the Restaurant. Before you can serve the first dish, you’ll need to purchase the Restaurant. After either building one (or grabbing one from My Library), you need to actually have a Sim buy it. Using the Ownership button in the bottom right corner of your screen, choose the Buy a Restaurant option and choose the Lot.

Secure Funding. Your household finances are distinct from your business finances. Be sure to click the Transfer Funds button in the Ownership panel to secure some simoleons for your business. This money will be needed to purchase furniture, pay for advertising, and cover staffing costs. You’ll need to put money down if you want to earn big long term!

Hire Cheap Employees to Start. Click the Manage Employees button in the Ownership panel and hire your staff. You’ll need at least one Chef, one Host, and one Waiter. You can technically hire higher skilled staffers, but they’ll cost more, which might be a financial burden on your new Restaurant. Plus, you can train employees later to turn them into award-winning staff.

Evaluate Your Chef’s Skills. When you’re designing the menu for your Restaurant, you’ll need to take your Chef’s skills into account! Some recipes are more difficult than others to prepare, which is shown in the menu customization panel. If your chef isn’t very good, they’ll upset customers as they struggle to make top tier dishes. You’ll need to pick and choose where you spend your money. Hiring a great chef may be a good investment.

Observe the Operations. You’ll need to watch your staff in action to know how things are going. If you cannot tell from their behavior, look at the reactions over the heads of your customers. They will gain or lose stars, based on how well your staff is performing. Be sure to scold staff when they’re out of line, or invest in teaching them new skills to prevent a repeat. If some staff members are truly unruly, drop the hammer and show them the door!

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Inspire the Staff! Staffers need a pep talk. Be sure to use “Give Inspiration Speech!” often to rally them to the cause of high quality Restaurant service. More stars from customers means a higher performing Restaurant, which means more Simoleons for your coffers!

Invest in Advertising. When you’re just getting started, Sims in the world won’t know how awesome your Restaurant is! You should invest in advertising in the Ownership panel by clicking the Advertising button. The more you spend, the greater the chance you bring in more customers. But, be careful! Don’t flood your business with customers before it’s ready to handle them. If your staff is bad, you’ll make a lot of bad impressions. Which brings us to…

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Pay for Training. You can pay Simoleons to train your Employees using the Manage Employee option in the ownership menu. Better employees will please your customers, make fewer mistakes, and will bring in more money over time. It’s a tradeoff of investing money NOW to earn more money LATER. Finding the right time to spend is a key decision you need to make for your Restaurant.

We want to see YOUR Sim's Restaurants in action! Be sure to share them with us on Twitter using #DineOut.

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Find out more about The Sims 4 Dine Out.

*REQUIRES THE SIMS 4 GAME (SOLD SEPARATELY) AND ALL GAME UPDATES TO PLAY.