Improve the opinion of your customers by interacting with them. Everyone likes to meet the owner, especially if he throws in free drinks!
Key to the success of your restaurant are customers and your staff's treatment of them. This part of my Dine Out guide exists to teach you a bit about customers, when they'll arrive, and their composition. We will also touch on food bloggers (critics) who can be a positive or negative influence on your restaurant's rating. Restaurant Rating itself and all the factors that contribute to it are found on the Star Rating page.
Advertising is worth it for a well-run establishment, but upper packages too expensive for smaller restaurants.
How Many
The number of customers that will visit your restaurant are based upon three major factors. First, your star rating. This one is obvious, as a restaurant with a good reputation is more exciting to visit. Second, advertising to get the word out via 4 distinct packages. You pay for advertisements by the hour, and only during times of operation. Lastly, time of day has a large impact on the types of and quantity of visitors you'll see.
Advertising Packages
Find this under the Restaurant Settings menu. There are four packages available:
Because of the cost, the diamond advertising package is not normally recommended. Great players with very well-managed restaurants may make good use of it. It requires highly skilled and disciplined employees, as well as extra perks to increase the customers' eating speed, reduce aggravation about wait times, and a very high markup to benefit from it. The other packages are great but any of these should be considered before use, as you may waste money.
Wait time's a big factor, and customers tend to come in waves during peak hours just as in reality. Be prepared!
When Customers Arrive: Hours to be Open
Late-night and early morning are the worst times to be open and waste your Sim's energy, though early birds will come at 6AM. The game's customer spawning system is not unlike real life. Breakfast begins at around 6AM. There's a lunch rush from 11-1, then a good quantity of Sims will come from 4-8PM, with slower periods in between. It's not that you won't get customers if you are open late at night, it's just that you'll get less. If your restaurant is 1 or 2-star it will not see many Sims at all during down hours. A 4-star that can not handle many will still attract a good amount of customers even late at night.
Customer Composition
Generally, you will find that customers come alone or in pairs. Many Sims will come on a date, especially during dinner hours. Aforementioned early birds come for breakfast. One third to one quarter of visits will be a family gathering, meaning you need a larger table for them. Family gatherings happen primarily around lunch and dinner.
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Make food bloggers happy, and they'll write a great review of your restaurant. It's worth 10x the normal value!
Food Bloggers (Critics)
Food Bloggers are most likely to come in the lunch-evening time frame, and are only about 3-5% of visits depending upon the time of day. You should absolutely cater to them by welcoming, checking on the table, maybe comping dessert. I wouldn't make the meal free unless they're unhappy. You can, of course, prioritize food if their wait time is taking too long. Do these things because a food blogger's review is worth 10 of a normal customer's reviews and a bad review can quickly drop your score, but one critic's review could bring you up a whole star rating depending where you restaurant ranks. I have seen more than one critic at a time. It's possible, just not likely.
Best Times to Operate
Given these details, it's best to operate the restaurant between around 11AM to 9 or 10PM to see the most customers arrive. It is a long shift, but can be highly profitable. You'll have some slower times to clear tables, then the peaks will hit. If your waiters get overwhelmed, you could use the manager to clean up a bit and save them some time. Welcoming/checking on tables is not that heavily weighted, just good practice when there's nothing else to do.
The Curious Customers perk gives you an additional social that can be used sometimes - recommend dish. One more way to please your clientele
Too Many: Stop Accepting Customers
This is an instant setting you can toggle by clicking the host station. You can allow new customers by clicking it again when your workers catch up. Selecting this when there are no full tables and the kitchen is already backed up is a good idea. Customers who wait too long will become one-star reviews most of the time, and make a heavy impact on your rating. You can salvage the review of a customer who is upset their food is slow (prioritize it) or had a bad meal (comp it), maybe even throw in a free drink or dessert. However you cannot do anything about a customer you don't get to seat and serve, they'll just trash your restaurant to their friends.
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New features in the Sims 4 Patch
The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle Guide
Eco Footprint: How it Works
Neighborhood Action Plans
How to Cheat in Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle
Civil Designer Career
Insect Farms & Bio Fuel
Fabrication Skill in Eco Lifestyle
Juice Fizzing NEW
Traits and Aspirations in DLC
Gameplay Ideas for Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle
Updated
Trait Cheats Updated
Traits List Updated
Aspirations List Updated
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This is inspired by a new series in which I start at toddler and gradually take on the major bonuses. Here's a link to the full playlist!
I now have a guide page to Tiny Living Stuff where you can learn about Murphy Beds, the new death, as well as the lot bonuses you'll receive if you manage to keep the size of your lot down with this new pack's Tiny Home Lot Type.
New I now have a guide to Making Super Sims in The Sims 4. Look for a text version within the next 72h. It won't have THAT much more info but it will help out as a checklist.
This was inspired by a series, "Let's Play a Super Sim" in which I start at toddler and gradually take on the major bonuses. Here's a link to each part for people who are interested. You can also see the Let's Play as a Playlist on Youtube.
The Sims 4 Discover University has been announced for November 15 for PC/Mac and December 17 for Xbox and Playstation 4 consoles. Click to learn more about the pack, see my summary of the livestream or read our FAQs below.
Other Guides to Discover University:
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New: Discover University FAQ: Gameplay Features
New Video The Sims 4 Discover University Gameplay Tips Video
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Comments (7)
All I can suggest is take out any/all mods and cc you might be using and see if that fixes the problem. Remember to delete the loaclthumbcache.package file from your TheSims 4 folder after taking out your mods but before you try your game again. Doing a factory reset is probably a good idea too as this really helps to clear out any weird bugs and glitches.
Factory Reset
Some Helpful Tips
Thanks! :)
Can I close the restaurant after people are done with their food and drink and are just talking but not leaving? I had a couple come in and they had a 5 over their head for three hours after they were done and they were just talking or those hours, they were the last in the restaurant and just wouldn’t leave.
You can close the restaurant while sims are still eating/waiting for orders etc as the staff will complete all existing customers processes/orders etc but no new customers will be able to enter. It's advisable to close the restaurant after about 6 hrs so staff work optimally. Or you can close after 4 hrs and then reopen again in the evening. So do a daytime/night time split shift system.