Building a Restaurant Part 1: (Lot Type Requirements)
You can build your own restaurant in Dine Out, fully staff it, customize the menu, and run it.
To even begin managing a restaurant in The Sims 4 Dine Out, you must first own one. This guide will teach you to build your own. First, know that unless you're cheating, building/placing one from manage worlds will not be a shortcut to ownership. You'd then need to pay the lot value to purchase the restaurant. So, if you've saved up some money from your Sim's careers or other money-making methods, you may want to start with what you have. I'd estimate you wanting a decent chunk of Simoleons (at minimum 12,000-15,000) before ever starting this process, because you will need to put funds into the restaurant to pay employees and cover expenses. If you just buy one that someone else has built, you'll need even more Simoleons because it's probably not built on a budget. So, I'll cover making one from scratch and the requirements to do so.
Making Your Own Restaurant Consider your size needs and also that you might expand the building. You can own more than one restaurant, so you could start with a small diner and later sell it, only to build a bigger restaurant. Click in the bottom right corner of the screen and select, 'Buy a Restaurant'.
You must transfer funds to your restaurant to begin construction. I suggest at least 12-15k on hand. It's expensive to start, and you won't be rolling in Simoleons your first day.
You need to first cover the cost of the lot and transfer money to it. When you first pick a lot, you'll be prompted to transfer funds to the business. Like with The Sims 4 Get to Work, the owner can remove or add funds to the business at any time. The game recommends $10,000, and it's a good starting point. I think you'll need more like $15,000 due to Chef's Stations being so expensive. You can always add more. If you start a restaurant and don't have enough money, you can even leave build mode, go home, make more cash, and return with more to finish construction. Click the little icon in the bottom left corner when you're in build mode on your restaurant lot to transfer funds.
Qualifying a Building as a Restaurant
Restaurant Lot Requirements For a lot to be complete and allow you to open the restaurant, you will require the following items. Thankfully there's no strict building code. You only need:
1 Toilet
1 Sink
4 Dining Spots (Tables, bars with seats)
1 Chef Station
1 Waiter Station
1 Host Station
1 Dishwasher (Recommended)
Toilet/Sink - these two are obvious. Visiting Sims need a place to use the restroom, and you can provide that. You really only need one or two bathrooms at most. Ensure they are separated by a wall if you make more than one.
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Booths were a little clunky in my review copy, but they are possible and I expect them to improve.
Dining Spots & Booths - The game pack introduces booths. You can use any proper-height two square table. Tables that are three full squares long will not work, despite it being symmetrical with the booth. Booths are meant to serve four Sims maximum. A corner booth will allow two Sims to be served and takes a single-square table. Most other table/chair arrangements are obvious, therefore the focus on how booths work in Dine Out. If you have trouble making a true booth with two sides, try to place the table first THEN the booth seats. Know that 2/3 of your visits will be 1-2 Sims, while family gatherings are a bit more rare - this will help you decide the proportion of smaller to larger tables.
Three stations are required for your employees. They're rather costly, but necessary to operate.
Host Station - If you've been to a restaurant, you know the host will seat guests. Place this near the entrance of your restaurant so the host can direct Sims to an empty spot.
Waiter Station - It's obviously more efficient if these are nearby the tables, so that waiters can get menus for visiting customers.
Chef Station - This is the most expensive item - they're $3300. Note that the Full Disclosure Chef Station must be placed along a wall within the restaurant. As though you were making a room for the kitchen. It will create a hole in the wall through which waiters can get the food, and management can even speak to the chef. I found it hard to place, and they'll probably fix this, but once it's placed you can fiddle with it, select it again, and hopefully get it to face the direction you want. The second type of chef station is much easier to handle. Place these so the areas the plates go are closer to the waiters, with the chefs in the back.
Dishwashers (and trash cans) may be helpful to cleaning up after guests.
Dish Washer (Not Required) - While a Sink may be used to wash dishes, you really want a dish washer for efficiency's sake. Somewhere near to the tables so that waiters do not have to walk far to take care of them. This lets them spend less time in a public bathroom - either impeding Sims who need to use it or else just taking longer to do a job. A waiter could also be blocked if a Sim's in the restroom. You can get by with a sink early on, but you want your waiters serving Sims and clearing tables, and a real dish washer will get the job done. It also looks better and can be placed much closer to tables.
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I've been trying to figure out how to place booths since I purchased the game. I tried your suggestions above, but nothing is working. I tried placing the table first. No luck. I then tried placing the booths first. Still no luck. They turn red and say that I can't place objects that will intersect each other? If I use bb.moveobjects, they don't snap together? Any other pointers or suggestions? It's super frustrating.
The placing of booths seems pretty tricky. Try placing one booth first then the table that came with the pack and then move those two joined items to make sure they are 'locked'. Then place down the next booth and move the locked items to the second booth until they 'snap' together. Also, check that you are not using any mods or cc as quite a few mods now do not work with Dine Out.
Would it be possible to live on the lot where you have your restaurant? Because I'm building a house and I was thinking of making the first floor a restaurant and the second floor a living area?
If your sim is alone in his household, the best is to buy an empty lot, don't build on, and live on your restaurant lot. Don't forget to lock your "apartment door".
Yes, it is possible. Sometimes you have to claim any dining tables as 'your sims' in the apartment area as the game can see it as part of the restaurant. Also, make sure you lock the door to your sims apartment or you will have staff and customers using all your sims things! Your sim will still need a 'residential' home lot but you don't need to live there or even build anything on the residential lot at all.
Hi; quick question! Do your sim waiters clean up the dirty dishes? Mine don't at all, I have to do it. I have a dishwasher and waiters station but still nothing.Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong? Thanks!!!
Try removing the dishwasher. I've noticed that when waiters stop clearing away dishes that just having the waiters station seems to help. Also if you notice sims sitting down who are waiting for food but they have an empty plate in front of them if you drag it to the waiters station yourself it will clear the back log.
My Sims 4 Dine Out is practically unplayable. Nearly all of the interactions are blank so I don't know what anything is or means. Please help. I also have other blank boxes dotted around the game. Desparate for help! Ahhhh
Quit out of your game and delete the localthumbcache.package file from your TheSims4 folder. Next Go to origin and right click the Sims 4 icon in your library>Repair Your Game. If this doesn't fix it then try a Factory Reset: Factory Reset We also have a great technical help section on the forum Technical Help
Is there a way to make an owner the chef at the restaurant? I wanted to have a couple own the restaurant with one of them acting as the owner and the other as the chef but I can't figure out how.
I build a new restaurant on a previous restaurant lot and open my place for the first time. All my employees showed up and customers. but none of them could get in the building. I have all the required equipment need. I replaced my front door with an arch but still nothing. Please help. Thanks
Check that all your seats are 'locked' into the tables by picking them up in build mode where they should all move as one object. Check that the hosts station is clicked to grid and was not placed with MOO or the alt key and is also not facing a wall. Have your controlled sim walk around the tables and sit just to make sure there are no routing failures. Did you purchase this restaurant lot or just build it for NPC's ownership?
I'm guessing you need get to work to buy a restaurant? I don't really want get to work because I'll probably never use it.. But I really would like to own my own restaurant
Do you have an mods or cc in your game? If so remove them all and try another shift at your restaurant. Have a read through this tips section as layout and design of your restaurant can affect the hosts and wait staff. Restaurant Tips
Your sims can own restaurants but unfortunately they can not be part of the staff. This ability was not included in the game pack. Maybe a modder might be able to make something like this possible eventually. Until then your controlled sim can only be the owner/manager.
Is it possible to move your restaurant without getting rid of the ratings etc? I'm currently on a 20x15 lot and I want to expand it, but I don't know how! Thank you x
No the rating don't save with the restaurant but your perk points do. Save your restaurant to your library and then purchase a lot, change it to a restaurant lot and then in build mode access your library and place down your saved restaurant. If you can afford it you could still own your 1st restaurant and have a second one on a larger lot as well. The startings of your own chain of restaurants!
1. When your sim is on the Restaurant Lot go to Owned Businesses>Restaurant Settings>Sell This Business. 2. When sim is not on the restaurant lot got to Options Menu>Manage Worlds> then navigate to the Restaurant your sim owns then click on the lot. This will bring up a small menu bottom right of the screen. Click on the three dots (More)>Sell Business.
So I can't tell if it has been asked/answered yet, but I cannot find the waiter station at all in build mode! I downloaded it today and I am creating my own and it looks really great, but I want to open up my restaurant but I cant do it without the waiter station! Help please!!!!!
When in build mode under 'Restaurant Items' you'll find the waiters station there. It is called "Always Waiting" Waiter Station. If using the search bar you need the "" in around the words Always Waiting
I'm having an issue with my Sims 4 Dine out not switching between restaurant funds and household funds. When I'm at my restaurant, I'm able to buy things, but when I'm back at home, my household funds don't register.Help!!!
I have downloaded both The Sims dine out and also get to work and I can't for the life of me find the waitress or hostess stations anywhere in the build mode?!?! do I have to have a family or sim on the lot and have to be in live mode to acess itt? I am doing a build for the gallery and this is very frusturating any help would be great.
You need to be on the restaurant lot to find it. It will be under the build items specifically for restaurant lots. If you wanted to use it just for decoration on a residential build I guess you would need to use the bb.enablefreebuild cheat. cheats guide
I'm trying to convert a nightclub lot I downloaded into a restaurant lot, but I'm not seeing the restaurant lot option show up on the drop down menu for lot type when I'm in build mode. Any idea how to fix this?
The option appears to me so perhaps it is a mods/cc glitch? If you have any mods/cc remove them and then try again. (Quit without saving though otherwise your game will be saved in a cc-less state!). If you do not have mods/cc then try a deleting the localthumbcache.package file from your TheSims4 folder. If this doesn't work then do a factory reset. Repairing Your Game
Yep, you were right! A mod making generic lots usable for parties/clubs was the problem. It had completely removed not only restaurants but cafes from my lot type list. Thanks for the help!
I have a two story restaurant, and put a lot of work into my second floor. My problem is, no one sits at the tables on my second floor! The host station is down stairs, I have a bar downstairs, and a few tables. There are 2 server stations , one on each floor. Do I need to eliminate tables on the first floor to force guest to use the second?
It is probably more about how many tables you have in the whole restaurant. You can only have approx 20 sims on any one lot so maybe try cutting down on how many tables are available downstairs.
When your sim is on the restaurant lot click on Restaurant Settings. On the menu that appears there is a little dollar sale ticket icon. Click on that to sell that restaurant. Or go to the Options Menu>Manage Worlds> then select the restaurant lot and click on the tree dots beside the large play button on the bottom right of the UI. A small pop out will occur with a realtor sale sign. Click on that to sell that restaurant.
I just built a restaurant/bar/coffee shop/cupcake shop/residential home all in one lot. Does Get To Work shops work alongside Dine Out? Also I saw a comment on claiming tables but I can't seem to claim the dining table at the residential part of my build. No option came up for me to do it.One last thing, is it possible to increase the number of sims visiting the lot? I think 20 sims is quite little for the size of my build.Thanks!
You have to nominate what kind of lot your build will be. You can't have a lot that is labelled as a restaurant and a retail lot as well. Your best bet would be to experiment with lot types and see if customers of one sort will actually do anything in the other types of buildings. You'll only be able to claim a table on a restaurant lot. Just click on the table.I think there are some mods out there that do this. Google it and see what you find.
Has anyone else had issues with sims sharing tables with other parties.Like a couple will be seated a table, then my host will seat the next couple at the same table as the others.What's up with this?
That is quite normal. The host will sit different groups of sims together at the large table. If you want your sims to have their own table you can click on a specific table when they arrive at the restaurant lot and choose 'request table'. This will make the host seat them at the table you've clicked on.
There are no game mechanics to support the running of a bar etc like there is with a restaurant but I guess you could make a bar and have your sim tend the mixology bar. They will get some small tips for making drinks but nowhere near enough to live on.
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Comments (32)
Do your sim waiters clean up the dirty dishes? Mine don't at all, I have to do it. I have a dishwasher and waiters station but still nothing.Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong? Thanks!!!
If this doesn't fix it then try a Factory Reset:
Factory Reset
We also have a great technical help section on the forum
Technical Help
Someone can pleas tell
Me where the host and waitress stations at???? I can't find them!
Restaurant Tips
I'm currently on a 20x15 lot and I want to expand it, but I don't know how!
Thank you x
2. When sim is not on the restaurant lot got to Options Menu>Manage Worlds> then navigate to the Restaurant your sim owns then click on the lot. This will bring up a small menu bottom right of the screen. Click on the three dots (More)>Sell Business.
If you wanted to use it just for decoration on a residential build I guess you would need to use the bb.enablefreebuild cheat.
cheats guide
Repairing Your Game
Do I need to eliminate tables on the first floor to force guest to use the second?
Or go to the Options Menu>Manage Worlds> then select the restaurant lot and click on the tree dots beside the large play button on the bottom right of the UI. A small pop out will occur with a realtor sale sign. Click on that to sell that restaurant.