Sushi Staff Strategy

This guide was created using game version v1.0.0.990.steam.

Dispatch[]

Dave should hire Staff with low Hiring Fees as soon as possible, to begin regularly obtaining Seasoning Ingredients from Dispatch as soon as possible. Recipes that require Seasoning Ingredients are priced much higher, but likewise require a multitude of the given Seasoning for Enhancement. Prioritizing the acquisition of bulk Seasoning will allow Dave to sell very expensive Recipes sooner. Dave should choose to Dispatch for bulk Salt first, for the Seagrapes Jellyfish Sushi Recipe, obtained automatically early in the game, and try to Enhance that Recipe to maximum Level as soon as possible. Afterward, Dave should Dispatch for bulk Olive Oil to maximize the Special Fried Shrimp Sushi Recipe, conferred by Training Drae to Level 5. These Recipes each require 221 of their respective Seasoning to be Enhanced to the maximum Level of 10, so Dave should place a rather high priority on investment into Dispatch Staff. See the Recipe Strategy Guide for more insight into these choices.

The exact relationship between the Procure and Appeal stats and the amount of Seasoning acquired per Dispatch, as well as potential bonus Seasonings, is currently unknown, but both stats are assumed to be relevant because they are both displayed by the game in the Dispatch window.

The following table displays how much Procure and Appeal stat every Staff member gains per Level, as well as their maximum Procure and Appeal (at Level 20), to help you decide whom to prioritize for Training for Dispatch. In addition to these stats, be aware that Davina's Level 3 Special Skill grants +50 Appeal, and Itsuki's Level 7 Special Skill grants +50 Appeal, and Davina and Masayoshi receive additional items from Dispatch from their Level 7 Special Skills.

Name	Procure per Level	Max Procure	Appeal per Level	Max Appeal
Billy	23	467	15	291
Carolina	42	810	23	449
Charlie	15	323	6	129
Cohh	2	150	33	672
Davina	43	859	45	915
Drae	32	666	39	744
El Nino	18	425	3	138
Itsuki	33	628	48	963
James	23	482	11	269
Jandi	25	510	24	506
Kyoko	28	547	43	838
Liu	40	780	26	509
Maki	1	20	1	20
Masayoshi	41	814	15	378
Mitchell	1	29	47	981
Pai	46	914	20	418
Raptor	40	770	5	194
Raul	25	541	25	541
Tohoku	5	155	40	808
Yone	15	385	6	126
Yusuke	49	986	8	160

Cooking[]

Dave can easily get away with having only one well-Trained Cook (besides Bancho), which may be preferable as having active Staff members increases Staff Pay Expense each night, and the Staff member that would have been the second Cook could instead go Procure Seasoning Ingredients. However, when the restaurant is very popular, the slightly slower customer turnaround from having only one Cook may rarely result in customers having to sit somewhere that requires Cleaning; if that happens, and the Table is not promptly Cleaned by Dave or a capable Staff member, the customer will leave unhappy, resulting in a negative review on Cooksta and loss of profits and Artisan's Flame. In the early- and mid-game, this issue will not occur, so Dave should not assign a second Cook at that time. Whether to assign one or two Cooks in the late game comes down to player preference. Servers will prioritize Cleaning over Serving if they are able, but some Cleaning Staff may also perform other time-consuming tasks, and it is currently unclear whether they prioritize Cleaning over those other tasks, so Dave should help out with Cleaning a Table whenever it isn't too far away, especially if there is only one Cook.

The following table displays the amount of Cooking stat each Staff member gains per Level, as well as their bonuses to Cooking from Special Skills, and their maximum Cooking stat (at Level 20), to help you decide whom to prioritize for Training as a Cook:

Name	Cooking per Level	Level 3 Bonus Cooking	Level 7 Bonus Cooking	Max Cooking
Maki	45	50	50	1055
Charlie	45	50	0	908
Drae	44	0	0	896
Yusuke	40	0	50	850
Masayoshi	39	0	0	786
James	35	50	0	800
Yone	34	100	0	901
Carolina	29	0	0	621
Jandi	28	0	0	542
Liu	28	0	0	550
Tohoku	28	50	50	739
Kyoko	27	0	0	527
Pai	26	50	0	594
Davina	25	0	0	490
Raul	25	0	0	541
Itsuki	23	0	0	438
Mitchell	21	0	0	407
Billy	20	0	0	408
Raptor	15	0	0	304
Cohh	13	0	0	360
El Nino	6	0	0	126

Serving[]

Dave absolutely requires two well-trained Servers in the Dining Area to avoid having customers leave unhappy. Having those Servers take on additional tasks beyond Serving food is preferable, because they will always perform those tasks much faster than Dave (as well as move faster to the customer), with the exception of Wasabi Refill, at which Dave can "cheat" by simply closing the Wasabi minigame before the Wasabi is full, which will retain the Wasabi that Dave added while avoiding the animation that normally plays when Wasabi is completely filled (during which time Dave would not be able to do anything, while time continues to pass). The player may also successfully close the Wasabi minigame at the exact same time as Wasabi is completely filled, which will also bypass the animation, however, not only is it unnecessary to completely fill the Wasabi, but also, the final input typically adds less Wasabi than previous inputs, the timing for closing the menu at that time is quite strict, and this input window could be patched out later by the developers, so this method is quite suboptimal.

Specifically, Dave's chosen Servers at the main restaurant should certainly have the abilities to Serve Drinks, Clean Tables, and, when applicable, Serve Cocktails, to save Dave from having to run to the far left of the restaurant to perform any of those tasks, and also because when Dave Serves Drinks and Cocktails, he incurs a long delay during which the resulting grade is displayed on the screen, not to mention simply being slower at those tasks. Dave should not designate a Server who can Refill Wasabi at the main restaurant, because Dave is best at that task, unless that Server can perform a different special task that the other Server cannot. That covers three of the four Special Skill slots between the two Servers. The fourth Special Skill should ideally increase total income, and before Cocktails are unlocked, instead of having Serve Cocktails, that Skill should also increase total income.

Cocktails are not considered Drinks; Staff with the ability to Serve Drinks cannot serve Cocktails, and vice versa. There is currently no Staff member with both a Drink Serving Skill and the Serve Cocktails skill (except Dave).

The following pairs of Staff members have high Serving stats (700+ each at max Level) and their combined Skills meet the criteria laid out in this guide:

Before Cocktails[]

El Nino (986 Serving, Cleaning, Drinks) and Itsuki (932 Serving, Drinks, Appeal)
El Nino (986 Serving, Cleaning, Drinks) and Billy (732 Serving, Cleaning, Tips)
Itsuki (932 Serving, Drinks, Appeal) and Billy (732 Serving, Cleaning, Tips)

After Cocktails[]

El Nino (986 Serving, Cleaning, Drinks) and Cohh (914 Serving, Cocktails, Tips)
Drae (855 Serving, Cleaning, Cocktails) and Itsuki (932 Serving, Drinks, Appeal) (however, Drae is the best Branch Manager, so this pairing is not recommended when the Branch is unlocked)

While El Nino's Hiring Fee is the highest in the game, he's easily the best Server in the game, and should be paired with Itsuki until Cocktails unlock, at which point she should be replaced by Cohh. Before being able to afford El Nino, Billy is the most viable substitute.

The following table displays the amount of Serving stat each Staff member gains per level, as well as bonuses to Serving from Special Skills, and their maximum Cooking stat (at Level 20), to help you decide whom to prioritize for Training as a Server:

Name	Serving per Level	Level 7 Bonus Serving	Max Serving
Itsuki	49	0	932
Cohh	48	0	914
Drae	44	0	855
El Nino	42	0	986
Raptor	40	0	910
Mitchell	38	50	792
Billy	31	0	723
Kyoko	30	0	605
Jandi	28	0	579
Raul	25	0	541
Liu	20	50	455
Pai	19	50	466
Carolina	18	0	417
Davina	18	0	360
Charlie	12	0	248
Masayoshi	12	0	253
James	10	0	225
Yusuke	10	0	218
Yone	6	0	154
Maki	1	0	33
Tohoku	1	0	99

Branch[]

At the Branch location, in addition to Cooks and Servers, Dave must appoint a Manager. The Manager's total stats determine both the total number of customers that will visit the Branch that night, as well as the maximum rank of Ingredients that may be used in Recipes at the Branch. Servers at the Branch also need to have the ability to Serve Drinks, Serve Cocktails, Clean Tables and Refill Wasabi. Fortunately the Manager, will also do these tasks if they have the appropriate skill/s, so the servers do not have to do all 4 alone.

During Seasonal Events customers that desire specific types of dishes will also visit the branch and will become unhappy if none of such food types are served. Thus it is important to supply the branch with such food types before the event. Good news is the Manager will automatically add such food types to their menu on the day of the event if they are available. However, if more than 1 type of food is available the Manager will pick it by the category they were ordered to choose their menu items i.e. value, taste, amount etc. Thus if the dish is not the one you wish them to server during the event then one must either change their category or remove the undesired ingredients from their supply.

The following table displays the amount of total stats each Staff member gains per level, as well as bonus stats from Special Skills and maximum total stats (at Level 20), to help you decide whom to prioritize for Training as Manager:

Name	Stats per Level	Level 3 Bonus Stats	Level 7 Bonus Stats	Max Total Stats
Drae	159	0	0	3161
Itsuki	153	0	50	2961
Davina	131	50	0	2624
Kyoko	128	0	0	2517
Liu	114	0	50	2294
Carolina	112	0	0	2297
Pai	111	50	50	2392
Masayoshi	107	0	0	2231
Mitchell	107	0	50	2209
Yusuke	107	0	50	2214
Jandi	105	0	0	2137
Raptor	100	0	0	2178
Raul	100	0	0	2164
Cohh	96	0	0	2096
Billy	89	0	0	1889
James	79	50	0	1776
Charlie	78	50	0	1608
Tohoku	74	50	50	1801
El Nino	69	0	0	1675
Yone	61	100	0	1566
Maki	48	50	50	1128

Dave[]

Since Dave can "cheat" the Wasabi by skipping the completion animation (by closing the window before Wasabi is full), and has limited speed and stamina, Dave's overall best position is near Bancho. Dave should try to always Serve customers that are very close to Bancho because it can be done immediately (and Staff Servers incur a small delay upon Serving that Dave does not incur), unless other Staff are not busy, in which case letting them handle it may result in increased Tips, depending on the Server's stats and skills. When at a high Cooksta Rank, Dave should also help out with Cleaning Tables because of the sheer number of customers (and the fact that Dave does not incur a delay upon completion of the task), unless the table in question is very far away from Bancho, due to his low running speed. Dave should also try to keep Wasabi between 80 and 99 (or if strapped for time, above 40 at the very least), unless there is enough for the rest of the night.

Drink orders and dirty Tables appear to be random; as a result, it's sometimes possible for Dave and his Servers to get unlucky, having too many of those tasks to do at once, and be unable to prevent a customer from leaving unhappy, especially at high Cooksta Rank. The only way to mitigate this is to Train the Servers to a higher Level.