All 25 Ingredients in Restaurant Tycoon 3

Ingredients are the food stock behind your Restaurant Tycoon 3 kitchen. They sit in your Fridge, feed dishes and drinks, and turn a normal menu into something that actually pays instead of politely existing.

farmable

Farmable ingredients

12 items

These ingredients can be grown through Farming as well as bought through their listed stores. Planting them is slower than shopping, but it gives you a way to build stock without spending cash every time.

Onion

Onion is a farmable Farm ingredient with a short 15 minute crop cycle and high listed food and drink demand.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Farm
price: 20 Cash
Total Required: 88
Growth Time: 15 Minutes
Amount Grown: x3

Flour

Flour comes from the Wheat crop, with a 25 minute grow time and one of the highest listed demand totals.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Bakery
price: 20 Cash
Total Required: 118
Growth Time: 25 Minutes
Amount Grown: x5

Sugar

Sugar comes from the Sugarcane crop and has the highest listed total requirement of any ingredient.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Bakery, Supermarket
price: 20 Cash (Bakery); 30 Cash (Supermarket)
Total Required: 168
Growth Time: 45 Minutes
Amount Grown: x6

Tomato

Tomato can be bought from the Farm or grown in one hour, producing x8 per harvest.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Farm
price: 25 Cash
Total Required: 50
Growth Time: 1 Hour
Amount Grown: x8

Pepper

Pepper is a Farm ingredient that can also be grown in one hour for x6, with a lower listed recipe demand than most staples.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Farm
price: 40 Cash
Total Required: 17
Growth Time: 1 Hour
Amount Grown: x6

Potato

Potato is a farmable Farm ingredient with a 1 hour 15 minute grow time and a high listed total requirement.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Farm
price: 20 Cash
Total Required: 71
Growth Time: 1 Hour 15 Minutes
Amount Grown: x6

Carrot

Carrot is a Farm ingredient with a 1 hour 30 minute crop route and x7 per harvest.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Farm
price: 25 Cash
Total Required: 45
Growth Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Amount Grown: x7

Banana

Banana is sold at the Supermarket and can be grown through the Banana Tree crop, which takes 1 hour 40 minutes for x3.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Supermarket
price: 40 Cash
Total Required: 22
Growth Time: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
Amount Grown: x3

Berries

Berries can be bought from Farm or Supermarket and grown as a Berry Bush crop for x8 after two hours.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Farm, Supermarket
price: 80 Cash
Total Required: 51
Growth Time: 2 Hours
Amount Grown: x8

Pumpkin

Pumpkin is a Farm ingredient and a two hour crop, but its listed food and drink requirement is low compared with other farmable staples.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Farm
price: 40 Cash
Total Required: 8
Growth Time: 2 Hours
Amount Grown: x3

Lettuce

Lettuce is a Farm ingredient with a longer 2 hour 30 minute crop timer and x7 per harvest.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Farm
price: 30 Cash
Total Required: 26
Growth Time: 2 Hours 30 Minutes
Amount Grown: x7

Apple

Apple is the longest farmable crop route in the Farming table, taking three hours as an Apple Tree for x7.

Farmable: Yes
Stores: Farm, Supermarket
price: 120 Cash
Total Required: 38
Growth Time: 3 Hours
Amount Grown: x7

farmable

Shop-only staples

8 items

These ingredients come from shops rather than crop timers. Watch the listed store and price, especially when the same ingredient appears in more than one place.

Milk

Milk is bought from Farm or Supermarket and has a high listed food and drink requirement.

Farmable: No
Stores: Farm, Supermarket
price: 45 Cash (Farm); 70 Cash (Supermarket)
Total Required: 76
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Egg

Egg is a Bakery or Supermarket staple with one of the larger listed food and drink totals.

Farmable: No
Stores: Bakery, Supermarket
price: 20 Cash (Bakery); 30 Cash (Supermarket)
Total Required: 69
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Cheese

Cheese is available from Farm or Supermarket, with different listed prices depending on the shop.

Farmable: No
Stores: Farm, Supermarket
price: 40 Cash (Farm); 60 Cash (Supermarket)
Total Required: 50
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Bread

Bread is sold at the Bakery and Supermarket, and the Bakery is the cheaper stop.

Farmable: No
Stores: Bakery, Supermarket
price: 25 Cash (Bakery); 40 Cash (Supermarket)
Total Required: 47
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Ice

Ice is a Supermarket ingredient with a mid-range listed demand total.

Farmable: No
Stores: Supermarket
price: 25 Cash
Total Required: 39
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Chocolate

Chocolate is a Supermarket-only ingredient with a listed price of 90 Cash.

Farmable: No
Stores: Supermarket
price: 90 Cash
Total Required: 36
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Pasta

Pasta is a Supermarket ingredient with the same listed total requirement as Chocolate.

Farmable: No
Stores: Supermarket
price: 25 Cash
Total Required: 36
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Mushroom

Mushroom is bought from Farm or Campsite and has a lower listed food and drink total.

Farmable: No
Stores: Farm, Campsite
price: 25 Cash
Total Required: 18
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

farmable

Meat and fish

5 items

These are specialist ingredients from the Butcher or Fishmonger. Plan them like shopping stops instead of background farming, because the crop route is not the answer here.

Fish

Fish is bought from the Fishmonger and has the highest listed total among the meat and fish group.

Farmable: No
Stores: Fishmonger
price: 50 Cash
Total Required: 82
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Chicken

Chicken is a Butcher ingredient with a high listed food and drink requirement.

Farmable: No
Stores: Butcher
price: 35 Cash
Total Required: 77
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Beef

Beef is a Butcher ingredient with a high listed requirement and a 65 Cash price.

Farmable: No
Stores: Butcher
price: 65 Cash
Total Required: 75
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Pork

Pork is a Butcher ingredient with a mid-range listed total requirement.

Farmable: No
Stores: Butcher
price: 45 Cash
Total Required: 46
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Lamb

Lamb is a Butcher ingredient with a 75 Cash listed price and lower total requirement than the other meat entries.

Farmable: No
Stores: Butcher
price: 75 Cash
Total Required: 24
Growth Time: -
Amount Grown: -

Ingredients matter because they sit between cooking and profit. You buy them from shops around the map, store them in a Fridge, then spend them through dishes, drinks, and food stands. Running out mid-service feels tiny until the orders keep coming and your kitchen starts doing the quiet panic dance.

Farming saves cash, buying saves time

Farmable ingredients are the long-game route. You plant crops at the Farm, wait for them to grow, and collect the harvest into your ingredient stock. Crops can keep growing while you are offline, so planting before you leave is a clean habit. Future you gets the food. Present you gets to stop pretending patience is not a stat.

Buying is faster when you need ingredients right now. Shops such as the Farm, Bakery, Supermarket, Butcher, Fishmonger, and Campsite cover different parts of the ingredient pool. The trade-off is simple: cash goes down, service keeps moving.

Some shop prices change by location. If an ingredient appears in more than one store, compare the listed price before spending. A cheaper Bakery or Farm option can matter when you are stocking up for a big restaurant day.

Stock and storage are the real rhythm

A Fridge is required before ingredient buying really works, because it stores what you purchase from shops. Treat it like the restaurant's pantry. If the pantry is empty, the menu is just decoration with confidence.

The Farm and Bakery can rotate their stock on a timer, so do not plan every run around one shop always showing the same thing. If a needed ingredient is missing, farm what you can, check another store, or come back after the market changes.

How to decide what to chase first

Use farmable ingredients for steady background stock. Onion, Flour, Sugar, Tomato, and the other crop-linked ingredients are good candidates to keep growing because they can build up over time without another cash spend.

Use shop-only staples when the recipe demand is high or the farm route does not exist. Milk, Egg, Cheese, Bread, Ice, Chocolate, Pasta, and Mushroom are still important, but you handle them through store checks instead of crop timers.

Meat and fish are specialist buys. Fishmonger and Butcher ingredients are not crop projects, so they work best as planned shopping trips. Grab them when the menu needs them, then get back to serving before the customers remember they can judge you.

FAQ

What do ingredients do in Restaurant Tycoon 3?

Ingredients are stored in your Fridge and used by dishes, drinks, and food stands. They help your restaurant serve menu items that can earn more money.

Do I need a Fridge before buying ingredients?

Yes. The Fridge stores ingredients bought from shops around the map. Without storage, stocking up is not really the plan.

Is farming better than buying ingredients?

Farming is better when you can wait and want to save cash. Buying is better when your restaurant needs an ingredient right away and the shop has it in stock.

Do crops keep growing when I leave the game?

Crops keep growing while you are offline. Planting before you stop playing is a good way to come back to useful stock.

Why do some ingredients have more than one price?

Some ingredients are sold in more than one store, and prices can differ. The cheaper store is usually the better buy, as long as it has the ingredient in stock.

Why are Flour and Sugar marked as farmable?

You can grow Flour and Sugar from the Wheat and Sugarcane crops instead of buying them. That makes them farmable, even though you can also buy them from the Bakery.