Objectives are the game's daily to-do board: rotating tasks across serving, cooking, earning, building, hiring, and farming that pay out rewards including food unlocks. They gamify what a working restaurant does anyway, which makes them the easiest free value in the game.
section
Service
Front-of-house tasks that busy rushes complete on their own.
Collect dishes
A repeating service objective. Clear finished plates after meals to fill the bar at the top of the screen.
- Activity
- Service
- Task
- Collect dishes X times
- How to complete
- After a table finishes its meals, click the plates when Collect Dishes appears.
- Reward
- Can unlock a dish from 3 food options, or receive cash instead.
- Scaling
- Scales up
- Notes
- Can be completed in another player's restaurant.
Earn cash from tables
A service objective that counts bills taken from finished tables, not every Cash source in the restaurant.
- Activity
- Service
- Task
- Earn cash from X tables
- How to complete
- Collect the bill from a table after the group finishes its courses.
- Reward
- Can unlock a dish from 3 food options, or receive cash instead.
- Scaling
- Scales up
- Notes
- Can be completed in another player's restaurant.
Serve dishes
A service objective for handing cooked dishes to the matching customers from the Order Counter.
- Activity
- Service
- Task
- Serve X dishes
- How to complete
- Take a finished dish from the Order Counter and serve it to the matching customer.
- Reward
- Can unlock a dish from 3 food options, or receive cash instead.
- Scaling
- Scales up
- Notes
- Can be completed in another player's restaurant.
Seat customer groups
A service objective for seating arriving groups at tables so the dining room keeps moving.
- Activity
- Service
- Task
- Seat X customer groups
- How to complete
- Seat arriving customer groups at tables.
- Reward
- Can unlock a dish from 3 food options, or receive cash instead.
- Scaling
- Scales up
- Notes
- Can be completed in another player's restaurant.
Serve drinks
A service objective for serving drinks. The Drinks upgrade unlocks drinks for your menu.
- Activity
- Service
- Task
- Serve drinks
- How to complete
- Serve drink orders to customers.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Serve drive thru customer
A service objective for the Drive-Thru, where customers arrive by car. Operators can run that lane for you.
- Activity
- Service
- Task
- Serve a drive-thru customer
- How to complete
- Serve a customer who comes through your Drive-Thru.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Calm rude customer
A service objective for rude customers. Dealing with a rude customer's outrage pays out money.
- Activity
- Service
- Task
- Calm a rude customer
- How to complete
- Successfully deal with a rude customer's outrage.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Encounter VIP
A service objective for VIP customers, who drop a large tip. They turn up roughly 1 in 256 customers.
- Activity
- Service
- Task
- Encounter a VIP customer
- How to complete
- Have a VIP customer visit your restaurant.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Satisfy food critic
A service objective for food critics, who rate your restaurant from 0 to 5 stars and pay 200 Cash when they like it.
- Activity
- Service
- Task
- Satisfy a food critic
- How to complete
- Get a food critic to like your restaurant.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- Made easier and rarer in the South America Update.
section
Staff
Hiring and leveling up the workers on your team.
Hire chef
A staff objective for hiring a chef. Chefs cook the dishes for orders that show up at the nearby order counter.
- Activity
- Staff
- Task
- Hire a chef
- How to complete
- Hire a chef from the Staff menu.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Hire server
A staff objective for hiring a server. Servers greet customers, take orders, serve food and clear dishes.
- Activity
- Staff
- Task
- Hire a server
- How to complete
- Hire a server from the Staff menu.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Upgrade staff
A staff objective for leveling up a worker. Each worker can level up five times with Cash, and each level improves one part of their ability.
- Activity
- Staff
- Task
- Upgrade staff
- How to complete
- Pay Cash to level up a worker you have hired.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
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Cooking
Kitchen tasks, from cooking orders to boosting dish prices.
Cook dishes
A cooking objective for finishing orders on kitchen appliances when the bar asks you to cook, not serve.
- Activity
- Cooking
- Task
- Cook X dishes
- How to complete
- Take an order from the Order Counter and finish the dish on kitchen appliances.
- Reward
- Can unlock a dish from 3 food options, or receive cash instead.
- Scaling
- Scales up
- Notes
- Can be completed in another player's restaurant.
Boost dishes
A cooking objective for boosting dish prices. Boosting uses up the ingredients you take out of your Fridge.
- Activity
- Cooking
- Task
- Boost dishes
- How to complete
- Buy ingredients from the shops, then boost a dish's price in the menu. Each boost uses up the ingredients.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
section
Farming
Crops you plant and harvest on your farm plot.
Harvest crop
A farming objective for harvesting a crop from your farm plot. Harvested ingredients go into your Fridge.
- Activity
- Farming
- Task
- Harvest a crop
- How to complete
- Plant a crop on your farm plot, wait for it to grow, then interact with it to harvest.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
section
Cash
Money tasks that pay off through normal restaurant play.
Earn cash
A cash objective for making money from restaurant play. Tips and food-critic pay count, unlike the table-bill objective.
- Activity
- Cash
- Task
- Earn X cash
- How to complete
- Earn Cash from restaurant play. Tips and food-critic pay count toward this objective.
- Reward
- Can unlock a dish from 3 food options, or receive cash instead.
- Scaling
- Scales up
- Notes
- The auto-collect gamepass no longer blocks cash objectives.
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Building
Spending tasks for upgrades, expansions and furniture. Time them with planned purchases.
Spend cash on furniture
A building objective for spending Cash on furniture. Sandbox mode does not hand out this quest.
- Activity
- Building
- Task
- Spend X cash on furniture
- How to complete
- Spend Cash placing furniture in Build Mode.
- Reward
- Can unlock a dish from 3 food options, or receive cash instead.
- Scaling
- Scales up
- Notes
- Sandbox mode does not assign this objective.
Buy furniture items
A building objective that counts how many furniture items you buy, not how much Cash you spend on them.
- Activity
- Building
- Task
- Buy X furniture items
- How to complete
- Buy furniture items in Build Mode.
- Reward
- Can unlock a dish from 3 food options, or receive cash instead.
- Scaling
- Scales up
- Notes
- Counts furniture purchases rather than the Cash spent.
Buy tip jar
A building objective for the Tip Jar upgrade, which collects extra cash from customers.
- Activity
- Building
- Task
- Buy a Tip Jar
- How to complete
- Buy the Tip Jar upgrade in the upgrades menu.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Buy drinks upgrade
A building objective for the Drinks upgrade, which adds drinks to your restaurant.
- Activity
- Building
- Task
- Buy the Drinks upgrade
- How to complete
- Buy the Drinks upgrade in the upgrades menu.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Buy kitchen upgrades
A building objective for kitchen upgrades like Level 2 Kitchens. These upgrades speed up cooking in the ovens.
- Activity
- Building
- Task
- Buy kitchen upgrades
- How to complete
- Buy kitchen upgrades in the upgrades menu, such as Level 2 Kitchens.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Buy advertising
A building objective for advertising upgrades. Each one raises the customer spawn rate.
- Activity
- Building
- Task
- Buy advertising
- How to complete
- Buy an advertising upgrade in the upgrades menu, such as Basic Advertising.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Buy expansions
A building objective for restaurant expansions. Each one adds more space to your restaurant plot.
- Activity
- Building
- Task
- Buy expansions
- How to complete
- Buy a restaurant expansion in the upgrades menu, such as Left Expansion.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Buy upgrades
A building objective for buying upgrades. Upgrades cover service, kitchens, advertising, expansions and management.
- Activity
- Building
- Task
- Buy upgrades
- How to complete
- Buy any upgrade in the upgrades menu.
- Reward
- -
- Scaling
- -
- Notes
- -
Playing the board without detours
Most objectives complete themselves inside normal play: dishes get collected, meals get cooked, cash gets earned. The skill is sequencing, not effort; glance at the board before a session and let the tasks steer which station you staff yourself.
- Service and cooking objectives finish fastest during a busy dinner rush; do not force them in an empty restaurant.
- Cash objectives reward stacking with rush hours.
- Building and staff objectives ask for spending, so fold them into purchases you already planned.
- Food-unlock rewards are the standouts: new menu items for doing your job.
FAQ
How do objectives work in Restaurant Tycoon 3?
A rotating board lists tasks like collecting dishes or cooking meals; completing them pays rewards, including food unlocks from several tasks.
Do objectives expire?
The board rotates, so tasks come and go. Finish reward-rich ones while they are up.
What is the best objective reward?
Food unlocks: several objectives hand you a choice of new dishes, expanding your menu for free.
