1. Once you’ve unlocked the Casino, play it every day at the 500-coin level until you win 15 gems. This resets every 24 hours and is the best way to get gems.
2. Each restaurant that you own will earn you coins every 24 hours as well. Wait to click the ‘claim’ button on a restaurant until right after you win at the casino. This way, if you view a restaurant before the 24 hours is up, the timer will still be ticking away telling you how long is left until you can claim your earnings for that day. This is an easy way to keep track of whether or not you can play the casino again as well, if you do them together.
3. You’ll win 7 gems each time you level up in the game. You level up in the game each 10,000 experience points. You can earn experience points through the “tasks” for each restaurant, in addition to playing levels. If you are playing additional levels for the sake of winning XP and leveling up, go back and play the early levels after you’ve upgraded some ingredients or equipment. You’ll probably be able to get 3 stars in the at least the first 1 levels of each restaurant once you’ve done some upgrades. Getting 3 stars and/or serving customers quicker thanks to the upgrade will often trigger those tasks. For example “serve 3 glasses of ginger ale in 6 seconds” is pretty impossible if your ginger ale machine is just at 1 or 2 servings at a time. However, once you’ve upgraded to level 3 you’ll easily be able to replay a level and get the XP for that task.
4. Only do interior upgrades when they are coins-only. I have completed 17 restaurants so far. THe first few that I played, I wasted gems on interior upgrades, but later realized it is not necessary. Gems are precious, save them for kitchen equipment or ingredient upgrades.
5. When you are looking to upgrade for the sake of being successful at harder levels, pay close attention to whether you need equipment or ingredients. Early on, I always upgraded equipment. However, if you are finishing a level without running out of time (meaning you serve everyone before the clock runs out) but you aren’t winning the level, that means you need to be earning more coins per order, which you do through upgrading ingredients, not equipment. Before doing an upgrade, I re-play the most recent level that I’m struggling to win just to double-check what part is holding me back the most.
6. Pay attention to the increase in pay for ingredients. You may have two different ingredients that can both be upgraded for 3 gems each, but one may only increase the cost per ingredient 2 coins, while another may be 4 coins. Get the most bang for your buck, so to speak. It typically makes sense to upgrade main ingredients (like burgers at a burger joint, or crust at a pizza restaurant) which are used in nearly ever order, instead of items like lettuce or salsa which are add-ons and only occur in a few orders per level.
7. If you are really close to beating a level but can’t quite get there, try ot memorize the first few customers. They are always the same. If you can plan ahead and start cooking the right ingredients for those first 2 or 3 customers, it can save you enough time to make a difference in the level overall and push you over that finish line.
8. If you are at level 37+ at a restaurant, it may make sense to spend just a couple gems to buy more of the dessert/treat for that level instead of upgrading more equipment. The treats/desserts for each level are often a significant price point, such as 60 coins, so serving 1 or 2 per level is often enough to tip you over the edge to win.

Do you have any tips or advice for Cooking Fever fans? Share them in the comments!