Gourmet Ranch Facebook Application Guide

If you're sick of just doing one thing on facebook - such as just running a farm or just owning a restaurant, this new game is for you.

Gourmet Ranch allows you to harvest animals, trees and crops and then use those ingredients to make a range of delicious recipes for your customers.

The game has a lovely neat layout that's well spread out, making it very easy on the eyes. There are a huge range of items to choose from, including decorative as well as functional things to add to your restaurant and outdoor eating area.

Below you'll find some basic explanations of how the game works and how to make the most of your own Gourmet Ranch.

When you begin the game, you'll experience a short tutorial which will show you how to farm, cook and serve your customers. 

Once the tutorial is over, you can complete a to do list, which consists of easy tasks such as harvesting or serving customers. When you complete the list, you get 5,000 coins.

• Coins - The main way to buy items on the game.
• Cash - You'll need to pay real money for this, but it allows you to do things you wouldn't be able to normally, such as unlock items that you are too low level for, or buy rare items such as market keys.
• Keys - Market keys are used to unlock various plants in the market place. You cannot grow a plant until it is unlocked.
• Settings - The settings let you toggle quality, sound and other game options.
• Plow - Use this to create a new plot of ground for planting crops.
• Fence - Use this to create a single fenced enclosure to hold an animal.
• Delete - Use this to get rid of an item or remove an enclosure or plowed land. If the item is worth coins, you will be prompted with the amount you'll get in return before the item is disposed of.
• Arrow - This returns you to a normal clicking arrow.
• Move - This can be used to move decorations and other items around your Gourmet Ranch.
• Recipes - This will show you all the recipes you can cook, with a green arrow beside the ones you have ingredients for.
• Market - The market allows you to buy anything you need for your farm, including animals, crops, and trees.
• Improvements - The improvements section allows you to buy anything you need for your cafe, including stoves, counters and decorations.
• Friend Display - This allows you to see what friends have visited and helped out on your ranch.
• Popularity - The more popular you are, the more people will visit your cafe. Serving a wider variety of food will increase your popularity.
• Name - This is the name of your ranch. Click it to change the name.
• Level - This shows how much exp you have left to reach the next level.

• Animals - Before you buy an animal, you need an empty fence enclosure. Each enclosure can hold one animal.
• Plants - You'll need to plow new plots of if you want to plant more food. Different crops take different lengths of time to mature, ranging from ten minutes through to several days.
• Trees - Trees can be harvested for fruits and nuts, and most take several days to mature.
• Harvest Life - Each tree or animal can be harvested up to 14 times before you'll need to replace it.

• Recipes - You'll need to have the ingredients for your recipe stored in your larder. Clicking a stove will give you a view of your recipe book, with a tick beside any recipe you have the ingredients for.
• Stoves & Counters - You only have a set number of stoves and counters. You can get more by levelling up.

• Cafe - Here you can cook food and serve it for customers to eat.
• Farm - Here you can grow crops and harvest trees and animals. The harvest can either be sold or stored for use in your cafe.
• Larder - Anything you harvest will automatically be sent here.
• Storage - This shed can be used to store decorative or functional items such as plants or tables and chairs. This is a great option if you don't want to sell them, but they're in the way.
• Trade Store - You can put things in the trade store for your friends to buy. The prices are preset. You have the option of moving anything from your larder in your trade store and when you complete a recipe, you also have the option of putting it in your store instead of serving it to your customers.

Each time you level you'll get some rewards:

• Stoves & Counters - The more of these you have, the more food you'll be able to serve your customers. They only unlock on a level up; you'll need to buy them from the store yourself.
• Market Keys - A market key is used to unlock new crops, animals and plants in the market place. Some items need to be unlocked in a particular order, so make sure you think ahead before using all your keys.
• New Waitresses - This way you'll be able to serve more customers, faster.
• Coins - The higher you level, the more coins you get.

Unlike many games, there is no 'build mode'. The game will continue running and customers will continue to visit your restaurant, even when you are buying or moving objects.

The expansion option is available through the improvements menu at the bottom right of the screen. You can expand either your cafe or your farm, when you can afford it. 

• Crops wither at three times their grow time. Dishes spoil at twelve times their cooking time.
• Watch for customers that are leaving because there is no room to sit. A customer can't sit down if all the tables are full or if there is a dirty plate on an empty table.