The primary rule of Facebook games applies.
In Cafe World, you will gain success from having as many neighbors as possible. Visiting a neighbor's cafe allows you to sample a random dish for him, earning you both coins and XP. You can only visit a given neighbor once every day, but if you have 100 neighbors, you can visit them all for your free daily coins and XP before you even touch your own cafe.
Don't forget about gifts: daily gifting can get you some expensive items for free, and if everyone is sending everyone else gifts, the success of everyone involved will rise faster than a player who is trying to solo. Some late-game items come only through gifting, so be friendly with as many people as you can be!
In Cafe World, you will gain success from having as many neighbors as possible. Visiting a neighbor's cafe allows you to sample a random dish for him, earning you both coins and XP. You can only visit a given neighbor once every day, but if you have 100 neighbors, you can visit them all for your free daily coins and XP before you even touch your own cafe.
Don't forget about gifts: daily gifting can get you some expensive items for free, and if everyone is sending everyone else gifts, the success of everyone involved will rise faster than a player who is trying to solo. Some late-game items come only through gifting, so be friendly with as many people as you can be!
2
The secondary rule of Facebook games applies.
You will take your biggest gains from working with shorter-term meals over similar lengths of time. For example, it's more profitable XP- and coins-wise to cook twelve 5-minute hamburger meals (264 coins profit and 84 XP) than it is four 15-minute salads (200 coins and 56 XP), which in turn gives you more than one 60-minute tikka kabob (130 coins and 22 XP). There are a few minor fluctuations when you get into the longer-term meals, and the Caramel Apples is all kinds of awful in the grand scheme of things, but the pattern holds.
In fact, here's an abbreviated chart for your viewing pleasure! We've got it sorted by how long the meals take to cook, and their XP gains...
...I know that may be a few too many numbers to comprehend, but you can see a general trend that the shorter the meal, the larger the XP/hour and profit/hour. By the way, these numbers take into account the XP gained and money lost from cleaning the stoves after the meal is completed, hence why they might not perfectly match up with in-game information.
Realistically, you're not going to be sitting at your computer all day waiting for meals, although there is certainly more you can do in Cafe World than other Facebook games. The simplest way to state this tip is this: play as much as you possibly can based on your personal schedule when you're on Facebook. You can, for example, set an 8-hour meal to start before going to work (assuming you don't check your meals at the office like we do!), then serve the meals when you get home, then set some short-term meals when you play during the evening, then set a longer-term meal to get you through the night. Conversely, if you're going to be busy the next day, you can set a 1-day or even 2- or 3-day meal so you don't have to worry about it. As you level up, you'll gain a larger variety of meals, which also gives you more flexibility for timing.
One thing to know is, because your meals don't spoil once they've been served, the number of servings is completely irrelevant: all food will eventually be sold to customers. This is why we show the numbers as XP/hour and profit/hour; XP/serving and profit/serving are useless measurements for Cafe World.
You will take your biggest gains from working with shorter-term meals over similar lengths of time. For example, it's more profitable XP- and coins-wise to cook twelve 5-minute hamburger meals (264 coins profit and 84 XP) than it is four 15-minute salads (200 coins and 56 XP), which in turn gives you more than one 60-minute tikka kabob (130 coins and 22 XP). There are a few minor fluctuations when you get into the longer-term meals, and the Caramel Apples is all kinds of awful in the grand scheme of things, but the pattern holds.
In fact, here's an abbreviated chart for your viewing pleasure! We've got it sorted by how long the meals take to cook, and their XP gains...
| Meal | Cook Time | Total XP / Batch | XP / Hour | Profit / Hour |
| Chips and Guacamole | 0.05 (h) | 4 | 80.0 | 220 |
| Bacon Cheeseburger | 0.08 (h) | 7 | 84.0 | 264 |
| Chicken Gyro and Fries | 0.17 (h) | 14 | 84.0 | 168 |
| Super Chunk Fruit Salad | 0.25 (h) | 14 | 56.0 | 200 |
| Jammin' Jelly Donuts | 0.33 (h) | 15 | 45.0 | 195 |
| Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail | 0.5 (h) | 21 | 42.0 | 136 |
| Buttermilk Pancakes | 0.75 (h) | 31 | 41.3 | 180 |
| Tikka Masala Kabobs | 1 (h) | 22 | 22.0 | 130 |
| Fish n Chips | 2 (h) | 35 | 17.5 | 158 |
| Macaroni and Cheese | 2 (h) | 41 | 20.5 | 123 |
| Belgian Waffles | 2 (h) | 30 | 15.0 | 193 |
| Caramel Apples | 2 (h) | 35 | 17.5 | 98 |
| Atomic Buffalo Wings | 3 (h) | 68 | 22.7 | 198 |
| French Onion Soup | 4 (h) | 61 | 15.3 | 106 |
| Kung Pao Stir Fry | 4 (h) | 75 | 18.8 | 246 |
| Tony's Classic Pizza | 5 (h) | 68 | 13.6 | 177 |
| Eggs Benedict | 6 (h) | 92 | 15.3 | 138 |
| Tostada de Carne Asada | 8 (h) | 123 | 15.4 | 186 |
| Spaghetti and Meatballs | 8 (h) | 100 | 12.5 | 114 |
| Bacon and Eggs | 9 (h) | 139 | 15.4 | 171 |
| Rackasaurus Ribs | 10 (h) | 172 | 17.2 | 199 |
| Triple Berry Cheesecake | 12 (h) | 140 | 11.7 | 103 |
| Voodoo Chicken Salad | 12 (h) | 168 | 14.0 | 163 |
| Pumpkin Pie | 12 (h) | 76 | 6.3 | 70 |
| Dino Drumstick | 13 (h) | 101 | 7.8 | 168 |
| Chicken Adobo | 14 (h) | 197 | 14.1 | 206 |
| Crackling Peking Duck | 18 (h) | 166 | 9.2 | 149 |
| Loco Moco | 20 (h) | 194 | 9.7 | 169 |
| Savory Stuffed Turkey | 22 (h) | 216 | 9.8 | 131 |
| King Crab Bisque | 24 (h) | 252 | 10.5 | 224 |
| Herbed Halibut | 24 (h) | 172 | 7.2 | 158 |
| Spitfire Roasted Chicken | 24 (h) | 210 | 8.8 | 108 |
| White Radish Cake | 24 (h) | 113 | 4.7 | 71 |
| Homestyle Pot Roast | 48 (h) | 279 | 5.8 | 82 |
| Giant Dino Egg | 72 (h) | 455 | 6.3 | 125 |
Realistically, you're not going to be sitting at your computer all day waiting for meals, although there is certainly more you can do in Cafe World than other Facebook games. The simplest way to state this tip is this: play as much as you possibly can based on your personal schedule when you're on Facebook. You can, for example, set an 8-hour meal to start before going to work (assuming you don't check your meals at the office like we do!), then serve the meals when you get home, then set some short-term meals when you play during the evening, then set a longer-term meal to get you through the night. Conversely, if you're going to be busy the next day, you can set a 1-day or even 2- or 3-day meal so you don't have to worry about it. As you level up, you'll gain a larger variety of meals, which also gives you more flexibility for timing.
One thing to know is, because your meals don't spoil once they've been served, the number of servings is completely irrelevant: all food will eventually be sold to customers. This is why we show the numbers as XP/hour and profit/hour; XP/serving and profit/serving are useless measurements for Cafe World.
3
Always have food on the table, and your Buzz Rating will take care of itself.
Part of Cafe World is your "buzz rating," which you can see in the top-right corner of the screen next to a green thumbs-up icon. This number goes from 5.0 to 105.0, and indicates the flow of customers that come into your cafe: the higher the number, the more customers come in. Note that it is this buzz rating, and not necessarily the number of tables and chairs in your cafe, that controls the speed of your cash flow.
Your buzz rating is a very simple mechanic: it goes up when a customer is served a meal, and it goes down when a customer leaves without eating. This could happen if you run out of chairs and tables, or if you don't have enough waiters to serve everyone quickly, or if you have no food to serve. There's really nothing you can do about having limited space if you have already increased the size of the cafe as much as possible, but there isn't much of an excuse for having no food on the counters unless you've been on vacation or otherwise away from a computer.
Customers don't care what meal they order from you when they come in. As such, you'll want to always have meals on counters ready to be served. Keep in mind your limitations: there's only so much counter space to go around, and if you're making a bunch of different meals, you'll run out of room quickly. If you play Cafe World optimally, you shouldn't need more than three or four counters; if you play the game by just cooking up whatever suits your fancy at that exact moment, you might run out of room. Again, to play optimally, look to Tip #2: Cook nothing but whatever fits into your schedule.
Note that your buzz rating doesn't move if you're not playing the game. We're not sure whether the buzz rating impacts how many customers come and go when the game is closed, but it ultimately doesn't matter: all food will get sold eventually, because it never spoils once it's served.
The jury is still out on whether your buzz rating is impacted by decor. Some players say that having expensive decor makes their buzz rating climb faster, and others say that decor doesn't make a darn bit of a difference. Regardless of the impact of decor—whether or not it exists—making sure all your customers are fed and happy will ensure the buzz rating remains maxed out regardless of the paint on the walls.
Part of Cafe World is your "buzz rating," which you can see in the top-right corner of the screen next to a green thumbs-up icon. This number goes from 5.0 to 105.0, and indicates the flow of customers that come into your cafe: the higher the number, the more customers come in. Note that it is this buzz rating, and not necessarily the number of tables and chairs in your cafe, that controls the speed of your cash flow.
Your buzz rating is a very simple mechanic: it goes up when a customer is served a meal, and it goes down when a customer leaves without eating. This could happen if you run out of chairs and tables, or if you don't have enough waiters to serve everyone quickly, or if you have no food to serve. There's really nothing you can do about having limited space if you have already increased the size of the cafe as much as possible, but there isn't much of an excuse for having no food on the counters unless you've been on vacation or otherwise away from a computer.
Customers don't care what meal they order from you when they come in. As such, you'll want to always have meals on counters ready to be served. Keep in mind your limitations: there's only so much counter space to go around, and if you're making a bunch of different meals, you'll run out of room quickly. If you play Cafe World optimally, you shouldn't need more than three or four counters; if you play the game by just cooking up whatever suits your fancy at that exact moment, you might run out of room. Again, to play optimally, look to Tip #2: Cook nothing but whatever fits into your schedule.
Note that your buzz rating doesn't move if you're not playing the game. We're not sure whether the buzz rating impacts how many customers come and go when the game is closed, but it ultimately doesn't matter: all food will get sold eventually, because it never spoils once it's served.
The jury is still out on whether your buzz rating is impacted by decor. Some players say that having expensive decor makes their buzz rating climb faster, and others say that decor doesn't make a darn bit of a difference. Regardless of the impact of decor—whether or not it exists—making sure all your customers are fed and happy will ensure the buzz rating remains maxed out regardless of the paint on the walls.
4
Avoid spoilage.
If you don't serve your meal quickly enough, it will spoil. This winds up directly costing you the price of the meal and indirectly costing you coins in lost sales; not good. Cleaning an oven of a spoiled meal also doesn't net you that normal bonus 1 XP (which doesn't sound like much, but it adds up when you're cooking hundreds or thousands of meals).
Meals spoil in the same amount of time it took to cook it. So, if you cook up hamburgers, they'll be ready to serve in five minutes. After another five minutes, they'll spoil if left on the stove unserved. This gives your very long-term meals a large grace period, though you'll have to be on your toes (or your mouse-clicking finger) if you're doing short-term meals.
If you don't serve your meal quickly enough, it will spoil. This winds up directly costing you the price of the meal and indirectly costing you coins in lost sales; not good. Cleaning an oven of a spoiled meal also doesn't net you that normal bonus 1 XP (which doesn't sound like much, but it adds up when you're cooking hundreds or thousands of meals).
Meals spoil in the same amount of time it took to cook it. So, if you cook up hamburgers, they'll be ready to serve in five minutes. After another five minutes, they'll spoil if left on the stove unserved. This gives your very long-term meals a large grace period, though you'll have to be on your toes (or your mouse-clicking finger) if you're doing short-term meals.
5
Take advantage of the spice rack ASAP.
The spice rack is a late game item that can do several boosts to your meals. By far, the most helpful one is to instantly complete a meal regardless of its normal cooking time. Having that spice on-hand completely negates the chart: simply use the spice on a long-term meal with a huge profit and XP rating, and you'll be gaining quickly.
When it comes time to do the spice rack, you'll need to collect pieces of it to build it. These pieces are almost exclusively received as gifts, so try to get all your friends playing Cafe World!
The spice rack is a late game item that can do several boosts to your meals. By far, the most helpful one is to instantly complete a meal regardless of its normal cooking time. Having that spice on-hand completely negates the chart: simply use the spice on a long-term meal with a huge profit and XP rating, and you'll be gaining quickly.
When it comes time to do the spice rack, you'll need to collect pieces of it to build it. These pieces are almost exclusively received as gifts, so try to get all your friends playing Cafe World!
6
Save time by trapping your avatar and waiters. 
If you really want to speed things up a bit, you'll want to trap your avatar. I know that sounds weird, but if your avatar is completely trapped, then when you give him an order to go do something, your order will be carried out immediately. This extends to your waiters: with the inability to actually walk over to serve food, the plates will just magically appear at the tables of your customers. In fact, if you set the trap, you can run your cafe with only a single waiter regardless of the size.
To trap your avatar and waiters, you'll need to set the trap directly where you start when you load the game (usually the left corner of your cafe). Simply move ovens and counters into a relative box around your avatar. Test it out by watching things for a bit: if you did it right, the effect will be immediate, and you'll see plates magically appearing on tables!
Note that this will save you time insofar as ordering your guy around, which can help your sanity and how long you're actually sitting there with the Cafe World app running. However, this tactic doesn't reduce the number of clicks it will take to cook a meal, nor will it speed profits. You're still at the mercy of time for those, and won't have too much of an advantage over someone who isn't trapping himself.
If you really want to speed things up a bit, you'll want to trap your avatar. I know that sounds weird, but if your avatar is completely trapped, then when you give him an order to go do something, your order will be carried out immediately. This extends to your waiters: with the inability to actually walk over to serve food, the plates will just magically appear at the tables of your customers. In fact, if you set the trap, you can run your cafe with only a single waiter regardless of the size.
To trap your avatar and waiters, you'll need to set the trap directly where you start when you load the game (usually the left corner of your cafe). Simply move ovens and counters into a relative box around your avatar. Test it out by watching things for a bit: if you did it right, the effect will be immediate, and you'll see plates magically appearing on tables!
Note that this will save you time insofar as ordering your guy around, which can help your sanity and how long you're actually sitting there with the Cafe World app running. However, this tactic doesn't reduce the number of clicks it will take to cook a meal, nor will it speed profits. You're still at the mercy of time for those, and won't have too much of an advantage over someone who isn't trapping himself.
