Popularity
Popularity decides how many customers walk through your door. Each customer picks a venue at random, weighted by that venue's popularity with their customer group (see How customers choose and order). A venue doesn't have one popularity: it has one for each group, so you can be the favorite of one group and ignored by another.
The formula
popularity = owner factor × (0.6 × best² + 0.3 × review² + 0.1 × menu factor + 0.01 × venue level + 0.1 × comfort)
| Term | What it is | Max contribution |
|---|---|---|
best | The highest satisfaction (0–1) any dish on your menu has for this group | 0.6 |
review | The venue's review score (0–1) | 0.3 |
menu factor | How full your menu is (see below) | 0.1 |
venue level | Level 1 to 5 | 0.05 |
comfort | The venue's overall comfort (0–1) | 0.1 |
The owner factor is a multiplier that depends on who owns the venue. We don't model its values, so treat it as fixed.
Your best dish matters most
The biggest term uses only your single best dish for the group, and it's squared. Squaring rewards the top end:
| Best dish satisfaction | 0.6 × best² |
|---|---|
| 70 | 0.29 |
| 80 | 0.38 |
| 90 | 0.49 |
| 100 | 0.60 |
Taking your best dish for a group from 80 to 100 is worth more than a perfect menu factor and perfect comfort together. Usually the fastest way there is a local favorite tag (+10 each), because without one a dish stops at 90. See Dish satisfaction explained.
Menu factor
menu factor = clamp(number of menu items × 0.3 × (1.3 if the menu has both food and a drink), 0, 1)
| Menu | Menu factor |
|---|---|
| 1 dish | 0.30 |
| 3 dishes, no drink | 0.90 |
| 4 dishes, no drink | 1.00 |
| 1 dish + 1 drink | 0.78 |
| 2 dishes + 1 drink | 1.00 |
Three items with at least one drink already max this out. A longer menu helps for other reasons (stock and order spread), but not for this term.
Review score
The review term is a 0–1 score built from the venue's reviews. In our reading of the code, it's a weighted average of reviews, where each older review counts 0.93× as much as the one after it. That average is mapped so that 3 stars gives 0.5 and 5 stars gives 1.0, and while the venue has only a few reviews it's pulled toward 0.5:
review score = 0.5 + (1 − e^(−reviews ÷ 20)) × (weighted average stars − 3) × 0.25
So a brand-new venue starts near the middle, and recent reviews count the most. A bad day hurts quickly, and a good streak recovers quickly too.
How to raise popularity
- Give each group one standout dish. Push it toward 100 with local favorites and the right price for that group.
- Put at least three items on the menu, including a drink.
- Raise your stars. They feed the review score. See Review stars.
- Improve comfort. It counts here and in every review.
- Remember it's relative. Customers choose among the venues within reach, so popularity works like a share of the local crowd. Nearby competitors with strong dishes for the same group take customers from you.
Popularity is calculated while the game runs, and it isn't stored in your save. The site can recalculate satisfaction from a save, but it can't show live popularity.
Try it
- Check each district's groups and local favorites in the location wiki, then plan a standout dish for each group in the Planner.
- Load your save under My Save to see your best dish for each group.