Buffet: self-service, plates and customer paths

Place a reachable Buffet

During preparation, the customer outline shows the position customers approach. Keep a path to it. Walls and objects can obstruct the destination; serving-window half-walls and doors do not necessarily block the outline. The Buffet can be in a different room from the seated customer.

1. Put food on it in a state the customer can accept for the requested order.
2. For a plated main, provide a valid plated meal. Black Coffee and other foods without normal plates do not need an invented plate requirement.
3. Take the order in an ordinary restaurant, then watch the customer approach and collect the matching food. Automatic orders need a separate condition such as Banquet Dining.
4. Keep the cleanup route: dirty plates or Serving Boards can remain after eating, and messes can form where the customer actually eats.

Portionable-food exceptions

A full Soup Pot or Taco Tray can be accepted so customers take the required portions themselves. This is not a blanket rule that every dish can be served unplated.

The Platter upgrade has an additional restriction: it only accepts unplated food. Check the upgrade guide rather than applying ordinary Buffet behavior to every variant.

Troubleshoot customers not collecting

Check the order, valid food state, reachable outline, path and whether another customer took the only matching item. Keep supply close enough to the customers without blocking movement.

Older Buffet text says other approaching customers immediately return to their seats if an item is taken. The 1.5 announcement says they wait a little longer when their order remains incomplete or someone takes the item they wanted. That is not an infinite patience guarantee.

A working setup completes the correct order and leaves a sustainable food and cleanup route. An item merely sitting on a Buffet is not proof that the customer can accept it.