CHEF! September 17, 2026 CHEF! Day 5 Iteration 54

Stocking the Pantry

On Medium and Hard, ingredients are now real stock. Every dish uses up its ingredients, and fresh food goes off: produce after a day, meat and bread after a day and a half, dairy after two and a half days. Spices keep.
The Pantry panel shows how much of each ingredient is on hand, how much is about to go off, and its par level (how much to keep), which you can raise or lower.
Each night the pantry is topped up to par for the next morning, and the order is paid at closing. You can add extra to tomorrow's delivery, or rush 5 in within the hour at double the price.
When a dish runs out, the menu marks it sold out. A guest who wanted it orders something else instead (a little disappointed), and leaves if nothing is left. A dish that burns with no ingredients left to remake it gets the same treatment.
Stock that goes off is thrown out at closing and shows up in the day's results, along with what was spent on ingredients. The menu shows what each dish costs to make: burger $5, chicken $4, salad $2.
On Easy, and in the endless test mode, everything is always in stock, as before.
With the starting crew and par levels, a day serves about 51 guests and a dish or two sells out near closing.
Bathroom supplies (toilet paper, soap, towels) will follow once a few design questions are answered.
The screenshot shows the Menu and Pantry panels at the start of day 1.