You do not need a purchase to finish the first sale. After you join, one recorded opening presses 1 for team select, sits through a 3-2-1 countdown, and spawns you at your own fry shop. The official loop from there is collect potatoes from the pile, make fries, serve customers, and upgrade the kitchen.
On PC, the creator tutorial uses E at each station. On touch or a controller, press the prompt that station shows.
One complete sale
- Walk to a potato pile and take one potato. The pickup worked when your character is holding it. No separate confirmation popup is documented at the pile.
- Carry it to the peeling station and stay until the peel is fully off. A partial peel is not ready for the fryer. One narrated run checks partway through, sees the peel is not finished, and stays until that stage completes.
- Carry the peeled potato to the cooking station and start the cook with the on-screen prompt.
- When the fries can be collected, take them. No exact cook duration is published, so the collect prompt is the ready signal.
- Hand the fries to the waiting customer. Cash is added on delivery. Recorded sales do not show a second claim button.
Two recorded first sales paid 20 cash and 22 cash. Treat those as single-session observations, not a fixed menu price. The reliable success sign is your cash balance changing.
While you repeat the loop
Customers keep arriving. One narrated customer left after about 50 seconds unserved, so do not hold a finished batch past a short wait. If the wait is still long, cook extra fries and sell the larger handful together.
Gold and blue potatoes in the piles sell for more than regular ones. The exact bonus is not published. Grab them when you see them, and keep searching the piles: the hidden key is buried among them. That search is a parallel goal, not a step you finish before the first sale.
First cash, then the clocks
A recorded quick start spent the first cash on a bigger potato peeler and a bucket, then on the upgrade that peels more potatoes at once. Compare the current cost with the annoyance it removes. The longer buy order is in the kitchen upgrade guide.
Two clocks matter after the first sale:
- Each new day includes one free upgrade. Pick something that makes the current job faster.
- The shop for essential items opens at 8:00 a.m. Crossing the road to reach it is dangerous. Recorded cars can kill your character, and one player noted there was no crosswalk.
- Anomalies can start at 8:00 p.m. Finish outdoor potato runs before that hour. The night routine is in how to survive the night.
When a few sales feel automatic, follow the route to the key.