Food Chain Magnate

The title says it all: the aim is to build up your chain of fast food restaurants by advertising so that people know what they want to eat, hiring (cheap) staff, training them and carefully positioning your outlets around town so that you make the most money.

What I find really impressive about this game is the way everything interlocks. You need marketing staff to place the advertising that will generate demand for your products (burgers, pizzas, soft drinks…) in places where your delivery people can deliver from the restaurants where your kitchen staff produce them. To expand, you'll need to develop new business, open new restaurants, maybe discount your products – or set them up as a luxury brand. You'll see that all of these require staff, so the heart of the game is hiring them. And training them so they can worker harder/better. But don't forget that you'll also need to pay them. (The ones you don't fire, anyway.) It's a brilliant and thoroughly absorbing game.

As with all Splotter games, Food Chain Magnate is a real heavyweight (and completely "dice free"!) – though more accessible than some. And my copies are the latest (13th?) printing.

For 2-5 players, aged 14+, playing time 2-4 hours

Food Chain Magnate was designed by Jeroen Doumen and Joris Wiersinga and is published by Splotter

Find out more:
    Food Chain Magnate at BoardGameGeek