Kitchen Scramble App: Mozzaroma

Kitchen Scramble is a time-management game where you play a character that runs a food truck. Every level requires players to make and serve specific foods to customers. In Mozzaroma, the customers want Italian foods.

Mozzaroma is the third town in the Kitchen Scramble game. I like to try and get three stars on every level.

There is a tiny bit of storyline in Kitchen Scramble. In previous towns, some of the story was presented as part of a tutorial. There is some more tutorial in Mozzaroma, and some story parts that are not part of a tutorial.

Pepper: I made it to Mozzaroma! I can smell the pizza and pasta in the air!

The player has to make several different kinds of pizza and pastas in Mozzarama. If you forget what ingredients are required for a recipe, there is an opportunity to practice it before you begin a level.

Chef Crisp: It’ll take some time to get familiar with the local cuisine. Lots of new recipes to learn here.

Pepper: Sounds delicious! I’m ready!

I got three stars in Level 40 (which is the first level of Mozzarama).

Chef Crisp: Looks like you bought a new cheese grater! I think you’re ready to learn about Add-Ons.

This screenshot shows what the inside of the food truck looks like in the early levels of Mozzaroma. I’m somewhat amused that Chef Crisp said “Add-Ons”. Too many years of working retail makes me think of managers pushing me (and my fellow coworkers) to push customers to buy more stuff than they came in for.

But, that’s not how Add-Ons work in Kitchen Scramble. In this video game world, Add-Ons are beneficial to both the customer and the worker/business owner (Pepper).

Chef Crisp: Add-Ons are items that customers may want in addition to their order.

The difference between real-word businesses, and the food truck in Kitchen Scramble is that some of the customers come in and ask for the Add-On that is available. They want to be served a specific recipe and the Add-On. This is customer initiated.

Also, the game has made it impossible to hand a customer something they did not ask for.

Chef Crisp: This customer wants some Parmesan Cheese to go with her Spaghetti with Marinara.

Chef Crisp: Since Add-Ons can be delivered before, after, or with the main dish, let’s grab some cheese.

Chef Crisp: Now deliver it to our patient customer!

I found this amusing because, outside of this part of the tutorial, this particular customer is not very patient at all! The Kitchen Scramble Wiki says she is the Fashionista.

Chef Crisp: OK! All you have to do now is make the main dish.

The best way to handle customers who want an Add-On is to start making the dish they ordered. When their heart level has gone down and they start getting impatient – that’s when to quickly give them their Add-On. With luck, it will keep them pacified long enough for you to serve them the food they ordered and for them to pay you.

I got three stars on Level 41.

I got three stars on Level 42.

I got three stars on Level 43.

Racecar Driver: Food from a truck. That’s an idea I can get behind.

Pepper: Are you a driver of some sort?

Racecar Driver: That’s right, I’m a circuit racer. I like my food served up fast!

Pepper: I hope you like it served fresh too!

There is a not-so-subtle message in Kitchen Scramble. It places an emphasis and importance on fresh, healthy foods. I’m left wondering who, exactly, wrote the storyline in this game. Was the goal to make people prefer fresh food to fast food?

I got three stars on Level 44.

It turns out that the Racecar Driver is the most impatient customer in the Mozzaroma part of Kitchen Scramble. My strategy for dealing with this guy was to start cooking his order ahead of a more patient customer, who was there before he arrived. This doesn’t always work out well, but it works sometimes.

Another thing to consider is that, in Kitchen Scramble, it is possible to have two or more identical customers appear at any given time. So, you could get stuck with several, super angry, Racecar Drivers at once. Customers from previous towns can, and do, show up in later towns.

Racecar Driver: That pit stop hit the spot.

Pepper: Glad you enjoyed it. I hope everyone in Mozzaroma feels the same way.

Racecar Driver: I don’t know… people say that Capers Cuisine is the fastest food truck in town.

Pepper: Sure, but who knows what chemicals she’s putting in her fast food…

Pepper (the player character) has a rival that she is competing against for customers and reviews Pepper’s rival is Candace, who has a food truck called Caper’s Cuisine. I don’t think Candace is ever shown in this version of Kitchen Scramble.

Once again, the player is getting the not-so-subtle message that fresh food is better than… food with chemicals in it. While this isn’t necessarily the worst message a video game could be sending, it’s a little misleading.

The word chemicals does not automatically mean “bad” in every situation. Water, which is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, is a chemical. Humans need plenty of water in order to stay alive and healthy.

I got three stars in Level 45.

I got three stars in Level 46.

I got three stars in Level 47.

I got three stars in Level 48.

Chef Crisp: Hey Pepper, looks like you’re ready for yet another challenge!

Things have changed a bit inside the food truck. A pizza oven has been added, and there are more ingredients.

Chef Crisp: This shift will be a little different, you can serve as many customers as you want…

Chef Crisp: But when you lose 4 customers, the shift ends. Try to keep going as long as possible.

These kinds of levels can be frustrating. You could be doing really well… until one mistake can throw off your momentum. Customers start getting angry and then they leave before they are served. When four of them do that – this level ends. These levels make it extra difficult to earn stars.

Chef Crisp: Good luck!

The first level that counts the number of customers a player loses is Level 49. It was difficult, and took several tries before I was able to earn three stars. I cannot find the screenshot I took when I earned three stars, but you can see that I did if you look at the first screenshot in this blog post.

I also failed to take a screenshot that showed I got three stars on Level 50. The first screenshot in this blog posts shows that I did it.

I got three stars in Level 51.

I cannot find my screenshot that shows that I earned three stars in Level 52. That’s the last level in the first part of Mozzaroma.

Chef Crisp: Caught wind of some news. Someone saw Candace injecting a strange green liquid into some old tomatoes.

Pepper: We can’t let her get away with serving that stuff!

I have now completed the first half of Mozzarama.

I got three stars in Level 53.

I got three stars in Level 54.

I got three stars in Level 55.

I got three stars in level 56.

I got three stars in Level 57.

I got three stars on Level 58.

Chef Crisp: You have just a few more customers to win over. They’re loyal to Candace and her super fast service.

Pepper: I’ll keep improving my speed, and they’ll soon realize that food can be fast AND fresh.

I got three stars on Level 59.

Chef Crisp: The news about Candace’s food truck goes from bad to worse.

Pepper: Fantastic. What is it now?

Chef Crisp: Injecting her food with chemicals to make it look fresh is bad enough, but now she’s dumping the chemical waste into the river, polluting the city!

Candace is definitely the “bad guy” of Kitchen Scramble. Between the chemical injections and chemical waste dumping, the Mozzarama storyline has taken a dark turn!

Also, I think Mozzarama needs to enact some consumer safety laws and some environmental protection laws. What Candace is doing is awful, but she doesn’t appear to face any consequences.

Pepper: Not on my watch! I’ll just need to speed up my game even more!

When I read what Pepper said, I was concerned that the upcoming levels would be much faster than the previous ones, with customers going from happy to extremely disgruntled at an even more rapid pace. It was a relief to see that the actual game speed stayed pretty much the same.

Pepper is clearly angry about what Candace is doing. It’s cute that she thinks that she can fix things if she practices and figures out how to serve food faster. Sure, that could result in more customers visiting her food truck, instead of Candace’s. But… it’s not actually going to clean the polluted river.

I got three stars in Level 60.

I got three stars in Level 61.

I got three stars in Level 62.

I got three stars in Level 63.

Chef Crisp: You can’t let Candace convince the Mozzaromans that your methods are too slow.

Pepper: Don’t worry about me. I’ve got this.

Chef Crisp: The orders are going to come fast and furious, so be prepared!

It costs 10 groceries to play a level in Kitchen Scramble. There are many app games that limit players by requiring them to spend some form of “energy”. If you run out, you have to wait for the groceries to replenish. It takes real time for that to happen, and there’s no way to speed that up. You can send groceries to other players, and request that they send some to you.

Chef Crisp: Amazing! You’ve won over every customer in Mozzaroma! Capers Cuisine is shutting down!

It appears that Capers Cuisine shut down because it wasn’t able to attract enough customers to stay in business. In other words, it wasn’t because Candace faced some sort of legal consequence for injecting old tomatoes with whatever that green liquid was, or because she dumped chemical waste into the river.

Maybe Mozzaroma is a Libertarian city. It doesn’t seem to have any environmental laws, or consumer protection/safety laws. When Candace started injecting tomatoes with chemicals – the news spread – but no one did anything about it. When Candace dumped chemical waste into the river, people seemed to know about it, but again, nothing was done.

It seems like Mozzaroma relied on “the free market” to solve its problems. Eventually, the Mozzaromans decided they preferred Pepper’s food truck, and stopped going to Candace’s food truck. Over time, and who knows how much pollution, it became impossible for Candace to make a sustainable living in Mozzarama.

Pepper: I’ll sleep well knowing that Mozzarama is free from her tainted food, pollution, and waste.

Pepper is either extremely optimistic, or incredibly naive. She’s probably right that, with Candace gone, no one else is injecting weird liquids into old food. But, there’s no reason for her to be certain that the river has been cleaned. Mozzaroma seems to be a town where news travels fast…. and there hasn’t been any news about efforts to clean the river.

Chef Crisp: Pepper, your customers are so loyal, they’ll follow your truck anywhere! It got me thinking… at the Chef Academy, we’re always trying to attract new students from all different regions…

Pepper: I’ll park my food truck at the Chef Academy for awhile. Who knows, one of my customers could become the next top chef!

So, Pepper is off to Chef Academy, which is the name of the next town. It seems like her food truck is the only one in Mozzaroma now. Does this mean Candace will return after Pepper is gone? Will Mozzaroma allow “the free market” to decide whether or not their town continues to be polluted? Will Mozzaroma ever clean their river? These questions go unanswered.

I got three stars in level 64.

I completed all three Mozzaroma Location Goals: Serve 60 Calzones; Serve 225 orders of Parmesan; Serve 2500 Customers. Players don’t have to complete all of the Location Goals in order to move on to the next town. I like to do it anyway.