So these are just some things I’ve discovered along the way. Some of these have already been posted, but maybe we can make one comprehensive “Efficient Bakery” list. Keep in mind, these tips are designed to help you level up quickly and make as many coins as possible; individual strategies may differ. Have something you want to add? Comment below!1. Use pony walls or other decor to block off your display cases from all servers and registers.

This one’s fairly common, but it drastically cuts down on the time it takes to get food to your customers. Without access, servers will automatically fetch the goods they need. *Note: Depending on your layout, food may get to the tables before tea. If you’re having trouble selling your tea, make sure your tea server has access to the tables and the drink machine (see 3 below). If that still doesn’t work, experiment with blocking off the registers, but leaving the display cases accessible to the servers at the tables.

2. Separate your register area from your table area. Alternately, position your doors carefully.

If you want to cut down on the number of impatient customers, make sure that the customers trying to use the register don’t have to walk very far to get to your registers. If you have an open floor plan, with everyone using the same doors, you can try placing your registers close to the door, but that can really limit your design options. If you have a separate area for the registers, it’s easier for take-out customers to get to the register, get their food, and go.

If you don’t feel like separating your bakery like this, make sure you place all of your doors close enough to the registers that your customers won’t be impatient by the time they get there. If you have an open floor plan and some of your doors are too far, the time take-out customers take to walk to the registers will make them grumpy before they even get in line.

3. Be sure your drink cart is positioned properly.

Walk-in customers need direct access to the drink cart. When you’re serving decaf, a server needs to be able to access the cart and the registers. When you’re serving tea, a server needs to be able to access the tables. Blocking this off won’t work. If you place the cart as one of the objects separating the registers and table area, everyone should be able to get what they need – just make sure it’s rotated properly.

4. Get to 4 registers as quickly as you can, then stop.

With maximum hype and style, I have just enough take-out customers to keep all 4 registers busy, with no one ever having to wait. Another register would really just be a waste. If you’re at a high enough level and are making so much money that you don’t care, then go for it. Ovens are critical to leveling quickly, as the only way to earn experience is through baking/serving (and cleaning dirty ovens), but generally the level restrictions on buying registers should keep you from unbalancing yourself. Buy ovens with your cash when you can, but when you get close to being eligible for a new register, start saving your cash and make that a priority.

More registers means happier customers, which means greater hype, which leads to more customers, which means more cash.

5. Use the “Edit Bakery” shortcut to start baking faster.

This is most useful for those with more than 5 ovens. Start a recipe in each oven. Once all of them are ready for the first ingredient, quickly click on all of them, then click “Edit Bakery.” Then click “Done Editing” and all of your ovens will process at the same time. Repeat for all three ingredients and your prep time is almost nothing.

6. If you’re trying to level up quickly, bake the featured cake.

This cake is (reasonably) cheap to make, takes a moderate amount of time to cook, and sells for a decent price. It’s been the “Floating Castle Cake” for a while, costing 375 coins per oven, taking 8 hours to bake, and selling for 3 coins per serving. It provides 27 XP per ingredient added, with a nice pay-off when you serve it. If you have the cash, you can start a set of cakes, then throw out the batter and start over again as many times as you like. That method isn’t terribly “efficient,” but it is fast and no other item will give you as much XP per ingredient added. Also, if you can’t make it back every 8 hours, remember that you have 9 hours and 36 minutes after the cake is done before it burns. So that’s 17.6 hours from start to finish. A minute longer, though, and it’ll be gone. There are plenty of good options that take longer if you’re on a slower schedule.

A good backup item is the Parisian Macaroon recipe. You get almost as much XP per ingredient, they take 1 day to make, and they sell for 7 coins per serving. The only downside is that’s a higher-level item.

7. Don’t worry about the Lemon Meringue Pie until you have a lot of ovens.

While the price per serving is really nice (23 coins), the small amount of servings per oven is terribly low. At 12 hours to make and a small XP reward, it’s not a good choice for lower-level players. Also, if you have decent hype, you’re likely to run out before your next batch is ready, which isn’t very efficient.

8. Try to stock your display cases with goods that sell for 4 or more coins at all times.

This will drastically increase your cash flow. Worry less about the total profit advertised in the recipe than about the price per serving. Passion Fruit Mousse Cake seems like a good deal when you look at the total profit, but the very low price per serving means you’ll be sitting on the stuff for ages to make that money.

9. Use friends groups to make gift-hunting easier. Alternately, use the Bonus Checker App.

You can place all your BL friends into one group. When you click on Friends, you’ll be able to click on your Baking Life group and see all their posts. This lets you quickly scroll through, looking for free food, drink supplies, and adoptable pets without having to sort through all your other friends.

You can also use the bonus checker app, located at http://apps.facebook.com/blbonuschecker/. Be aware that some users find that once stories are a few hours old, the app may miss some posts.

10. Consider visiting the fan page for the game or the Add Me/Friendlies forum on these message boards to get new friends.

The more BL friends you have, the faster you can expand and build your drink cart and the fewer temp workers you’ll have stealing your profits. You also increase the amount of tips and free money you can pick up each day. Finally, with enough friends, it’s possible to keep your bakery cases stocked entirely with gift food. Knowing you have a steady stream of baked goods coming in lowers the pressure on what you have to bake yourself, so you can concentrate on either leveling up or baking whatever tickles your fancy.

If you’re wary about adding strangers as friends, you can use friends groups and privacy settings to keep these people from looking at most of your information.