A lovely conveyor line in PlateUp that jams on day 12 is usually down to one small rule you did not know about. Automation in PlateUp is mostly about knowing what each appliance grabs, where it puts things, and what changed in the last few patches. The last two patches changed quite a lot.
This guide has three parts. First the rules every automated kitchen runs on, taken straight from the game’s own data for version 1.5. Then a library of community layouts that you can filter by dish and open in the free PlateUp Tool planner. Finally a section per dish for the ones that trip people up the most (Tacos, Spaghetti, Cakes and the new Fajitas).
Every layout in the library was made by another player and is credited to them. I rebuilt each one in the planner so you can open it with one click, and I checked it against the current rules. I did not run them in game, so each card tells you honestly what version it was made for and whether something changed since.
Automation rules for 1.5
Every layout below relies on the following mechanics, and the numbers for these mechanics were taken from the game files of version 1.5.2.
Both move one item every 1 second. A Grabber takes from the tile behind it and puts the item on the tile in front. The Levitation Line is half as fast (2 s per item).
Only picks up the item you set it to. Unlike a normal Grabber it also takes items that are still being processed, so put it after the step is finished. Since April 2026 it gets priority when it grabs off another Grabber, which lets you pull one item type off a busy line.
A Combiner holds an ingredient and adds it to the item in front of it (a bun onto a burger). A Portioner holds a container (a plate, a pot) and takes a portion from the item in front of it onto that container.
Sinks, Milk Dispensers and Ice Dispensers no longer fill things you place on them. To fill a pot with water, put the pot on a Portioner that faces the sink. Older layouts that relied on the sink filling things by itself will not work anymore.
Combiners can now throw things into a bin (or a sink, for draining pasta), and Portioners can empty full bins. A Compactor Bin holds a single bag and empties itself every 10 s.
A Mixer and a Conveyor Mixer chop and knead by themselves at 0.5x speed, a Rapid Mixer at 0.75x. The Heated Mixer also cooks, at 0.4x.
Real time = base time divided by the appliance speed. Hob 1x, Danger Hob 2x, Safety Hob 0.75x, Oven 2x. The Microwave always takes a flat 5 s, whatever is inside.
A Dish Washer cleans a full rack in 10 s with nobody standing at it. A Soaking Sink also cleans on its own, but slowly (0.3x).
Layout library
Pick your dish, then open a layout in PlateUp Tool to see it tile by tile, move it around or adapt it to your own kitchen. If you use the PlateUpTool mod, you can also copy the planner link and import it straight into your restaurant during the prep phase. Bear in mind that this only works if you own exactly those appliances.
Here is what the labels on each card mean: Made for 1.5 was built on the current version. No known 1.5 issues is older, but nothing it relies on has changed since. Check in game relies on grabber priority or a similar detail that changed in 2026, so watch it for a day before you trust it. Outdated uses something that no longer works (hidden unless you switch it on). Cards without a picture link to a video or guide I could not rebuild tile by tile.
Dish by dish
What each of the tricky dishes needs, in order, and where automation tends to go wrong. Times are base times, so divide them by the appliance speed from the rules above.
Tacos
- Cook the Mince (2 s base on a hob).
- Put a Tortilla into a Taco Tray, then the cooked mince. That gives a tray of four tacos.
- Toppings are added through cards: chopped Lettuce, chopped Tomato, chopped Onion and grated Cheese.
- Customers eat straight off the tray, so the tray itself goes next to the table.
The tray will not need washing between customers. As such, a single tray bouncing between two conveyors is able to serve three or four tables.
Spaghetti
- Pot + Spaghetti + Water. Since April 2026 the water comes from a Portioner holding the pot and facing a sink.
- Cook it (2 s base).
- Drain it by getting rid of the water in a sink. On 1.5 a Combiner holding the cooked pot and facing the sink does this.
- Portion it onto plates (two servings per pot) and add Tomato Sauce, which is tomato chopped twice.
Bolognese, Cheesy Spaghetti and Lasagne build on the same chain (Lasagne cooks for 20 s base and gives four portions). I did not find a vanilla 1.5 layout for them that I could rebuild. Most older builds use a mod for the water or drain it by hand.
Cakes
- Cracked Egg + Flour + Sugar in a Mixing Bowl, knead it (2 s base).
- Into a tin or tray (some cakes add Milk), then the oven.
- Add the flavour: coffee, melted chocolate or sliced lemon.
| Cake | Cooking (base) | Portions |
|---|---|---|
| Brownies | 9 s in the oven | 6 |
| Cupcakes | 12 s in the oven | 4 |
| Cookies | 18 s in the oven | 4 |
| Sponge Cake | 45 s in the oven | 6 |
| Doughnuts | 15 s proofing, 2 s frying | 12 per tray |
The cake layouts I found are all videos made for 1.2, and most use Rotating Grabbers whose direction you can only copy by watching. They are linked in the library, not rebuilt.
Fajitas new in 1.5
- Chop the Meat (2 s base) and put it in a Frying Pan. Cook it (3 s base).
- Extras from cards: Bell Pepper and Onion go into the pan, Cheese and Tomato go on the tortilla.
- Sauces are extra orders: Crema (Milk + halved Lime), Salsa (chopped Tomato + chopped Onion + halved Lime) and Guacamole (Avocado + Salsa, so you need the Salsa card first).
- A cooked pan cools down if it waits, and needs another second on the heat. Burned pans have to be washed (5 s).
Fajitas are the newest dish, and so far nobody has published a compact line that could be rebuilt tile by tile. The builds in the library are full runs. The main tricks you will pick up from them are to keep pans waiting on a Safety Hob, so they stay warm without burning, and to serve from a Heated Buffet.
Heat levels and automation
Most Heat cards are about customers and money, but a few hit automated kitchens directly.
- Flaming Knives: without this card the game never over-chops anything. With it, chopped ingredients (lettuce, onion, cheese, meat, peppers, lime and more) get destroyed if they stay on a Mixer after they are done, and food burns faster. A line that flows is fine. A line that backs up behind a Mixer loses food.
- Friction Burns: over-cooking and over-chopping start fires. A jam is now a fire hazard, and Overheating lets fire spread through doors and hatches.
- Soft Touch: all processes are 25% slower. Layouts tuned to exactly match your customers will fall behind, so add a spare hob or mixer.
- Rented Restaurants: you pay 1 coin a day for every 10 floor tiles. Compact layouts win.
- Shaky Foundations: your starting appliances are worse, so early automation needs replacements sooner.
The easiest protection against all of them is a bit of slack. Leave a free tile or a counter after every Mixer and hob, so a finished item will always have somewhere to go.
Credits
The layouts come from Bear19, Elsee (elseediem.com), HollowBear, HydraBurrito, dizzyd and ひむた (Himuta). Thank you for sharing them. The planner is PlateUp Tool by eddy0612, and the layout pictures are drawn with its appliance art. For more automation help, the official PlateUp! wiki is a good next stop.
If you made one of these layouts and want it removed, or you have a layout for a dish I am missing, write to [email protected].
