# Food Chain Magnate

Food Chain Magnate is a board game for 2–5 players. It plays in 120–240 minutes and is meant for ages 14 and up. Ludoya players call it best with 3. It is rated 7.8 out of 10 by 107 Ludoya reviewers. The cheapest copy in stock is $113.97 (United States).

- **Players:** 2–5 (best with 3)
- **Playing time:** 120–240 minutes
- **Minimum age:** 14+
- **Complexity:** 4.2 out of 5
- **Year published:** 2015
- **Categories:** Industry / Manufacturing, Economic
- **Mechanics:** Tech Trees / Tech Tracks, Income, Victory Points as a Resource, Delayed Purchase, Open Drafting, Modular Board, Simultaneous Action Selection, Market
- **Ludoya rating:** 7.8 out of 10, from 107 reviews
- **Owned by:** 207 Ludoya players
- **Plays logged on Ludoya:** 494
- **Unique players:** 620

**Designers:** Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga

**Artists:** Iris de Haan, Victor Maristane, Ynze Moedt, Matt Paquette & Co., Snow Conrad, Kwanchai Moriya, Sarah Kelly

**Publishers:** Lucky Duck Games, Splotter Spellen

## Where to buy in United States

| Shop | Price | Link |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Milan Spiele | 14.2 € | https://www.milan-spiele.de/food-chain-magnate-insert-p-30012.html |
| Zatu Games | 55.79 £ | https://zatu.com/products/food-chain-magnate |
| Philibert | 79.9 € | https://philibertnet.com/fr/splotter-spellen/37245-food-chain-magnate-859573004393.html |
| Uplay | 84.9 € | https://www.uplay.it/it/gioco-da-tavolo-food-chain-magnate--edizione-italiana-.html |
| TLAMA games | 2069 Kč | https://www.tlamagames.com/deskove-hry/kralove-rychleho-obcerstveni/ |
| Alphaspel | 999 kr | https://alphaspel.se/491-bradspel/65635-food-chain-magnate-ende |
| Svet deskovych her | 2160 Kč | https://www.svet-deskovych-her.cz/produkty/14378/kralove-rychleho-obcerstveni |
| Fantasiapelit | 116 € | https://www.fantasiapelit.com/index.php?main=ai&kat=single&mista=indeksi&etsittava=_167956 |
| Gameology | 202.95 $ | https://www.gameology.com.au/products/food-chain-magnate |
| Games Empire | 219.99 $ | https://gamesempire.com.au/products/food-chain-magnate |

## Expansions

- [Food Chain Magnate: The Ketchup Mechanism & Other Ideas](https://www.ludoya.com/games/food-chain-magnate-the-ketchup-mechanism-and-other-ideas)

## Similar games

- [Food Chain Magnate: Deluxe Edition](https://www.ludoya.com/games/food-chain-magnate-deluxe-edition)
- [Indonesia](https://www.ludoya.com/games/indonesia)
- [Nucleum](https://www.ludoya.com/games/nucleum)
- [Age of Innovation](https://www.ludoya.com/games/age-of-innovation)
- [Arkwright](https://www.ludoya.com/games/arkwright)
- [Galactic Cruise](https://www.ludoya.com/games/galactic-cruise)
- [Age of Industry](https://www.ludoya.com/games/age-of-industry-2)
- [Horseless Carriage](https://www.ludoya.com/games/horseless-carriage)
- [Imperial Steam](https://www.ludoya.com/games/imperial-steam)
- [The Old Prince 1871](https://www.ludoya.com/games/the-old-prince-1871)
- [Rococo: Deluxe Edition](https://www.ludoya.com/games/rococo-deluxe-edition)
- [Algae, Inc.](https://www.ludoya.com/games/algae-inc)

## Rules questions

### How do houses decide which restaurant to eat at — does price beat distance or do waitresses/ties matter?

Houses first consider only chains that can deliver the full menu via a road connection, then compare (unit price + distance); the lowest total wins; if tied, the chain with more waitresses wins, then turn order breaks remaining ties (p.11).

### How far can I place billboards/mailboxes/airplanes and do they have to be adjacent to a road?

Each marketeer card lists a range: billboards/mailboxes/radios must be placed on board squares in that range and adjacent to a road (range counts road steps from a chosen restaurant entrance), while airplanes are placed at the board edge and ignore road range (p.9).

### Can I hire someone and then train them further in the same turn, or train the same person multiple steps?

You may hire and then train that new card in the same turn, but you may not train an employee who is at work or a busy marketeer; normally you may not train the same card multiple steps in one turn, except when using a coach, guru, or when specific milestones allow multi-step training (pp.8, 14).

### When do marketing campaigns put demand on houses and how do the different campaign types work?

In Phase 6 all campaigns run in campaign-number order and place one demand token per run (unless eternal or milestone-altered): billboards affect orthogonally adjacent houses, mailboxes affect houses inside the same road block, airplanes affect a straight fly-over line, and radios affect the tile plus the 8 surrounding tiles (p.12).

### Can I place or move a restaurant so its entrance shares a tile with another restaurant, and do moved restaurants open immediately?

Yes — restaurants placed or moved may have their entrance on the same tile as another restaurant; local-manager placed restaurants open at end of the turn ("COMING SOON"), while restaurants placed or moved by a regional manager are active immediately (p.10).

### If a marketeer is marked busy by a campaign, do they still cost salary and can I fire them?

Busy marketeer cards are set aside and do not occupy a structure slot but they still require salary payments and normally may not be fired; if you lack money to pay a busy marketeer after firing all other paid employees, you may then fire that busy marketeer and the campaign remains on the board (pp.9, 12).

## Links

- [This page](https://www.ludoya.com/games/food-chain-magnate)
- [Food Chain Magnate in the Ludoya app](https://app.ludoya.com/g/food-chain-magnate)
- [BoardGameGeek entry](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175914)

_Data from Ludoya, updated 2026-09-23. Ratings, ownership and play counts are Ludoya's own._