How To Own A Cafe In NTE – The Cafe by Origen Guide (All 5 Shops, Employees & Life Skills)

TL;DR

• The cafe system is called The Cafe by Origen and it is NTE’s main source of passive Fons income.
• Unlock it by reaching City Tycoon Level 4 (requires 200,200 lifetime Fons and 10 City Stamina spent).
• Buy your first shop at 182 Bluebeard Road, Bridge Crossings for 5,000 Fons.
• You can own up to 5 cafes in total. More shops = more menu slots and more daily income.
• The cafe earns Fons automatically even while you are offline for up to 72 hours per restock.
• Assign characters as employees – each has a unique Life Skill that boosts your cafe differently.
• Decorate your cafe to increase Popularity, which directly multiplies your hourly income.
• Use Dreamless Seeds to upgrade employee Life Skills – prioritize reducing ingredient consumption first.
• Restock ingredients in 4-hour windows early on to avoid wasting materials on menu items you will outgrow.

The Cafe by Origen is one of the most rewarding systems in Neverness to Everness. Most new players walk past their first coffee shop and forget about it, then wonder why they are always short on Fons. The cafe generates passive income around the clock – even when you are not playing – and the Fons it produces feed directly into your City Tycoon rank, properties, vehicles, and the Hunter Exchange for Annulith. The earlier you set it up properly, the more it pays off. This guide covers everything: how to unlock it, how to buy your first shop, all five cafe locations, how to manage it efficiently, which employees to hire, and how to maximize your passive income.

If you want to understand how the cafe fits into the broader City Tycoon system, check out our Best PC Settings guide for NTE – and once the cafe is running, the Fons you earn will be key to funding upgrades and progression across Hethereau.

What Is The Cafe by Origen?

The Cafe by Origen is NTE’s passive business management system. You own and run one or more coffee shops across the city of Hethereau, setting up a menu, buying ingredients from shops around the city, and assigning characters as employees. Once everything is stocked and running, the cafe earns Fons automatically over time – no active input needed.

Think of it as a Fons machine you set up once and collect from regularly. The better your setup – the right employees, the right menu, more decorations – the more it earns per hour. At its peak with multiple cafes running, it becomes one of the strongest consistent Fons sources in the game, feeding directly back into City Tycoon progression and the Hunter Exchange.

Owning a second cafe also unlocks the Owner’s Selection Hethereau Hobby – an active café serving mini-game that rewards you with 6,000 Fons per full clear and 20 Annulith for every 3 stars collected.

How To Unlock The Cafe by Origen

The cafe is not available from the start of the game. You need to meet two requirements before the option appears:

• Reach City Tycoon Level 4. This requires earning a total lifetime Fons of 200,200 and spending 10 City Stamina on Hethereau Hobbies.
• Complete the City Tycoon tutorial steps that Chiz walks you through after the “Good Morning, Hethereau” guide quest.

Once you hit City Tycoon Level 4, the first cafe location will appear as a marked building on your map. You can either go directly to the property or visit a Property Agency to browse and purchase shops. Property locations can be checked on the map screen at any time once they are unlocked.

How To Buy Your First Cafe

Follow these steps to purchase your first shop:

• Open your in-game phone and go to City Tycoon.
• Select The Cafe by Origen.
• The map will show you the location of the first available shop on Bluebeard Road.
• Head to the marked building and interact with it, or visit the Property Agency to browse available shops.
• Purchase the shop for 5,000 Fons.

Once purchased, you can access all café management from the City Tycoon interface at any time without needing to physically travel to the shop.

All 5 Cafe Locations in NTE

There are five cafe locations available at launch. Each one unlocks at a higher Management Level and costs more Fons. Owning more shops gives you more menu display slots, higher combined customer traffic, and more hourly Fons output.

• Shop 1 – Bluebeard Road Shop
  Address: 182 Bluebeard Road, Bridge Crossings
  Management Level Required: 1
  Cost: 5,000 Fons
• Shop 2 – Fiscus Avenue Shop
  Address: 106 Fiscus Avenue, Unheard Shores
  Management Level Required: 5
  Cost: 20,000 Fons
• Shop 3 – Davidia Avenue Shop
  Address: 1122 North Davidia Avenue, Bridge Crossings
  Management Level Required: 10
  Cost: 40,000 Fons
• Shop 4 – Moomin Street Shop
  Address: 88 Moomin Street, Bridge Crossings
  Management Level Required: 17
  Cost: 75,000 Fons
• Shop 5 – Hankaku Street Shop
  Address: 199 Hankaku Street Plaza, Bridge Crossings
  Management Level Required: 25
  Cost: 100,000 Fons

Buy each new cafe as soon as your Management Level unlocks it. More shops means more income streams and more menu variety, which compounds your Fons output over time. The investment in each shop pays for itself quickly through the extra hourly earnings.

How To Set Up and Run Your Cafe

Step 1 – Set Up Your Menu

After buying a shop, open the City Tycoon interface, choose The Cafe by Origen, and select your cafe. From there, tap Set Up Item to choose which products you want to display and sell. Each café slot can display one menu item at a time. The menu items you can unlock depend on your current Management Level – higher levels unlock better, more profitable items.

At Management Level 22, you also gain the ability to upgrade existing unlocked menu items, making them even more profitable.

Step 2 – Restock Your Ingredients

Your cafe will not earn anything without ingredients. Tap Restock to see which ingredients are missing. The warehouse can hold up to 72 hours’ worth of stock. Once that runs out, the cafe stops generating income until you restock again.

Ingredients are purchased from various shops around Hethereau. From the restock screen, you can add missing items to a Purchase List that shows exactly what you need and where to get it. Once you reach Management Level 2, you can unlock the Delivery function, which sends missing materials directly to your cafe for a small Fons fee – saving you a trip across the city.

Step 3 – Assign Employees

Every character you own can be assigned as an employee at your cafe. Each character brings a unique Life Skill that benefits the café in a specific way – some increase dish prices, some reduce ingredient consumption, some boost customer traffic. You assign employees from the Management section of The Cafe by Origen interface.

Do not assign characters randomly. Life Skills make a meaningful difference to your income over time, so read what each character offers before assigning them.

Step 4 – Decorate Your Cafe

Decorating your café increases its Popularity. Popularity is directly linked to your income multiplier – the higher it is, the more Fons you earn per customer visit. Certain Popularity thresholds unlock income multipliers that significantly boost hourly earnings.

To change the interior, tap the Management button in the cafe interface, then tap the brush icon. Furniture for the cafe is purchased from the DeLuxur Decor shop (marked with a couch icon on the map). Decorations and figurines are available from the DSD shop and from Vending Machines around the city. Some decor items placed in the cafe also directly increase the Fons you earn, on top of the popularity boost. Buy furniture as soon as you have spare Fons – it is always a net positive investment.

Step 5 – Collect Revenue and Repeat

Your cafe earns Fons passively at all times, including when you are offline. You need to log in periodically to collect the earned Fons and restock ingredients before the 72-hour supply runs out. The revenue sits in the cafe until you collect it – it does not disappear, but the cafe stops generating more once the ingredients run dry. Check in at least once every few days to keep the income flowing continuously.

Management EXP is earned gradually as you collect revenue from the cafe. This EXP raises your Management Level over time, which unlocks new cafes, better menu items, and more capabilities.

All Cafe Employees and Their Life Skills

Every character assigned to a shop uses their Life Skill to boost cafe performance. Life Skills have five levels and are upgraded using Dreamless Seeds. Here are the employees and what their skills do:

• Nanally – Family Business: Increases dish prices for Main Dish tagged items and reduces ingredient consumption rate. In Owner’s Selection, hitting customers with the hammer grants 115% of the current dish price.
• Daffodill – The Art of Hospitality: Increases customer traffic by 18 (up to 27 at max level) and reduces ingredient consumption. In Owner’s Selection, customers are more likely to order the highest-priced dishes.
• Skia – Middle Manager: Increases customer traffic and reduces ingredient consumption. In Owner’s Selection, customer patience is boosted by 50%, giving you more time per order.
• Baicang – Thriving Daily: Increases customer traffic and reduces ingredient consumption. In Owner’s Selection, combos persist even when customers lose patience or get hit by hammers.
• Mint – Mint Tornado: Increases dish prices by an additional 0.12 Fons (up to 0.18 at max level). In Owner’s Selection, tips increase with each combo – up to 5 times per combo.
• Haniel – A Pro on the Job: Increases dish prices consistently across multiple skill levels. Straightforward price-boosting skill with no special Owner’s Selection effect beyond more dish price increases.
• Adler – Coffee Master: Increases dish prices and in Owner’s Selection, Adler automatically brews coffee in the background – removing one of the most time-consuming manual tasks from your sessions.

How To Level Up Management Level

Management Level is a separate progression track from your City Tycoon rank. It rises as you earn and collect revenue from your cafes. There is no shortcut – you grow it by keeping your shops stocked and collecting income consistently. Higher Management Levels unlock:

• New café locations to purchase (Shops 2 through 5)
• New and more profitable menu items
• The ability to upgrade existing menu items at Level 22
• The Delivery restock function at Level 2

The fastest way to grow Management Level is to keep your cafe stocked at all times and collect regularly. Never let the ingredients run dry. A cafe with empty stock is not earning you Management EXP or Fons.

How To Upgrade Employee Life Skills (Dreamless Seeds)

Each employee Life Skill has five upgrade levels. To upgrade them, you need Dreamless Seeds. Here is where to get them:

• Daily Activities – completing daily tasks rewards Dreamless Seeds over time
• Management Guide rewards – earned by progressing through the café management tutorial objectives
• Fair Exchange – traded using other in-game currencies
• Hunter Exchange shop – purchasable using Fons

Do not spend all your Dreamless Seeds on a single character. The smarter approach is to spread them across multiple employees and prioritize activating the first level of Life Skills for each of your shops. Once all shops have their foundation skills active, then focus on upgrading high-value skills further.

The most valuable early upgrades are skills that reduce ingredient consumption rate. Every percentage point of reduced consumption extends how long your cafe runs before needing a restock, which means fewer trips back to shops and lower ingredient costs overall. After that, prioritize bonuses that scale income through dish tags like Main Dishes and Beverages.

Cafe Ingredient Tips

• Do not over-buy early. Menu items upgrade as your Management Level rises. If you stock 100 apples for apple pies and then unlock a better apple pie recipe, your old stock may not be compatible. Buy in small amounts – 4-hour windows worth – while you are still learning what items you will actually use long-term.
• Switch to 24-hour restocks when logging off. Once you know your menu well, stock a full day’s worth before you stop playing for the night so the cafe keeps running overnight.
• Max restock is 72 hours. If you know you will not log in for a few days, stock the full 72 hours before leaving. The cafe will run until stock runs out.
• Use the Purchase List. The restock screen shows exactly what is missing and where to buy it. Use the item screen to find acquisition locations and buy only what you need.
• Delivery costs Fons. The Level 2 Delivery function is convenient but not free. Use it when you cannot travel to the shops yourself, not as your default restocking method.

How To Maximize Cafe Passive Income

• Buy every new café location as soon as it unlocks. More shops means more menu slots, more customer traffic, and more hourly Fons. The investment pays back fast.
• Decorate immediately. Furniture from DeLuxur Decor raises Popularity which multiplies income at threshold milestones. Tables and chairs are the highest-value early purchases for popularity gains. Buy them before luxury decorations.
• Assign the right employees to the right shops. Traffic boosters like Daffodill, Skia, and Baicang maximize customer volume. Price boosters like Mint, Haniel, and Adler push earnings per sale. Combining both types across different shops is optimal.
• Upgrade Life Skills that reduce ingredient consumption first. This extends how long each restock lasts, reducing costs and the frequency of restocking trips across Hethereau.
• Do Owner’s Selection daily. Once you have a second café, Owner’s Selection becomes available. Each 3-star clear earns 6,000 Fons and every 3 stars across all stages rewards 20 Annulith. It is one of the best return-on-time activities in the game.
• Collect cafe revenue every session. Revenue accumulates in the café but stops generating once ingredients run out. Log in regularly, collect Fons, and restock before leaving.

Where To Download Neverness to Everness

NTE is free to play on PC, Android, iOS, and PS5:

• Official NTE Website – PC Download
• Google Play Store – Android
• PlayStation Store – PS5

Frequently Asked Questions