Cooking Frenzy is a food-service and restaurant simulation game. The player helps new restauranteurs Olivia and Gustavo with the setup and running of their Rock City Bar & Grill restaurant. To grow the business, they earn cash and coins by selling items to the public from an open food truck.
The player learns how to cook, plate and serve a variety of dishes and beverages, including ribs, juice, salad, onion rings and chips. They must satisfy the demands of customers or risk losing business. Satisfied customers pay the player with coins. When the player finishes a level, they also receive cash bills to make restaurant purchases. For example, they might buy couches, rugs, tables and bar chairs.
The game allows the player to increase their cash and coins by watching ads and trying their luck with a horizontal rainbow multiplier bar. They must watch three ads to become a VIP who Olivia presents with gifts.
Cooking Frenzy always auto-picks the customer on the left when the player serves the food and beverages, which means that they often accidentally fulfill the leftmost customers' orders first. If this happens too often, the timer bar next to the far-right customer might disappear, and lead the customer to become angry.
The game also challenges the player by presenting them with tricky tasks, such as not burning or discarding any food on a level. That said, it gives them boosters they purchase with coins, including Instant Cook and Burn Proofer options.