Sounds interesting.
Really hope this can be addressed!
Honestly don't know why these couldn't just be set as infinite use. Not like the buffs they provide are OP. The stats they give are actually super underwhelming when compared to same-level inventory item foodstuffs.
At best, they'd mostly just be a quick stand-in for slurping down a couple of boiled eggs for the XP bonus.
If not a switch then allow a choice between food item or furnishing when the player picks up the object or buys it in the Mog Station.
I honestly wonder why they aren't infinite. They're locked to a location, so people WILL have to teleport there or travel somehow, generally at least taking SOME gil out of circulation (yes some people will have favorites or free destinations but.. some) . It would also be incredibly cool to have a buff "station" at the FC where everyone gathers and has a "meal" before heading out to adventure without constantly having to restock it every time 10 people eat. You also wouldn't be able to take them in an instance, so if you thought a run was going to take more than 60 minutes, say a learning run or such, you'd have to take other food in anyway unless you wanted to restart the run every 60 minutes. Maybe have different types of buffs for placeable food as well facilitate overworld adventures such as maps and hunts better rather than "optimal" food per job as it is now.
There's just so much baggage to attach to placing food atm I'm scared to add tenants or I keep seasonal food forever in storage.
I think that pay gil to restock item idea was pretty good one. This game needs more gil sinks.
Exactly! I've said before that when you reach the 'empty tray' state, instead of clicking to eat it, you get a prompt about whether or not you want to restock (and you can do, say, 1 serving, 5 servings, or 10 servings worth of restocking).
Mind you, I also think that, given that event foods are a thing that sticks around forever for real money, they ought to scale. So, for instance, a Crit/Vit/SpSp food would, right now, give a bonus equivalent to normal quality Twilight Popoto Salad, the current raid tier food that buffs Crit/Vit/SpSp. For serious raiders, it wouldn't replace the HQ stuff, but for folks who aren't serious raiders and still want a nice food buff, it'd make it actually a meaningful consumable (and worth restocking for more than just visual value). And you could set up a crafting area in the FC house, and put out some decorative crafter food; it might not be HQ chili crab, but it'd be better than zero food buff, and the ability to eat a crafter buff food that's laid out there right by the work-table would provide incentive for FC crafters to gather there when crafting stuff.
Thus making the FC house a sensible gathering spot, because those food buffs are worth picking up (if you aren't a raider prone to carrying around your own HQ raid food in the first place, anyway).