Dave The Diver: Best Staff To Hire

Dave The Diver thrusts you into the restaurant management business from the very start of the game. In addition to being responsible for exploring the mysterious waters of the Blue Hole, fighting off massive sea monsters and chasing after seahorses, you’ll also be responsible for keeping Bancho Sushi, a sushi bar, afloat.

While Bancho and Dave make for a powerful duo, they can’t cook, serve, and manage the bar all by themselves. They’ll need to hire staff who are masters of their craft to help them run the business. Here are all the best staff you can hire in every position.

Updated by Hamza Haq on October 27, 2023: The article has been updated with a tip on a staff position that opens up later in the game

Best Servers

Before unlocking the ability to hire staff, Dave will be serving food and drinks all by himself. This will make you appreciate the effort that goes into serving and how much easier it is to have hired staff do it.

Although El Nino is the best server in the game, you’ll only be able to hire him at Diamond Rank. Both Raptor and Cohh can be hired much earlier at the Gold Rank, making them excellent choices for early-game servers. However, for servers, their special skills are much more important than the raw numbers.

Once the customers really start pouring in, Dave will not be able to handle the drinks on his own and will need help. Both Cohh and Raptor don’t have the ability to pour drinks (Tea), which will make it Dave’s job. If you find yourself overwhelmed, keeping a low-stat staff employee who can serve drinks like Kyoko might be in order, at least until you get El Nino.

Best Cooks

Cooks are going to be your most important hires in the game, as their job is to help out Bancho in the kitchen, getting dishes made faster and on time. Maki is the best cook in the game, and the best part about her is that you can get her for free after completing the Reticent Girl sub-mission that will trigger automatically in Chapter 2. Complete this mission as soon as possible to get the best cook in the game.

Yone comes in second, but you’ll only be able to get her when your restaurant has reached Diamond Rank on Cooksta. For the early parts of the game, having one cook in the back is more than enough, and with Maki in your back pocket, there is no need to hire anyone else. Use that extra slot to send out dispatchers.

Best Dispatchers

Yusuke is the best dispatcher in Dave The Diver, with Pai coming in at a close second. Dispatchers are the staff you send out into the world to procure new specialty ingredients for the Sushi bar in lieu of Serving or Cooking.

You can only have four active employees at any one time working the restaurant, and sending one out to find new ingredients means you’ll have to sacrifice a slot from the active staff. In the early game, having an extra source of seasonings like Salt and Olive Oil can net you an easy way to make expensive dishes without having Dave break his back in the ocean.

Best Branch Managers

For Branch Managers, having the best overall stats determines how well they do in their position. This makes Drae, the staff you can hire with the best overall stats at level 20 (3161), perfect for this job. Alternative options include Itsuki and Davina, though Davina is significantly worse than Itsuki, with an overall total of only 2624 compared to Itsuki’s total of 2921. An almost 300-point difference.

The Branch Manager position only opens up some ways into the game. A VIP mission will trigger during the main story called “Bancho’s Ordeal? Pasta Contest!” and completing it will unlock the second branch as well as the Branch Manager position.

Best Overall Staff Combination

Once you’ve reached the Diamond Rank and have all the ingredients in the world, you’ll want to optimize your staff to basically do everything without your input. With El Nino and Raptor as servers, you don’t have to worry about anything. Pouring Drinks? Check! Wasabi? Check! Cocktails? Check! Cleaning? Check! Dave can practically stand still, and the restaurant will run by itself.

Maki herself is more than enough to handle the kitchen by herself, but with Yone in tow, they make dishes faster than they can be ordered. And, of course, Drae doesn’t need any help managing the branch once it opens, taking care of everything with ease.