Wow there's a lot of depth here. I didn't make it very far but looking through the recipes I'm surprised by how much depth there is to the mechanic! Good job putting all of that together for a jam game.
I think there's a lot of room for improvement. Here's some things that would make the game a lot nicer:
- Audio - A simple background track would add a lot of atmosphere and set the scene for the player. Maybe something a little upbeat since you're cooking food and feeding people. Sound effects would also be nice. You don't have to go super detailed, a simple "win" sound for when you get a recipe right would give much-needed feedback to the player.
- UI - The UI could use a "theme". Since this is a restaurant, you can go with that. Make the recipes look like they're recipes in an actual restaurant/kitchen. There's a lot of ideas here you can play with. You can make it look like it was hand-written by the head-chef or your uncle. Or you can make them look like a commercial chain restaurant type thing. Make the images bigger and make them the focus rather than the text. In the kitchen, use a meter for the timer rather than a countdown text (or along with the text) People like looking at pictures more than reading :)
- Gameplay - The actual gameplay is missing a "hook" to it, something that gets the player wanting to keep playing. At least for me it was. When I play a game I'm either into the story and wanting to discover and explore keeps me going. Or if its a skill based game then I need a mechanic that I can improve at, and seeing my skill go up and trying to get better at the game's challenge is what keeps me going. This game could use one of those hooks, or both! I would also make the restaurant days much shorter, especially for the early levels. 4 minutes was way too long and I wish I could move to the next day after about a minute. Shorter gameplay loops feel more satisfying to complete.
Hope you keep working on the game, there's a lot of potential here!