SpongeBob SquarePants is unicycling one day on Jellyfish Fields, when he stumbles across a statue of a sponge with a golden spatula atop an oven. He asks Mr. Krabs all about the statue. He replies that a long time ago, a city called Palm Bay was ruled by the legendary Master Fry Cook. Just then, the volcano Mt. Kabloovious engulfed the city in grease flames. Years after the disaster, the Flying Dutchman and his first mate — unspecified whether Lord Poltergeist or Barb — stole the Golden Spatula from the ruins. SpongeBob then embarks on a quest to retrieve the artifact and become Bikini Bottom's greatest fry cook. He then journeys to the depths of Goo Lagoon to find the Flying Dutchman's key. Along the way, he helps his friends Patrick, Squidward, and Sandy locate their missing objects, and aids Mr. Krabs in delivering a pizza. After helping them, he gets one of four oven knobs to activate the portal in the statue. Will SpongeBob ever get the mythical Golden Spatula and become the world's greatest fry cook?