Goal releases: there's a speculative goal calendar linked in my signature below that should give you a solid idea as to when to expect upcoming goals and the times they start.
In regard to appliances and recipes: you can only unlock new decos, recipes and appliances during the window of time that the goals are active. Once the limited time goal ends, any items not unlocked will remain locked indefinitely. Purchasing an appliance that was released or used in a goal will not allow you access to said goal, that's all content that is time sensitive.
Permanent goals: We did see 2 permanent goals released in the last year but it's my understanding that players had to purchase the appliance within a certain time limit (which has since passed) to activate the permanent goals. I'm honestly unsure if a purchasing either the Ruby or Sapphire Oven today will still activate the goal. Seeing as how they're larger gem purchases (35-42g), I'd only recommend purchasing if you're okay with the possibility of
not getting the goals.
The current goal cycle: rotates between 14 day goals and 5 day goals - there's a general break down explaining the differences in goals
HERE. And there's a list of all goals (also in my signature) if you'd like to have a look over the most recent goal threads to get a better idea of what goal requirements and prizes are like for each goal type.
Goal vs. regular appliances: There is a comprehensive CookBook & Recipe Guide in my signature that lists every appliance and recipe in the game including images and all pertinent details such as costs and parts. The details in the guide are color coordinated so players can see exactly which appliances and recipes are locked by goals, which have been removed, which ones they'll be able to access outside of goals, etc. It can get confusing really quickly since there are a lot of appliances that are both available outside of goals but contain some goal recipes!
Sales: Typically we get a sale every Friday that will offer Echo/U-items and are usually on the smaller side offering fewer items than the larger holiday/seasonal sales offer. On rare occasions we will get new items that are listed for a limited time during sales as well. These items are usually things that were originally released in Restaurant Story but are copied over to Bakery for the sale and typically cost gems.
Echo/U-items: In 2022 the team started to release Echos appliances and U-decos. These are items that were originally locked via goal but are relisted for a limited time to all players, even those that missed the goals. Echo appliances cost gems but require no parts to build and will automatically have all three original goal recipes fully unlocked. U-deco is the name given to the locked goal decos that are relisted for gem purchase during limited time sales.
Mystery Boxes: We also receive mystery boxes twice per month. One will be a totally new and original box that will be listed at a discount for roughly a month. The second will be a box that was originally released in Restaurant Story but is copied over for Bakery Story and it's usually on sale for about a week.
I think that's about it for our current set up, it's been pretty steady and predictable for the past year and a half. Fingers crossed it stays predictable so you'll have time to familiarize yourself with the new setups,
lol. Hopefully this gave you a decent overview without going too far into the weeds and confusing you even more! But if I did ramble and make it more confusing, please don't hesitate to ask for more detail or clarification on anything.