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There are days when we curse modern technology and days when we’d kiss our smartphone on both cheeks (if it had cheeks). Local diners, go ahead and cyberpucker up: NoWait has arrived.
The restaurant version of the NoWait app was originally created to streamline the often unpleasant process of enduring a restaurant’s waiting line. Using an iPad, front desk staffers send a message to a party on the waiting list, alerting them that their table is ready, thereby allowing them to leave an often crowded restaurant, have a drink elsewhere, do a little shopping, take a stroll, run an errand, whatever. NoWait used modern technology to solve an old problem: diners were now free to wait wherever they wanted.
Several months ago, NoWait added a Guest App that allowed diners to place themselves on a restaurant’s waiting list, eliminating having to pay an initial visit to the restaurant. Another old problem, solved.
After the mobile app is downloaded (free from both iPhone and Android app stores), the diner logs in and participating restaurants show up on a street grid. Click on the number of guests and the wait time appears. (Different for each restaurant, wait time is calculated using algorithms—at my first restaurant, the formula was “# of parties X 2, + 15 minutes” and it was amazingly accurate.) Opt in and your party is placed directly into the queue on the front desk iPad. The name shows up with an “antenna” icon, designating you jumped onto the list in cyberspace, not in person.
The moment a party enters the queue, they receive a text with a link to track elapsed wait time. There is a cancel feature as well.
A nifty stick man (right) motors his way across your smartphone screen toward an icon of a restaurant, showing progress. Once the table becomes available, the party receives another text message, with a request for the party’s ETA, so if there is to be some delay, the restaurant can prepare for it and seat accordingly.
Locally, three restaurants—Pastaria and both locations of The Original Pancake House--have been using the original version of NoWait, and all have opted in on Guest App as well.
The raves have been unanimous.
At Gerard Craft’s Pastaria, short waiting lines are common with longer lines are common on weekends. Craft calls the Guest App “almost a reservation,” a bridge between a true reservation and a potentially long waiting line. Craft saw the app in use at Pizzeria Vetri, a “no reservations” restaurant in Philadelphia with same popularity issues as Pastaria, and figured it might cure an ongoing problem. “If anyone says something negative about Pastaria, more often than not it’s about the reservations policy,” Craft said. “This is a practical solution and it works well.” So well he’s considering using NoWait at Taste in the CWE, another “no reservations” restaurant.
At both locations of The Original Pancake House, waiting lines are common, especially on weekends. GM Marcus Armani says NoWait customers show up exactly when they are to be seated, so there’s not as much traditional name calling (often several times) and no down time while the party assembles. “If the No Wait customer’s GPS is enabled,” he says, “I get pinged the moment the party gets close, so I’m ready the moment they walk through the door. I already know who they are.”
OPH partner Gordon Manus says the biggest beneficiary may be parents with kids in tow. “Kids get antsy waiting in close quarters,” he said. “Now they don’t have to.”
NoWait charges restaurants on a sliding scale, by the number of parties booked. There’s also an option that allows diners to book a reservation, similar to OpenTable. (That option is not enabled at either OPH or Pastaria.)
So NoWait has successfully addressed two thorny restaurant issues: taking reservations and walk-in customers having to deal with waiting in line (in restaurants that don’t take reservations). Hey, owners of Half & Half, Southwest Diner, and The Block…we trust you are paying attention.
Chalk up another reason to love your smartphone. Maybe Theodore Twombly wasn’t so crazy after all.
