Opportunities › Queue management for small service businesses › Proposed app
Doorside Queue
A walk-in waitlist with live wait times and a text when the table is ready
- Score
- 48
- confidence 44
- Evidence
- 5
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 1
- named in sources
- First version
- 20 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop and mobile
- PWA: on computers and phones alike
- Market since
- 2010
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop and mobile: Staff manage queues on one screen at a desk; guests scan codes and check wait times on phones away from the location. Sample screens on a computer and a phone, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Your place in line
We'll text you when it's close~14 min
About this appAI proposal
Doorside Queue is a digital waitlist for cafes, restaurants, barber shops and clinics that take walk-ins. Guests scan a code at the door, see their place in line and an estimated wait, and get a message when it is nearly their turn. They can wait elsewhere.
It is built for owners and managers with no IT person. Setup is a business name, a list of services or party sizes and a printed QR code. Staff run the line from one phone screen: add, call, seat or mark a no-show.
The estimate comes from your own recent service times, so it improves with use. Guests can also leave the line themselves, which shows you when a wait has grown too long.
- Tagline
- Let your guests wait anywhere but your doorway.
- Voice
- CalmPlainFriendly
- Why this name
- A doorway is where the line forms and where guests give up. The name says the queue belongs at the door, but the waiting no longer has to.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Scan-to-join queue
Guests join from a QR code at the door with no app and no account. Staff can also add walk-ins by hand in two taps.
No member yet
Live wait estimate
Each guest sees their place and an estimated wait on a page that updates itself, so the doorway stops asking 'how much longer?'
No member yet
Your turn alerts
Guests get a text or web push when they are next, then again when called. Staff can resend with one tap.
No member yet
One-screen staff view
Add, call, seat, skip and no-show from a single phone screen. Built for busy hands, with large buttons.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#0F5C63Harbor Teal · primary#F6F3ECSea Salt · surface#1B2528Deep Ink · text#E5624ABuoy Coral · accent#5E9C76Kelp · data, ready status
Typography
Aa
Doorside Queue
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
Let your guests wait anywhere but your doorway.
PricingAI proposal
The material gives no competitor prices. These tiers are a starting point to test, priced per location as the opportunity suggests; the free tier is meant to let owners try it on a busy day.
Starter
Free
- One location
- Up to 30 guests per day
- QR join and web push alerts
Location
$19 a month
- One location
- Unlimited guests
- Text message alerts (fair use)
- Weekly walk-away report
- Service types and party size
Multi-site
$49 a month
- Up to five locations
- Everything in Location
- Shared staff logins
Would you pay Location · $19 a month?
Your answer tells PWAS which prices people accept. It changes no score.
No answers yet.
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Shared outputs. Every guest gets a queue page and text link from the business. The page and the printed door QR code carry a small 'Powered by Doorside Queue' line, seen by guests who run or work at other businesses.
- Do they become customers?
- Guests are mostly diners and patients, not owners, so few will buy. Test whether the footer link and door code produce sign-ups from other owners and managers, such as barbers or cafe owners who visit.
- First customers
- Owner-run restaurants and cafes with 10 to 40 seats in one tourist town, where weekend lines form at the door and there is no host stand.
- Where to reach them
- Walk-in visits: Visit owners during the pre-rush hour, set up the QR code on their phone and leave a printed sign.
- Local business groups: Offer short demos through local hospitality associations and owner chat groups in the pilot town.
- Hacker News launch post: Share a build log and ask for feedback; the topic already drew discussion there.
- First milestone
- Ten venues in one town run it for four weekends, and at least five pay for the Location plan.
Why people already pay for this
- AI inferenceCustomers leave without being served due to lack of wait time visibility and impatience while lining up at entrances.
- Public claimThe product reduces customer frustration and turnover by providing transparency and allowing customers to wait elsewhere.
- Public claimStaff are overburdened managing crowds rather than serving customers.
- Public claimThe system is designed to be easy to set up and manage for businesses without dedicated IT support.
- Public claimThe product is applicable across multiple small service business verticals.
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · SMS deliveryTransactional SMS providerMany walk-in guests will not install or allow push, so texts are the reliable way to reach them.
- This app · Realtime updatesSupabase Realtime channelsGuest pages and staff screens must update live without a refresh.
RisksAI inference
- CommercialA digital queue tool, WaitQ, already exists for the same audience. Differentiation may be thin, and small owners may see a paper list as good enough.
- TechnicalWait estimates from few service times can be wrong. Missed estimates may frustrate guests more than no estimate.
- PlatformWeb push on iOS requires the PWA be installed to the home screen, so many guests will depend on SMS.
- RegulatoryStoring guest phone numbers and sending texts brings consent, data protection and carrier rules that vary by country, and clinics may add health-privacy duties.
- CommercialSMS costs per message could cut margin on the low-priced plans and force usage limits.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.