As a student at Baruch, I always loved the idea of having the city as my campus. Since Baruch is in the heart of the Gramercy District, I am never limited by my options. Whether it be for grabbing a quick meal or stopping at a clothing store, I could walk one block in any direction and find something of interest. Before the pandemic, I would often grab lunch with friends between classes, whether to dine-in or take-out. Planning my time was a very delicate game, especially if I had less than 30 minutes before my next class. This was a very big problem for me, particularly because I am a very punctual person and being late makes me anxious.
When trying to pick a restaurant to grab lunch from, I would always consider how much time I actually have to spare. Before I decided on a restaurant, I would have to take into account the fact that there may or may not be a line outside the restaurant. This usually meant that I would settle on something fast and easy each time since I didn’t want to risk being late to class. Because of this, I would generally get the same meal each time. In addition, ordering ahead was not always a possibility since some Professors frowned upon technology use in class. Spending time ordering lunch during a lecture would also take away from important class time.
This problem is worth solving for me because it would save me a lot of anxiety and time. A potential solution for this would be having a way to know how crowded a restaurant is before you go to it. If there was a way to know how long the line is, that would make settling on a place for lunch much faster. This idea may also be especially helpful now because of the pandemic. By seeing exactly how crowded a restaurant is, people can decide whether or not they want to dine-in, take-out, or choose a new place altogether. Perhaps an app would be the best way to target this problem. An efficient app would include a map of restaurants nearby, a way to see line times, crowd level, seating times, menus, and even a way to order ahead.
There are some apps out there that are making traction with “waiting for a table” kind of information being provided to users. The challenge with your idea is not the usefulness (it is useful) but convincing users to generate content (waiting time indications). There may be a way forward so stick with this and see where it takes you.
Hi Professor,
Thank you so much for your feedback! I used this to expand on my idea in the Lean Canvas. Perhaps users can generate waiting time indications in exchange for a chance to “spin a wheel” and win a discount? Something along this line. Thank you for your helpful comment!
Hello Karin,
The problem you present has surfaced in all of us sometime or another. However my slight nudge to it would be, how do you plan implement such an app or platform? While you said in the post in class it’s hard to order ahead of time because you won’t be able to use your phone. Regardless of the situation to order ahead or to use your app, one must do it out of class.
Another question I have is: would this platform have a similarity in the way lets say Google Maps or other GPS can track “traffic” and estimate the time for you?
Overall, I believe this app can serve very useful not only for potential student customers but many others. If done right I can see this app being used by people regularly, just like many of us use MTA apps to see how far the train is.
You can also make partnership deals with many restaurants and bars etc. which can give you access to their wait time. This will also solve their operations management issues of “wait time” in customers.
All in all, this idea has good potential, but you should ask yourself those questions that can help in the implementation phase. Customer discovery phase will give a better idea how many will actually use this.
Hey Tausif,
Thank you so much for your insight. Yes, it would have something similar to Google Maps where it can calculate the traffic, etc. The hard part is that students cannot order while in class, but perhaps there can be a way to estimate the wait at a specific time, and order ahead? For example, if my class ends at 3, I can use the app to see that at 3:00pm, it will take 15 minutes for me to pick up my food. With this in mind, I can place my order at 12:00pm and pick it up at 3:00pm.
Also, yes restaurant deals would increase the popularity of this potential app. I brainstorm this idea more in my Lean Canvas. Still in the beginning stages of this idea, but thank you for your feedback!