Google To Add Restaurant Wait Times To Google Search, Maps (techcrunch.com)

Google Search and Maps already show you the peak traffic times for your favorite restaurants, but it will soon show you the wait times as well. Google says the feature begins rolling out today, and will eventually expand to include grocery stores. TechCrunch reports: Google's new restaurant wait times also comes from the aggregated and anonymized data from users who opted in to Google Location History -- the same data that powers popular times, wait times and visit duration. In the case of restaurants, Google will now include a pop-up box that appears when you click on a time frame in the popular times' chart. The box shows the live or historical data labeled as "busy," "usually busy," "usually not busy," etc., along with the wait time. Below the popular times chart, there's also a section that helps users plan their visit by offering info on the peak wait times and duration. (e.g. "People typically spend 45 mins to 2 hr here.") The new wait time feature will be supported on nearly a million sit-down restaurant listings worldwide, initially in Google Search.

Comments

Queuing for food is for fools

[ickleberry]

I doubt Eric Schmidt stands in a queue waiting for a table to become available and it's a bit of an insult to think he expects other people to do that. If a place is so busy you have to queue, good chance there is a deserted place just down the road waiting to dole out a nice meal. Or if there isn't simply go home and cook your own food just like in the good old days. Save a pile of money too

Restaurant-queuing seems to be a cultural phenomenon associated mostly with America. It's not unusual to see a mile-long queue for a restaurant in America but in other parts of the world if there's a few waiting by the door people deem it to be busy and quickly move on to the next place.

Re:Queuing for food is for fools

[nospam007]

"Restaurant-queuing seems to be a cultural phenomenon associated mostly with America. It's not unusual to see a mile-long queue for a restaurant in America but in other parts of the world if there's a few waiting by the door people deem it to be busy and quickly move on to the next place."

Exactly my thoughts. I would never wait at a restaurant, I eat in restaurant 4-5 times a week an I always have a reservation and I always get my table immediately.
Either there are not enough restaurants in the US or the management is incompetent or they are just greedy and they accept way too many reservations, just like the US airlines.

Re:Queuing for food is for fools

[nospam007]

" If a restaurant has a good reputation people are willing to wait."

For restaurants with an excellent reputation I am willing to wait, but not for my table but a couple of weeks for a reservation to get my table immediately when I arrive.

Re:Queuing for food is for fools

[tquasar]

A too busy restaurant can mean you will be served under cooked food or the wrong items. The staff may be stressed trying to meet the demand and wages are low in my area and many depend on tips for income. Servers do not share tips with the kitchen staff.

Re:Queuing for food is for fools

[rfengr]

Supermarket queuing is a Soviet phenomenon. I’ll take American queuing.

Re:Queuing for food is for fools

[geekmux]

"Restaurant-queuing seems to be a cultural phenomenon associated mostly with America. It's not unusual to see a mile-long queue for a restaurant in America but in other parts of the world if there's a few waiting by the door people deem it to be busy and quickly move on to the next place."

Densely populated areas of people with disposable income create a queuing demand. The concept is not unique to America. See well-known noodle shops in Japan where people wait hours for their favorite bowl.

...Either there are not enough restaurants in the US or the management is incompetent or they are just greedy and they accept way too many reservations, just like the US airlines.

There are a metric fuckton of restaurants in the US. The REAL problem is many of them do not accept reservations. They see queues as a way to drive popularity based on hype. Long queues somehow mean it must be the place to eat, and the wait is somehow worth it. This tactic is also a way to drive more revenue by enticing customers to purchase overpriced drinks at the bar while they wait for a table.

The pathetic part is realizing that this bullshit no-reservation policy works. If we want to change this, then we have to get rid of the fucking stupid mentality that queues are somehow hip and cool.

Re:Queuing for food is for fools

[rmdingler]

The pathetic part is realizing that this bullshit no-reservation policy works. If we want to change this, then we have to get rid of the fucking stupid mentality that queues are somehow hip and cool.

Hear! Hear! Instead of using the time to wait in line, I'd rather barbequeue.

How about a "Pitstop" button in Navigation?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd really like to have a gas/food/pee pitstop button that finds a place that is:

(0) IN FRONT OF YOU
(1) Close to the highway
(2) Easy to get into and out of
(3) Clean
(4) And no kid's play areas...it's either 45 minute delay and tears/anger!

OK, maybe not (4), but definitely the others.

What they need to do is focus on the menus

[ThomasBHardy]

The "big thing" would be if they spent some effort getting menu info. If i could ask google maps where the closest place is that has fish and chips, or massaman curry and get a list of places that had the dish and with ratings at the dish level, it would totally change how we pick restaurants.

No reservations accepted?

[h4ck7h3p14n37]

What do you do about restaurants that don't take reservations?

There's a burger place called Au Cheval in Chicago that has 90+ minute wait times every day and it's been open for almost 4 years. People are lined up outside an hour before it opens.

Hot Doug's is now closed, but the line was out the door, around the corner and down the block every day for lunch.

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