GOLD Coast start-up YQueue is the latest entrant to the food and beverage service space with its innovative app already used by 100 businesses. The George Lim-founded start-up offers an app enabling users to order, pay, and collect at restaurants and cafes without any need to queue or wait in line. The business, which has its accounts team based in Southport, also offers a fully integrated point-of-sale system for merchants, which can streamline the ordering and payment process via the use of tablets and in-store self-service kiosks. YQueue launched on the Gold Coast in October this year but the app was actually first trialled in Singapore in 2017.
“Singapore went extremely well. We have a few hundred businesses using it,” YQueue national sales manager Jay Nathwani said. “What we offer the business is the option to reduce operational expenses. Staff can spend more time on other tasks rather than taking orders.” Alister Thomson, Business Editor, Gold Coast Bulletin. Tired of queuing to order at restaurants and cafes? A Gold Coast start-up has just the app for you. BUSINESS YQueue start-up launches on Gold Coast with clever idea for skipping restaurant and cafe queues Mr Nathwani said that because Mr Lim hailed from the Gold Coast, it seemed a natural choice for the second launch location. He said 115 restaurants and cafes had come on board and were using the app.
YQueue charges a 5 per cent commission on transactions, including bank fees, something, Mr Nathwani argues, that is mutually beneficial for the vendor and client. “We want to provide businesses with a model that helps them. We would rather have as many businesses as possible (paying 5 per cent) using the app and only then would we see a return.” He said there were no set up costs for the restaurant with YQueue providing the tablet and back-end support. “There’s a lot in the media recently about how companies like UberEats are negatively impacting small businesses on the Gold Coast by charging commissions of up to 35 per cent plus GST and delivery fees, which leaves very little in the way of a profit margin for the business itself.
“Instead, we want to give struggling cafes and restaurants an opportunity to grow their businesses and make a profit, by bringing customers to their doors and not relying on third party representatives.” So far there have been 1000 downloads of the app. However, Mr Nathwani said the company planned in the future to focus on the fully integrated point-of-sale systems with the app becoming a complementary product. YQueue has started to roll out its self-service kiosks and plans to expand to Brisbane. Espresso Moto’s Jordan Stubbs said using YQueue was a big advantage. “With YQueue, there is no taking of the order required which increases efficiency because I don’t have to keep an eye on the tablet and the customers,” Mr Stubbs said.