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Founders and brothers James and John Yi enjoying some good food
An entrepreneurial spirit is nothing new to the Yi family. When brothers James and John found themselves waiting in line at a restaurant with no indication of when they would actually get a table, they decided to do something about it. Their app NextMe – targeted at restaurants not consumers – takes the guessing game out of waiting in line for customers and helps restaurants earn more dough.
How do you improve a line?
No one enjoys waiting in lines, especially when they are ‘hangry’ (hungry and angry), and the Yi brothers knew it was time to throw out the paper and pen. Even the relatively tech-savvy (for restaurants at least) system of massive beepers doesn’t do much to alleviate customer’s concerns that they are getting skipped over. To really improve the line, the Yi brothers needed to add a totally new element to the traditional restaurant line: transparency. If a diner knew how long she had to wait, with an idea of how many customers are in front of her (without having to nag the host every few minutes), she could make an informed decision and use her time better.
“We basically identify with the pain points of a diner, as a customer walking into a restaurant and feeling the frustrations of having to wait for a table and being sort of sardined by the front door,” said Yi.
Their idea is to track where customers are in line and notify them close to seating time. That way if it's a long wait, the diner could go to the bar next door or do a little shopping, without worrying the host might call their name and give away their table.
Their app (made specifically for restaurants – customers need not download it) is proving to be a great hit. It works like this: diners give the restaurant host their name and number, which is entered by the host into the app. The restaurant uses the app to track who is waiting in line and send out information to their customers. The customer receives information via text on their smart phone and can then track the line from a link included in the message. “Once your table is nearly ready, they’ll shoot you a second text. Then you have the option of texting them saying you are coming back or you aren’t coming back,” said Yi.
Happy Diners, Happy Restaurants
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Left - A hostess at one of NextMe's flagship restaurants, Southport Grocery, uses the app
Beyond happy customers and less stressed hosts, the app helps restaurants bring in extra money. The Yi brothers say the app helps extend a restaurant’s peak hours by 20-60 minutes. “[Restaurant owners] are putting at least a couple extra hundred bucks per night in their pocket. One night a month of using the app pays for itself. That’s something restaurant owners see immediately, they don’t even have to open their books,” said Yi.
But breaking into the restaurant industry wasn’t easy. Restaurant owners are constantly bombarded by people trying to sell them new services and as a whole, the industry isn’t very tech-forward.
When pushed on why the app helps extend the peak hours, James and John delve into a psychology lesson and liken their app to the notifications at a bus stop or on the train. “If you can see at what moment the bus is going to come, you are more likely to stick around instead of hopping into a cab,” Yi said. He added that for restaurants, “The mystery of hey, did the host forget about us or did they give our seats away, that’s all washed away,” meaning that if diners have a better expectation of when they’ll be seated, they are more likely to stick around (or have a drink next door and come back when their table is ready).
Hosts should like it too. “It just makes the job of the host so much easier. We expect that their job is to be catering to us as diners, but they have so many other duties they need to multitask while they are doing that, this app really helps them to do that and manage that in a much easier way,” said Yi.
Big Ambitions, Strong Roots
NextMe is focusing on Chicago, though their presence in the app store means they are getting calls from restaurants around the country. They are serious about customer service. For some smaller mom-and-pop restaurants, the brothers demonstrate the power of their app by acting as restaurant host for a night (both have prior experience in the restaurant industry). It shows their passion for their product and their love of local businesses.
That’s not terribly surprising after talking to the brothers. As interesting as the business itself is the family behind it. The sons of a South Korean immigrant, the Yi brothers grew up in and around their mom’s cleaning business. They learned from watching their mom run a successful business and as kids, they started a dog-walking business out of their mom’s shop. This app is just the latest in their family’s history of taking risks and helping other local businesses.
