If you’ve spent some time in the Bay Area recently, you’ve probably noticed the plethora of “OrderAhead” cards, stickers and general branding that exists around cash registers. It’s impressive how many coffee shops sport their brand, right below Yelp’s sticker. (Their head of Merchant Growth, Danny, is clearly killing it).

Part of me wonders how strong their engagement metrics are. I’ve been working out of coffee shops for a few months now, and not once have I seen someone come in and mention order ahead or pick up their order from Order Ahead. I’m clearly not the target demographic, however, so I’m a bad litmus test for how compelling the platform is. I do use seamless, so whatever value they add is going to have to be significant in order for me to accept the burden of switching.

That having been said, however, they've raised a big round from savvy investors, adn their metrics seem to be impressive according to this TechCrunch article - so I may be off on this one.

Idea

A pain point I DO have, however, is locking in spots at coffee shops for meetings. (I also have a similar pain point for locking in spots at bar counters for dates). In both cases, I find myself having to go to the location a good half hour early to just stand around and lock in whatever opens up. It sucks. That’s not a minute of my life that’s lost…that’s hours every week.

I want a platform that lets me pay a little extra (say $5-$10), to lock in space for 2-3 people ahead of time. I’d pay for this TOMORROW, as it would save me a great deal of time, and save me a lot of stress before my meetings and dates.

Small target demographic, I know, but I'd pay through the nose for this service, daily. They coudl also mark some spaces "order ahead" spaces with stickers, which would result in additional branding within the coffee shops and bars. People would wonder what that meant, and would download the app to figure it out.

A bit of a hairbrained idea, but I'd use it!