Find the real cause of a slow café queue before adding another till

Map the journey before timing people

Sketch the stages in your own shop: join queue, order, pay, prepare drinks, prepare food, assemble and collect. For retail, the equivalent could be product enquiry, stock lookup, checkout and collection. Include work customers cannot see, such as searching for packaging.

Explain the purpose to staff. You are studying the process, not ranking individuals by speed. HSE's demands guidance is a useful reminder that work should match people's capability and available time. A plan that depends on rushing safety-critical work is not an improvement.

Further reading: HSE: Management Standards — Demands

Observe a representative busy window

Choose a normal rush and a manageable sample of orders. Record the time each order reaches key stages, its broad type and any interruption. Do not collect customer names or payment information for this exercise. Note staffing, equipment problems and unusual group orders.

Use actual observations rather than a remembered worst day. One sample can reveal a place to investigate, but does not establish a permanent average. Repeat on another comparable day before committing to an expensive change.

Look for waiting, rework and uneven demand

In the example, adding a till would not address the food wait. You would investigate grill capacity, the number of items using it and whether orders arrive in large bursts. The correct response depends on what you observe, not on a general rule about staffing.

Also look for work repeated unnecessarily: customers clarifying missing options, staff remaking misheard orders or searching for the right lid. A small placement or instruction change may remove that work. Keep food-safety and accessibility needs in the design rather than treating them as obstacles.

Test one change with an outcome measure

Choose a change you can reverse. Examples include a clearer collection point, placing commonly used packaging within reach or restricting a complex special during the busiest window. Agree the change with staff and check that it does not create another unsafe or awkward task.

Measure total customer wait and the relevant stage, alongside mistakes and staff feedback. If the drinks station becomes faster but food-and-drink orders still leave at the same time, you have not necessarily improved the customer experience. Likewise, shorter average waits can hide a few orders repeatedly being forgotten.

Decide whether investment is justified

If the constraint persists across several observations, compare practical options: different preparation timing, a smaller offer, different staffing or equipment. Include space, training, cleaning, maintenance and installation in the comparison, not just purchase price.

Keep the observation sheet and the result of each trial. It gives the next decision a factual starting point and helps prevent the same debate restarting every busy Saturday. There is no universal ideal queue time; set a service promise your customers understand and your team can reliably deliver.