When to Use the Add Tab
Three scenarios cover almost all manual entries:
- Call-aheads. A regular phones to say they're 10 minutes away. Add them now so their position reflects when they called, not when they arrived.
- Self-service skeptics. Some customers don't want to scan a QR code or tap a kiosk. A 30-second face-to-face entry is faster than walking them through self-service.
- Accessibility. Older customers, customers without smartphones, customers who don't speak the language well — the staff member becomes the interface.
Most queues see 10-30% of entries come through the Add tab. Higher than that often means your QR or kiosk channel needs work; lower than that often means staff is being too aggressive about self-service.
The Form
Open the Add tab in the staff PWA. The form takes:
- Name (required) — first name is enough; full names are fine if you want them.
- Phone (optional but recommended) — without a phone, no SMS notifications. They'll have to come back to check on you.
- Party size (default 1, change as needed) — used for resource matching when capacity is set on resources.
- Notes (optional) — internal-only. Allergies, accessibility flags, 'wants the corner booth', whatever helps.
- Priority (Normal / High / VIP) — defaults to Normal. See Priority & Zones.
- Zone (if zones are enabled) — pick one.
- Resource (optional) — pre-assign a specific table/bay/chair if you already know which one.
Tap Add to Queue and they're in. They get position N+1 and an SMS confirmation if they provided a phone.
Channel = walk_in (or call_ahead)
Manual entries are tagged with a channel value internally — walk_in by default, call_ahead if you flip the toggle on the form. This shows up in your dashboard as 'how did people get into the queue?' and helps you understand whether your QR/kiosk strategy is working.
A queue with 80% walk_in is one where staff is doing all the work. A queue with 80% online or kiosk is one where self-service is winning. There's no right answer, but seeing the breakdown over time tells you whether to invest more in self-service signage or accept that face-to-face is your culture.
Phone-Optional Operations
Some businesses don't want to take phone numbers — privacy reasons, jurisdictional reasons, simplicity reasons. Set the queue's require_phone toggle to off and the Add form makes phone optional.
Without a phone, the entry has no SMS path. The customer needs to physically check back in (or watch a public-facing display, if you've set one up). For these operations, dashboards/displays are essential — see The Public Status Page for the customer-side view.