SigniCafe · canteen pilot
Lunch,withouttheline.
You already know what you want at 12:30. The only thing standing between you and it is thirty other people who also know what they want. Order from your desk instead, and walk down when it’s actually ready.
- A real estimate, not a guess. It counts the orders already ahead of you and says so.
- Your phone tells you when. No hovering, no checking, no queue that hasn't moved.
- No card, no wallet, no gateway. You pay the vendor at the counter, exactly like today.
Sent
Your order lands on the counter screen.
Welcome back
The username you were given, and your password.
There’s no sign-up button, and that’s on purpose. Accounts start from an invite link, so ask whoever runs this for one, or for a reset if your password has gone missing.
How it works
Four steps, and you are only present for two of them.
01
Order from your desk
Pick what you want. You see the wait before you commit, and it counts the orders already ahead of you, so it is a real number and not a hopeful one.
02
It lands on the counter screen
The cook accepts it and starts cooking. Nothing is charged, and nothing needs to be: this is the same trust the canteen already runs on.
03
Your phone tells you when
Not before. The point is that you keep working instead of standing in a queue watching a pan.
04
Walk down and pay
Cash or UPI at the counter, exactly like today. The app never touches your money.
Questions
The awkward ones first.
Do I pay in the app?
No. There is no gateway and no card on file. You pay the vendor at the counter when you collect, cash or UPI, exactly as you do now. Handling money would mean charges on both sides, refunds, reconciliation and a pile of paperwork, and none of that gets lunch to you any faster.
What if I order and do not turn up?
The food is already cooked and the vendor is out of pocket for it. The counter can flag the order, and that flag reaches the admins. So if your plans change, still walk down and settle it. The whole thing runs on people doing that.
Why can I not sign myself up?
Because an email address only proves a mailbox exists. An admin creates an invite for a named person and sends the link to them directly, so we know who is on the other end of it. It also means the name the counter calls out is one a human typed, not one a form guessed.
How accurate is the wait estimate?
It is the longest dish in your order plus the queue already ahead of it. Every order remembers what it promised, and we check promised against actual with the vendor. An estimate nobody checks is worse than no estimate at all.
Who can see my orders?
The counter sees your name and what you ordered, because they have to cook it and call it out. The admins see order history and anything that got flagged. Nothing is sold, nothing leaves the office, and your history is deleted on its own once the retention period is up.
Who is behind this?
A few of us who eat downstairs, building it in our own time. It is not a company product, nobody official runs it, and it is not plugged into any work system. Just the canteen, a menu, and a queue we would all rather skip.