The Queue Index -- Press Kit

If there's no queue,
is it even good?

Key facts, story angles, copyable quotes, draft release, and media contact.

718 Calls made
48 Restaurants called
6 Months of Saturdays
1 Question per call
0 Bookings required

The Story

1
The Observation
"The British queue is not a problem. The queue is the review."

No other country treats a queue the way Britain does. You don't queue because you have to. You queue because you know something good is happening at the front of it. The Queue Index set out to measure that knowledge and publish it every week.

2
The Method
"One AI. One question. 50 restaurants. Six months of Saturdays."

From March to September 2026, an AI voice agent called up to 50 of London's most iconic restaurants on Saturdays at 1pm and asked one question: if I walked in right now, how long would I wait? The answer was a number. The ranking was the result. The dataset is the first of its kind.

3
The Precedent
"Guinndex phoned thousands of Irish pubs to price a pint. We asked London how long the queue is."

The Queue Index was inspired by Guinndex, Matt Cortland's project that used an AI voice agent to phone thousands of Irish pubs and map Guinness prices. The method was proven. The application was entirely new. Nobody had thought to measure walk-in demand systematically until now.

Story Angles

Technology
For six months, an AI called London restaurants on Saturdays and asked how long the queue was. 718 calls later, here is the data.

The Queue Index uses ElevenLabs conversational AI to make natural-sounding calls to London's busiest restaurants. Most staff answered it like any other caller; a few twigged it was an AI. 29 out of 42 answered in Week 1, and 313 calls over six months returned walk-in data.

Culture
Britain's most honest restaurant guide has no critics, no stars, and no bookings. Just a queue.

Michelin measures quality with trained inspectors. OpenTable measures demand with reservation data. Neither measures the thing that actually tells you a restaurant is worth going to: the queue outside. The Queue Index did, on Saturdays, for free.

Data
The first open dataset for walk-in demand in London restaurants -- built one Saturday call at a time.

Over six months, the project built a dataset that had never existed before: real-time walk-in demand at 48 London restaurants, measured at the same moment on Saturdays. For the first time, you can see which restaurants were consistently busiest, and when.

Business
From Guinness prices to queues: borrowing an Irish AI idea to build London's most useful restaurant data.

After Guinndex used an AI voice agent to map Guinness prices across Irish pubs, The Queue Index applied the same idea to walk-in demand in London. The pattern is clear: call the people who actually know, ask the one question that matters, publish the result.

Human Interest
The London restaurants that told an AI: "there is about 20 people in the queue outside, sir."

The best calls went beyond the question. Noble Rot offered a little perch and a glass of wine while you wait. The Quality Chop House offered to save a counter seat. E. Pellicci counted the queue on the pavement. You can't get that from a star rating.

Quotes -- Mike Litman

"If there's no queue, is it even good? That's not a joke. That's the data question."
Mike Litman -- The Queue Index
"Michelin measures quality. We measure desire. They send critics. We send a phone call."
Mike Litman -- The Queue Index
"In week one, 69% of London's best restaurants answered a Saturday afternoon cold call from an AI. That's the most honest market research you'll ever read."
Mike Litman -- The Queue Index
"OpenTable tracks reservations. Google tracks reviews. Nobody tracked what happens when you just show up. Until now."
Mike Litman -- The Queue Index

Data

Six months, March to September 2026

Measure Total
Call days (23 Saturdays, 1 Sunday) 24
Calls made 718
Calls that returned walk-in data 313 44%
Restaurants called 48

Week 1, 28 March 2026

Call outcome Week 1 Rate
Answered + gave wait time 29 69%
No answer / voicemail 11 26%
Answered + declined to give 2 5%
Total restaurants called 42 100%

Week 1 data: 42 of 50 calls connected. Target list included Dishoom, Noble Rot, Tayyabs, Hawksmoor, and other iconic London venues. Every week is archived at thequeueindex.com.

Press Release

AI voice agent called London restaurants on Saturdays for six months to build Britain's first walk-in demand index

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

LONDON -- A project used AI voice technology to build something that had never existed before: a weekly dataset of walk-in demand at London's most popular restaurants.

From March to September 2026, The Queue Index called up to 50 restaurants on Saturdays at 1pm and asked one question: if I walked in right now, how long would I wait? It made 718 calls to 48 restaurants, and every week's results are free to read at thequeueindex.com.

Created by Mike Litman, a digital strategist and builder based in London, the project used ElevenLabs conversational AI and Twilio to make natural-sounding calls. In Week 1, 29 of 42 connected venues (69%) answered and gave a wait time. Restaurants including Dishoom, Noble Rot, Tayyabs, and Hawksmoor were among those called.

The Queue Index was inspired by Guinndex, Matt Cortland's project that phoned thousands of Irish pubs to map Guinness prices. That project demonstrated that AI voice agents could generate genuinely useful, scalable data by asking the people who actually know. The Queue Index applied the same method to the most British question imaginable: is the queue worth it?

Litman said: "Michelin measures quality. We measure desire. They send critics. We send a phone call."

The project is free to explore at thequeueindex.com, with every week archived. Media enquiries: hello@mikelitman.me

-- ENDS --

Notes to editors: Mike Litman is a strategist, builder and published author based in London (BCS, 2024). BIMA 100 Tech Pioneer. He has worked with Nike, Google, Unilever and McLaren across 15+ years in digital. The Queue Index is one of 20+ AI-native projects he has shipped. Site: thequeueindex.com

Social Copy

Content

Blog
What Happens When You Call 50 London Restaurants With an AI Voice Agent
mikelitman.me/blog/what-happens-when-ai-calls-50-restaurants.html
 Deck
Week 1: The Queue Index -- presentation deck
mikelitman.me/week1
 Live
The Queue Index -- six months of rankings
thequeueindex.com
 Data
Week 1 full results -- all venues and wait times
thequeueindex.com/week-1
Exclusive for Media

We can provide: raw call transcripts for any week, a bespoke ranking for any London neighbourhood or cuisine, and an on-record interview with the founder. We can also share call recordings. Contact: hello@mikelitman.me

About

Mike Litman is a strategist, builder and published author based in London (BCS, 2024). BIMA 100 Tech Pioneer. He has worked with Nike, Google, Unilever, and McLaren across 15+ years in digital. The Queue Index is one of 20+ AI-native projects he has shipped.

mikelitman.me LinkedIn thequeueindex.com

For interviews, quotes, call transcripts, or custom rankings:

hello@mikelitman.me

Response within 24 hours.

mikelitman.me LinkedIn thequeueindex.com