‘People waited 24 hours for a potato!’: how viral queues help – and harm – restaurants

It has become common for people to wait in long lines for cafes, bakeries and ice-cream shops. But why? And what do the owners think? At 9. 45am on a warm Saturday in September, a queue snakes down the pavement in Notting Hill, west London.

Stretching for 20 yards past office blocks, estate agents and cafes, the line is waiting peacefully for an unusual morning snack: frozen yoghurt. The purveyor is the dessert shop Yo-Chi , which opened only a fortnight ago, one of the many hospitality businesses making queueing an increasingly common part of the British dining experience. “We wait in line for everything now,” says 23-year-old Hannan Mahamud as she stands midway down…