Nowait
Nowait, operating as Yelp Guest Manager within Yelp, provides a cloud-based restaurant guest-management platform integrating AI voice answering, reservations, waitlist, kiosk, and table management for full-service and multi-location casual-dining restaurants across the United States.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersPittsburgh, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Nowait does
Nowait, founded in 2010 in Pittsburgh and now operated within Yelp, provides a cloud-based restaurant guest-management platform branded as Yelp Guest Manager. The unified system integrates AI voice answering (Yelp Host), reservations, waitlist, table management, kiosk self-service, and post-dining guest surveys, and is licensed primarily to full-service and multi-location casual-dining restaurants across the United States. Distribution is achieved both through a self-serve, product-led motion (including a 30-day free trial for Yelp Host) and through a direct enterprise sales motion targeting multi-location groups such as Brinker International. The product's differentiator is syndication of reservations across Yelp, Google, Apple Maps, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok from a single platform, paired with predictable monthly subscription pricing rather than per-cover fees.
The company monetizes through multiple recurring revenue streams: monthly SaaS subscriptions for Guest Manager, Yelp Host, Yelp Kiosk, and Guest Experience Survey; advertising revenue from Yelp Ads (paired with Guest Manager to drive 87% more Yelp Business Page traffic); and an Upgrade Package bundling seven premium page features. Named SMB customers include Snooze, Jinya Ramen Bar, Taste of Texas, Pluckers Wing Bar, The Boiling Crab, Gen Korean BBQ House, and MUN Korean Steakhouse, with Brinker International as a disclosed multi-location enterprise account. Since the 2016 Yelp investment, Nowait's product and engineering team operates as part of Yelp's restaurants business, leveraging Yelp's consumer network of roughly 2.4 million daily restaurant visitors — approximately 8x OpenTable's reach per Comscore Media Metrix 2023-2024 data — as a structural distribution and demand-generation advantage that independent reservation platforms cannot replicate.
Nowait firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Nowait
- Website
- https://nowait.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Nowait, operating as Yelp Guest Manager within Yelp, provides a cloud-based restaurant guest-management platform integrating AI voice answering, reservations, waitlist, kiosk, and table management for full-service and multi-location casual-dining restaurants across the United States.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Nowait industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Restaurant Management Software
- SIC
- Services-Facilities Support Management Services (8744)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Restaurant Reservations & Dining Booking Platforms (BPAMAIAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Restaurant/Table Reservation & Booking Engines (THALADAH), Dining Reservations & Restaurant Booking (HSACALAF)
Keywords
Where Nowait is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Pittsburgh
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Nowait business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Subscription Software Revenue: Monthly subscription pricing for restaurant software products including Guest Manager, Yelp Host, Yelp Kiosk, and Guest Experience Survey. Pay-per-cover fee model is not used—restaurants pay predictable monthly prices without cover fees.
- Yelp Ads Revenue: Advertising product that drives 87% more traffic to restaurant Yelp Business Pages when paired with Guest Manager
- Upgrade Package Revenue: Bundle of premium page features offered as an add-on for restaurants seeking enhanced visibility and customer engagement
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Yelp Host - AI answering service with 30-day free trial |
| Subscription | Monthly | Guest Manager - Reservations, waitlist, and table management |
| Subscription | Monthly | Yelp Ads - Restaurant advertising product |
| Subscription | Monthly | Upgrade Package - Bundle of seven premium page features |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
Nowait product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Nowait (now operating as Yelp Guest Manager and Yelp for Restaurants) provides a cloud-based restaurant guest management platform that combines an AI-powered 24/7 voice answering service, online reservations, waitlist management, and table management into a single integrated system for casual dining and full-service restaurants. The platform distributes reservations across Yelp, Google, Apple Maps, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and is sold primarily through monthly subscriptions without per-cover fees.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Yelp Host AI voice assistant that answers every restaurant call 24/7, handling reservations and waitlist requests, assisting with takeout orders, speaking in multiple languages, answering FAQs, and filtering spam calls. Integrates with Yelp Guest Manager for unified reservation and waitlist management.
- Yelp Guest Manager Cloud-based guest management system for restaurants that distributes reservations across Yelp, Google, Apple Maps, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, manages waitlists with up to 92% wait time quoting accuracy, and provides table management to maximize seatings.
- Yelp Kiosk Self-service waitlist kiosk that allows guests to add themselves to the waitlist on the go or at kiosk stations in the restaurant, integrating with Yelp Guest Manager.
- Guest Experience Survey Automated post-dining survey tool that sends surveys to guests to identify service trends, improve service quality, and increase guest retention for restaurants.
- Yelp Ads Restaurant-specific advertising product that drives traffic to a restaurant's Yelp Business Page, delivering 87% more traffic when paired with Guest Manager.
- Upgrade Package Bundle of seven premium page features offered as an add-on for restaurants seeking enhanced visibility, stronger impression, and improved conversion of new guests on Yelp.
Quantifiable outcome
- 87% more Yelp Business Page traffic for restaurants using Guest Manager paired with Yelp Ads vs. control group (90-day pre/post purchase study)
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Nowait
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Nowait technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Nowait partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.
- GooglecoreIntegration partnership enabling restaurant reservations to be distributed through Google Search and Maps. Yelp Guest Manager restaurants can be discovered and booked through Google, expanding reach beyond Yelp's own platform.
- Apple MapscoreIntegration enabling Yelp restaurant listings and reservation capabilities to appear on Apple Maps, providing iOS users access to Yelp-powered restaurant reservations.
- FacebooksupportingIntegration enabling restaurants to manage their presence and reservations across Facebook, reaching diners through social discovery channels.
- InstagramsupportingIntegration enabling restaurants to manage their presence and reservations through Instagram's visual discovery platform, reaching food-focused audiences.
- TikToksupportingIntegration enabling restaurants to manage their presence and reach younger diners through TikTok's video discovery platform.
- Reserve with GooglecoreIntegration with Google's reservation infrastructure enabling Yelp restaurant partners to be listed in Reserve with Google, reaching consumers directly in Google Search results. The Yelp and Reserve with Google collective monthly average visitors exceeds other reservation platforms.
Scale indicators13 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Nowait competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- OpenTable: OpenTable is the dominant restaurant reservation platform in North America and competes head-to-head with Nowait/Yelp Guest Manager on reservation booking, waitlist, and guest management for full-service restaurants. Both serve diners and restaurants with similar core functionality, though OpenTable uses a per-cover fee model while Nowait uses subscription pricing.
- Resy: Resy, owned by American Express, is a leading restaurant reservation and guest management platform with strong penetration in upscale and trendy dining. It competes directly with Nowait in reservation booking, waitlist, and table management, particularly among premium independent restaurants.
- Tock: Tock (owned by Squarespace/Block) is a reservation, ticketing, and prepaid experiences platform focused on chef-driven restaurants and special dining events. It competes with Nowait in reservation booking and guest management, particularly for restaurants with experiential or prepaid dining formats.
- SevenRooms: SevenRooms is a restaurant CRM, marketing, reservations, and guest experience platform that overlaps with Nowait's full guest management stack. Both target full-service and multi-location restaurants seeking unified front-of-house and guest data tools.
Broad incumbents
- Toast: Toast is a comprehensive restaurant POS and operations platform that increasingly bundles reservations, online ordering, and guest management. As a much larger incumbent with strong restaurant penetration, Toast is a broad competitor whose expanding feature set overlaps with Nowait's guest management suite.
- SpotOn: SpotOn provides restaurant POS, reservations, marketing, and guest engagement software as a broad platform for full-service restaurants. It competes with Nowait as part of a wider restaurant technology portfolio, particularly for SMB and mid-market operators.
- Olo: Olo is a digital ordering and guest engagement platform serving enterprise restaurant brands with online ordering, delivery, and loyalty. While primarily focused on digital ordering rather than reservations, Olo competes for restaurant technology wallet share adjacent to Nowait's guest management suite.
- Yelp: Yelp is the parent platform and consumer marketplace that acquired Nowait in 2016 and operates the Guest Manager and Yelp Host products under the Yelp for Restaurants brand. It is the broader incumbent providing the consumer demand engine that powers Nowait's restaurant subscription business.
Emerging players
- Hostme: Hostme is a reservation, waitlist, and table management app focused on SMB restaurants. It is a smaller, niche player with overlapping core functionality to Nowait's waitlist and table management products, often competing on price.
- Eat App: Eat App is a restaurant reservation and guest management platform popular among independent and upscale restaurants in the Middle East and Europe. It competes with Nowait in the same reservation/waitlist category with a global SMB focus.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Nowait social profiles
Digital presenceNowait financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Nowait leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Nowait funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds7 records
Investors8 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Nowait M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Nowait
What does Nowait do?
Nowait (now operating as Yelp Guest Manager and Yelp for Restaurants) provides a cloud-based restaurant guest management platform that combines an AI-powered 24/7 voice answering service, online reservations, waitlist management, and table management into a single integrated system for casual dining and full-service restaurants. The platform distributes reservations across Yelp, Google, Apple Maps, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and is sold primarily through monthly subscriptions without per-cover fees.
When was Nowait founded?
Nowait was founded in 2010. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Nowait based?
Nowait is headquartered in Pittsburgh, United States, in the North America region.
How does Nowait make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Subscription Software Revenue is the primary driver. The others are yelp Ads Revenue and upgrade Package Revenue.
Who are Nowait's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are OpenTable, Resy, Tock and SevenRooms. Broad incumbents are Toast, SpotOn, Olo and Yelp. Emerging players are Hostme and Eat App.
Does Nowait have an API?
No public API is recorded for Nowait.
What industry is Nowait in?
Nowait's product category is Restaurant Management Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAIAK, Restaurant Reservations & Dining Booking Platforms, with a secondary code of THALADAH, Restaurant/Table Reservation & Booking Engines. Its SIC code is 8744.