Estimated wait time tells customers roughly how long they may wait. It is guidance rather than a guaranteed service time.
For service queues, WaitQ uses current capacity, parties waiting or being served, service duration, and scheduled bookings. If capacity is available, customers may see Less than 5 min. For pickup queues, the estimate uses the queue ahead and the recent pace at which orders are called.
Open Edit queue → General to set the Average wait time (minutes) baseline; it defaults to 5 minutes when left empty. Use the Estimated wait switch under Customization to turn the customer estimate on or off. Open Estimated wait to read How estimates work and preview its customer-facing display. The estimate updates as availability and the queue change; the baseline helps WaitQ when there is limited live data.
Tell customers when unusual conditions make the estimate unreliable. Accurate call, check-in, seating, no-show, and archive actions keep the live inputs useful.