By HELEN COMPSON

The beauty is in the simplicity of a new virtual queuing system, designed by a barber balancing the demands of drop-in appointments with the rigours of pandemic control.

Ellis Campbell, who owns EC & Co on Broad Street, Worcester, says it is so simple, he doesn't know why it hadn't been thought of before.

But when the Wall Street Journal got in touch to ask him for an interview, he suddenly got an inkling of the interest MyQsafe was generating. “That was pretty cool,” he laughed.

Ellis established his barber shop with two school friends in 2010, when he was just 21. The three of them have worked there together ever since.

The age-old tradition of the drop-in appointment (“I didn't want to switch to a booking system, because people don't turn up”) only really became a problem come Covid-19.

Overnight, the queues that spoke of a healthy business became the possible harbingers of ill-health.

“I didn't want to force people into having to commit to an appointment,” he said, “but I did need to create a bit of flexibility in the queuing system.”

After much investigation, his ultimate solution was inspired by the little hand-held, buzzer-alerts used by restaurant chain TGI Friday.

If would-be customers could book their place in the queue, but then go off and do whatever else they wanted to while waiting, they would return, Ellis reasoned. “By going to that barber shop, say, in the first place, they are committed, because they've gone out of their way to do so.”

All a customer need do is use their mobile phone to scan the MyQsafe QR code displayed and bob's your uncle, they are in the virtual queue. They are free to roam until they receive notification it's their turn in the chair.

Ellis and his MyQsafe business partner Dean Nicholas worked with Green Gorilla Apps on developing the system.

It went live on July 4th this year and it wasn't long before Ellis realised it would equally be of use to businesses outside of the hair and beauty industry it had originally been designed for.

“There has been interest from not only across the UK, but Europe and America too,” he said. “It's growing each day.

“Businesses in New York are interested, which is where the Wall Street Journal connection came from, I think.

“Industry and the way we operate is changing all the time now, particularly because of the pandemic, so all sorts of businesses - a lot of retail brands - are contacting us.”

MyQsafe is currently being trialled throughout Solihull's Touchwood shopping and entertainment complex, which houses more than 80 stores, 20 bars and restaurants and a nine-screen Cineworld cinema.

“They are looking at it with a view to managing the Black Friday and Boxing Day queues, among other things, so we really are edging into the retail side of things,” he said.

And, of course, the system has been well and truly tested at EC & Co barbers, where you will still find Ellis in his usual place on the shop floor.

He said: “Since we launched the app in July, it has registered 11,300 actions by around 8000 clients and out of them, only one person has failed to return for his appointment - and he came back the next day to tell us he'd dropped his mobile phone and smashed his screen.

“It just shows, once people have been to your premises and scanned the QR code, they feel committed.”

Ellis's ambition is to turn MyQsafe into such a recognised brand that when people see the logo and the QR code, they know instantly what to do.

“Queuing is such a British thing, but there is a better way of doing it now,” he said.

www.myqsafe.co.uk