Opinion Today: What queuing culture tells us about society

If you want to try that trendy new sandwich, you'd better get in line.

View in browser|nytimes.com July 3, 2024 By Suein Hwang Business, Economics and Technology Editor, Opinion My husband and I recently drove by Breadbelly, one of the trendy cafes that have popped up in our San Francisco neighborhood. It's the kind of place with James Beard foodie cred, a cute parklet and an Asian-inspired menu that includes a breakfast sandwich dressed in fermented chili paste and a grilled cheese sandwich with shishito peppers. It also has another commonly seen feature of such places: a very long line that stretches down the block, one primarily consisting of young people wearing well-cut, casual clothing. At the time, I didn't give this line, or the numerous others that have been popping up all over the city, a lot of thought. I had even started standing in some of them myself, attracted, like so many other San Franciscans, to the combination of some kind of novel and slightly more affordable food proposition. It wasn't until I edited the food journalist Karen Stabiner's delightful essay about her remarkably long wait in line for a bagel sandwich that I realized the greater social and economic forces behind this dine-in-line trend — a trend that is birthing an entire new dining culture. "Standing in line provides a nice little one-hour ego boost because it confirms our judgment," she writes. "We are waiting for the very best bagels. We are in the know. We are even a bit savvier than the people stuck in line behind us." She adds that for those of us of a certain age, standing in a foodie line gives us a moment when we can mingle with younger people. "We are comrades in waiting, not prisoners of chronology." We can even feel a little satisfaction that we are endorsing an independent eatery in a landscape of chain restaurants. This is all yet another data point of American economic dynamism. At a time when prices are high, leave it to us to find a way to make waiting in line downright trendy. 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