diff --git a/src/Service/UniqueIdGenerator.php b/src/Service/UniqueIdGenerator.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c0a91d0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Service/UniqueIdGenerator.php
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace App\Service;
+
+use Doctrine\ORM\EntityManagerInterface;
+
+class UniqueIdGenerator
+{
+    protected $em;
+
+    public function __construct(EntityManagerInterface $em)
+    {
+        $this->em = $em;
+    }
+
+    public function generateUniqueId($str_length)
+    {
+        // TODO: retry until we get a unique id
+
+        return substr(md5(time()), 0, $str_length);
+    }
+}