WhatsApp for Restaurants: Orders, Bookings and Reviews

Five ways restaurants use WhatsApp

The two rules that shape everything

Rule 1: the 24-hour window

Meta’s pricing documentation explains that when a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it you can reply with normal messages: text, photos of the menu, a PDF, a location pin. Outside it, the API only lets you send a Meta-approved template.

Rule 2: utility or marketing

Templates come in categories. Meta’s categorisation rules put non-promotional messages about the customer’s own order or booking in Utility, and anything promotional in Marketing. An order update with a discount code tucked in is treated as Marketing. In India from 1 October 2026, Meta charges ₹0.115 per utility message and ₹0.8631 per marketing message, plus 18% GST, billed by Meta directly; your replies within 24 hours of a customer’s message are free for the first 1,000 each month, then ₹0.115 (full India rates). Details on choosing the category: Marketing vs Utility vs Authentication.

1. Menu and order enquiries

Most restaurant chats start with the same questions: are you open, what’s on the menu, do you deliver here. An automatic first reply answers the common ones at once and tells the customer when a person will pick up.

You can also put your menu inside WhatsApp as a catalog: dishes with photos and prices that customers browse and add to a cart in the chat, then send to you as an order (how to set up a WhatsApp catalog). One thing to know before you list everything: WhatsApp’s commerce policy treats alcohol as a regulated vertical, and its Business Policy prohibits commerce experiences that sell regulated verticals. Keep drinks with alcohol out of the catalog.

Example: first reply to a new chat

Hi! 👋 Welcome to Spice Route Café.
We're open 12–3 pm and 7–11 pm, every day.
Reply:
1 for today's menu
2 to book a table
3 for delivery areas

Example: answering a delivery question

Yes, we deliver to Kakkanad 🛵 Delivery takes about 40 minutes and is free above ₹500. Tap our catalog to order, or send your order here and we'll confirm the total.

2. Table bookings and reminders

A booking needs four answers: name, guests, date and time. Typed, that’s several messages each way; as a short form inside WhatsApp (a WhatsApp Flow), it’s one screen the customer fills in seconds, even at 11 pm.

A person still checks the table plan and confirms. The confirmation goes out as a normal message if the customer wrote within the last 24 hours. A reminder on the day usually falls outside that window, so it must be an approved utility template.

Example: booking confirmation (normal message)

Thanks Asha! Your table for 4 is confirmed for Saturday, 8 pm. We've noted the window seat request. Reply here if your plans change. 😊

Example: reminder on the day (utility template)

Hi {{1}}, a reminder of your table for {{2}} at {{3}} today at {{4}}. Reply YES to confirm or CHANGE if you need a different time.

3. Order-ready and delivery updates

For pickup and delivery orders taken on WhatsApp, the customer has just written to you, so the window is open and a plain message works: no template, no approval. For orders that came in by phone or your own website, the first update has to be a utility template, and it must stay purely about the order.

Example: ready for pickup (normal message)

Your order is ready! 🍛 2 × Chicken Biryani, 1 × Raita. Show this chat at the counter. See you in a few minutes.

Example: out for delivery (utility template)

Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} is out for delivery and should reach you in about {{3}} minutes. Our rider will call on arrival.

4. Reviews after the meal

Ask for a Google review the same evening, while the meal is fresh. A button that opens your review page removes the hardest step: finding you on Google.

Ask everyone. Google’s review content policy treats discouraging negative reviews or selectively asking only happy customers as fake engagement. You can still check how the meal went first, as long as every guest gets the link and an unhappy one also hears from the manager.

Example: review request

Hi {{1}}, thank you for dining with us tonight! 🙏 How was everything? If you have a minute, a Google review helps other food lovers find us.

Sent the same evening to a customer who chatted with you that day, this can be a normal message with a link button. Sent later, it needs a template; Meta treats feedback requests tied to a specific order as utility, but wording that persuades or promotes is classed as marketing, so keep it plain.

5. Festive offers to opted-in regulars

Festivals are when restaurants fill up and when an offer to regulars pays off. These are marketing templates: they go only to opted-in customers and should carry an opt-out line. Send to a segment, such as dine-in regulars, rather than everyone. More festive wording: Diwali messages for business and 30+ template examples.

Example: festive offer (marketing template)

Happy Onam, {{1}}! 🌼 Our Onam Sadya is back on 4 and 5 September, dine-in and takeaway. Reply BOOK to reserve a table. Reply STOP to opt out of offers.

The free app or the API?

A small café where the owner answers every chat can manage with the free WhatsApp Business app. It breaks when several people must answer one number during the dinner rush, or when you want booking forms, automation and campaigns with delivery reports. That’s when restaurants move to the WhatsApp Business API (app vs API compared).

How Wabot handles this

• Instant first replies. Set an auto response for new chats and control how often the same customer receives it, so regulars aren’t greeted every time. Optionally, an AI agent trained on your website, prices and FAQs answers routine questions any time of day; AI usage is pay-as-you-go from your Wabot wallet. (Auto-reply messages you can copy)
• One shared inbox for the owner, the counter and the kitchen manager, so the right person picks up the chat.
• Booking requests by form. A workflow sends a WhatsApp Flow form (for example name, number of guests, preferred date and preferred time) built in Automation → WhatsApp flows when someone writes book, echoes the answers back, tags the chat and gives the front desk a follow-up task to confirm within an hour. Wabot doesn’t pick the table or send a reminder on its own: there is no date trigger, so for a reminder use the chat’s Schedule… option (the booking workflow, step by step).
• Menu to paid order. A workflow sends your Meta catalog inside the chat when a customer asks, and when they order from it, sends a payment request with a Review and Pay button through Razorpay, in INR. Orders also show up under Commerce → Orders with their payment status (catalog to payment workflow).
• Review links in one tap. A Call to Action message carries a button that opens your Google review page, and a workflow can send it when a card moves to a stage on your pipeline (the review request workflow).
• Festive campaigns. Send an approved template to the contacts, groups or tags you pick, now or scheduled, with a per-contact report of sent, delivered, read and failed (how a campaign works).

The shared inbox and campaigns are on the Starter plan (₹840/month + GST); workflows such as the booking form and catalog-to-payment flow are on the Base Plan (₹9,240/year + GST). You can sign up and connect your number on the Free plan; connecting a number starts a 15-day Base Plan trial. Meta’s per-message charges are billed by Meta directly, with no Wabot markup.

Frequently asked questions

Can a restaurant take orders on WhatsApp?

Yes. Customers can send orders as messages, or browse a WhatsApp catalog of your dishes and send a cart. On the API, a workflow can reply to a catalog order with a payment request, so the customer pays in the chat. Keep alcohol out of the catalog: WhatsApp’s commerce policy prohibits selling it.

Do I need a template to tell a customer their order is ready?

Not if they ordered on WhatsApp within the last 24 hours: a normal message is fine inside the customer service window. If the order came by phone or website, or the window has closed, the first message must be an approved utility template about that order only.

Can I send festive offers to everyone who has eaten at my restaurant?

Only to people who gave you their number and agreed to receive offers on WhatsApp. Offers are marketing templates, cost ₹0.8631 each in India plus GST, and should include a way to opt out.

How much does WhatsApp cost for a restaurant?

The Business app is free. On the API, Meta charges per message in India: ₹0.115 for utility (confirmations, reminders, order updates) and ₹0.8631 for marketing, plus 18% GST; replies within 24 hours are free for the first 1,000 each month. Your provider’s plan is separate; Wabot’s Starter plan is ₹840/month + GST.