WhatsApp for restaurants: bookings, the weekly menu, and one number the whole floor can answer
During service nobody can watch a phone. A guided flow takes the booking — date, time, covers, name — without anyone stepping off the floor. The weekly menu or offer goes out on a schedule you set once. And when someone does need to reply, it is from a shared inbox rather than whichever handset is nearest the till.
- A guided flow takes bookings while the floor is full, without anyone holding a phone
- During service
- The Friday menu repeats on the days you choose, with a record of how each run performed
- Set once
- One number, every server signed in as themselves
- Whole team
Who it's for
Restaurants, cafés and takeaways whose WhatsApp is busiest at exactly the moment nobody can answer it.
The worry it answers
"We're too busy during service to answer messages." That is precisely when the flow bot works hardest — it collects the booking and leaves you a tidy thread to confirm later.
A typical restaurant setup
Connect the number
The number on your listings and your shopfront, connected without losing the app on the phone.
Build the booking flow
Drag the questions into place — date, time, covers, name — and test the whole conversation yourself before service.
Schedule the menu
Build the campaign once and set it to repeat on the days you actually publish.
Put the regulars on the exclusion list
Suppliers and regulars who should always get a person, not a menu prompt.
Bookings without a booking system
A visual flow asks the questions in order and captures the answers — date, time, number of covers, name, any allergies. You build it by dragging blocks onto a canvas and, crucially, you can hold the whole conversation yourself in the tester before a single guest sees it. If a question comes up that the flow does not cover, it hands over to a person rather than looping.
The weekly send that sends itself
Menus, specials and "we still have tables for Sunday" are the same job every week. Build the campaign once and schedule it on the days you publish — with images or a PDF menu attached — and it repeats until you pause it. Each run keeps its own delivery and read figures, so after a month you know whether Thursday evening beats Friday morning.
- Send the menu as an image, a document, or text with buttons
- Repeat on chosen days of the week, with pause, resume and cancel
- Per-run delivery and read rates, so you can compare slots
- Audiences for regulars, lunch trade or a festival list
- De-duplication, so a regular on two lists is messaged once
One number, everyone on it
The phone behind the till stops being the bottleneck. Each person on the floor signs in as themselves, conversations carry an owner and a status, and internal notes let someone flag "table 4 called about the allergy" without the guest seeing it. If a booking needs a manager, it is assigned rather than shouted across the room.
Good to know
Where this feature stops, in plain words — so nothing here surprises you after you buy.
- Outside 24 hours of a guest's last message you need an approved template — so a menu blast to people who have not messaged recently is a template send, not free text.
- The booking flow captures answers into the conversation; it is not a table-management system and does not know your real availability unless your own system tells it.
- Up to 20 flows per account.
- Audiences are static lists — a regular does not add themselves.
- The web inbox shows the last 7 days; older conversations live in the mobile app.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can it actually take a booking?
It collects the booking details in a guided conversation and leaves you a clean thread to confirm. It does not know your real table availability unless you connect your own system to it through the API.
Can I send the menu as a PDF?
Yes — campaigns support documents, images and video, with a caption and a display filename.
What if a guest asks something the bot can't handle?
It hands over. The conversation is raised as an escalation and a person replies in the same thread, from the dashboard or from their phone.
Can I stop the bot answering my suppliers?
Yes. Put their numbers on the exclusion list with a reason and no bot or flow fires for them — their messages still reach the inbox.
Do I need a computer to run this?
No. The mobile app covers the inbox, campaigns and even the flow builder, and it works offline-first for a patchy connection.
Answer the phone that nobody can pick up
A booking flow during service, and a menu that sends itself.
See plansThe features this uses
Each one in detail, including what it does not do.
- Flow BuilderA drag-and-drop canvas for menus, questions, branches, media and handoffs. No code, and a tester on the same screen.
- Scheduled MessagesThe same campaign composer, set to fire later — once, or on chosen days of the week — with a performance record for every run.
- Shared InboxEvery conversation on the connected number, with an owner, a status, labels and internal notes. A helpdesk, not a chat mirror.
- Excluded NumbersNumbers the chatbot must never reply to. Their messages still arrive in the inbox — no bot fires.
- Mobile AppNot a cut-down viewer. Campaigns, the flow builder, team management and SLA policies are all there, and it works offline.
Other industries
The setup is similar even when the business is not.
- Online storesOrder confirmations and delivery updates from your own system, promotions to a list you own, and a shared inbox for the questions that follow.
- Clinics & practicesReminders from your own booking system, a shared inbox with response targets, and clear rules about what automation is allowed to answer.
- Estate agentsA bot that asks the qualifying questions, listings sent as media, and an inbox that works from the car.
- Schools & institutesAdmission updates, fee reminders and announcements to segmented parent lists — with proof of who received them.