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AI agents for restaurants: orders and bookings on WhatsApp

How an agent takes delivery orders and bookings and answers menu questions at peak times, and what should stay with your team.

· 5 min read

Your restaurant's busiest hours are also when WhatsApp fills up: lunch, dinner and weekends. Your team is busy with tables and the kitchen, and messages wait. A hungry customer doesn't wait long. They open a delivery app and order from somewhere else.

An agent won't cook or serve, but it replies to every message instantly, at any hour.

1. Menu and price questions

Give the agent your menu as written text, not only as a picture: dish name, price, ingredients and sizes. Then it can answer questions like "do you have vegetarian options?" or "how much is the family meal?".

Remember: whenever you change the menu or prices, update the agent the same day.

2. Bookings

The agent collects everything your team needs in one message: date, time, number of guests, name, and any special occasion. Then it either books directly in your reservation system or sends the request to a staff member to confirm.

A few hours before the booking, it sends a reminder with an option to confirm or cancel, so you know early if a table will be free.

3. Delivery and pickup orders

The agent writes down the full order, adds up the total, asks for the customer's location pin, and sends a clean order to the kitchen or cashier. For payment, choose cash on delivery or a secure payment link.

Ordering directly on WhatsApp means the customer deals with you, not with a middleman app.

4. Complaints

Complaints don't stay with the agent. Its job is to apologise politely, record the details and pass the chat immediately to a manager, with a clear summary.

What should stay with your team

  • Food allergy questions: the agent repeats only what's written on the menu and never guesses. When in doubt, it hands over to a person.
  • Large orders and events: these need planning and negotiation by a person.
  • Any promise of a discount or refund: a management decision, not a software one.

Before you start

  1. Write out your full menu with prices.
  2. Make sure the agent uses the official WhatsApp Business platform, so your number isn't blocked.
  3. Test it with twenty real orders from your past chats before going live.

See agents suited to restaurants, try the "Find your agent" quiz, or request a custom agent for your restaurant.

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