Customer service
WhatsApp for Restaurants: Table Bookings, Reminders and Guest Questions in One Chat
Guests already ask restaurants on WhatsApp for a table, the menu and opening hours. Here is how to turn those chats into confirmed bookings, with sample messages, template examples and the rules to follow.
MonoChat Team Updated: 6 min read
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WhatsApp for restaurants means using the messaging app your guests already have as your booking line and guest desk. Guests message to ask whether you have a table on Friday, whether the kitchen can handle a nut allergy or what time you close, and you can answer, confirm the booking, remind them the evening before and ask how the meal was, all in one chat. With the WhatsApp Business API, several staff members and an AI assistant can answer from the same restaurant number.
Restaurants are busiest exactly when nobody can pick up the phone. A chat can wait a few minutes for a reply, so guests are more likely to wait than to hang up. This guide covers the guest journey, sample messages and templates, the Meta rules that apply and how to set it up in MonoChat.
Why restaurants use WhatsApp
- Bookings without phone calls. A guest writes the date and party size once, and you confirm in a line.
- The same questions every day. Opening hours, parking, halal or vegetarian options, high chairs and private rooms can be answered in seconds, or by an assistant outside opening hours.
- Fewer empty tables. A reminder the evening before, with buttons to confirm, change or cancel, tells you early which tables will free up.
- Groups and events. Birthday dinners and company events need a back-and-forth about menus and deposits that suits a chat better than a call.
- Feedback while the meal is fresh. A short message the next day is the easiest moment to ask how it went.
WhatsApp across the guest journey
| Stage | What the guest needs | Message type |
|---|---|---|
| Question | Hours, menu, dietary options, location | Reply in the chat (guest wrote first) |
| Booking | Date, time, party size, confirmation | Reply, or utility template if outside 24 hours |
| Deposit (groups) | A way to pay and your cancellation terms | Reply with a payment link |
| Day before | A reminder with confirm, change or cancel | Utility template |
| After the meal | Thanks, a rating, a review link | Utility template, no offer in it |
| Weeks later | News, seasonal menu, events | Marketing template, only with marketing consent |
Questions and bookings
Most conversations start with the guest. When someone messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens and you can reply with any content. Ask only for what you need to seat them: date, time, number of guests and a name.
Guest: Hi, a table for 4 on Friday at 8pm? One of us is vegetarian.
Restaurant: Hello Maya, yes, we have a table for 4 at 8pm on Friday. We have several vegetarian mains, and the kitchen can adjust others on request. Shall I book it under Maya?A reply with up to three buttons, such as “Confirm”, “Another time” and “Talk to us”, is quicker to answer than a typed message. Our guide to WhatsApp interactive messages covers buttons, lists, Flows and carousels, and appointment booking on WhatsApp shows the same pattern for any slot-based business.
Menus and opening hours
Send the menu as a PDF or a link to your menu page, and keep opening hours and holiday closures in one place so every reply says the same thing. A QR code that opens a WhatsApp chat on the table, the door and the receipt lets guests reach you without searching for the number.
Deposits for large groups
For groups and events, ask for a deposit and state the cancellation terms before the guest pays. A payment link keeps card details out of the chat. See how to accept payments in WhatsApp chats.
The evening before
A reminder with “I will be there”, “Change” and “Cancel” buttons gives you the answer before the service starts. Tables released early can go to the next guest.
After the meal
Ask while the meal is fresh. Send happy guests to your review page and route unhappy ones to a manager before they write a public review. For question ideas, see our customer satisfaction survey questions.
Restaurant WhatsApp template examples
Templates are needed when you message a guest who has not written to you in the last 24 hours. Meta classes messages tied to a specific booking, with no promotional content, as utility. Anything that promotes or offers a discount is marketing, and adding a promotion to a utility message makes the whole template marketing.
Booking confirmation (utility)
Your table is confirmed, {{1}}. {{2}} guests, {{3}} at {{4}}. If your plans change, tap a button below.
[Change] [Cancel]Reminder the evening before (utility)
Hi {{1}}, we look forward to seeing you tomorrow at {{2}}, a table for {{3}}. Will you be there?
[I will be there] [Change] [Cancel]Deposit request for a group (utility)
Hi {{1}}, a deposit of {{2}} is needed for your booking on {{3}} to hold the table. You can pay securely with the link below.
[Pay now]After the meal (utility, no offer)
Thank you for dining with us, {{1}}. How was your evening? Tap a rating below, it takes a few seconds.
[Great] [Okay] [Not happy]Seasonal menu for past guests (marketing, only with marketing consent)
Hi {{1}}, our winter menu starts on {{2}}. Want to see the dishes and book a table?
[See the menu] [Stop promotions]A dessert offer added to the booking reminder turns the reminder into a marketing message, so send offers separately, to guests who agreed to them. For more wording, see our WhatsApp template message examples.
WhatsApp rules restaurants must follow
- Opt-in. Meta’s policy requires that guests gave you their number and agreed to hear from your business. Add a consent line to your booking form and ask in the chat when a guest books, and keep consent for booking messages separate from consent for offers. Our WhatsApp opt-in guide has wording you can adapt.
- Approved templates outside 24 hours. Free-form replies are only allowed within 24 hours of the guest’s last message.
- Per-message charges. Meta charges per delivered message by category and guest country. Since October 1, 2026, service replies inside the 24-hour window are charged too, after a monthly free tier per business phone number. The bulk messaging calculator shows the rates.
- Opt-out. Honor every request to stop.
- Allergy and health details. Guests may tell you about allergies in the chat. Use the information to serve them safely, and do not keep it longer than you need.
A practical setup for a restaurant
- Decide what the chat handles: table bookings only, or also events and delivery questions.
- Write your facts down once: opening hours, dinner service times, party sizes you can seat, menus, dietary options, parking and cancellation terms.
- Create the utility templates for confirmation, reminder, deposit and feedback.
- Put the QR code on the table, the door and the receipt, and a consent line on your booking form.
- Set who answers: the host during service, the manager for groups and complaints.
- Count bookings and no-shows from WhatsApp every week.
How to run restaurant guest messaging in MonoChat
MonoChat brings WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Telegram and web chat messages into one shared team inbox, so the host, the manager and the events team see the same conversation. Appointment booking and WhatsApp Flows let you collect date, time and party size in a guided form, and flows can send reminders and hand the chat to a person when a guest needs one.
For a restaurant inside a hotel, resort or travel business, the Hotel & Travel Assistant from the MonoChat Store can take the bookings for you. It books restaurant tables within your dinner hours and the guests you can seat, with booking times every 30 minutes or as you set, and it sends a reminder the evening before with I will be there, Change and Cancel buttons. A tap is answered straight away and your team is told. It answers in the guest’s own language, hands over to your team whenever a person is needed and never says a table is booked unless the booking exists. See the WhatsApp reservation assistant for how reservations work in chat.
The app is built for hotels, resorts and travel agencies, so a stand-alone restaurant builds the same journey from the tools above rather than installing it.
Start on the free Basic plan (one agent, one channel) at app.monochat.ai, and see the pricing page for larger teams.
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