WhatsApp for restaurants and cafés.
In short
Restaurants get the most from WhatsApp on bookings and orders — a table confirmation, a reminder on the day, an "order ready for pickup". Those are utility templates and cost a fraction of the marketing rate. Consent for offers has to be asked for separately: a number given to book a table covers that booking, not next week’s buffet. The usual mistake is broadcasting a weekend offer to everyone who ever booked, which is how a restaurant’s number gets reported.
Why it works here
The cheap messages are the valuable ones.
A diner checks WhatsApp on the way over; they do not check email. A confirmation there cuts the "is my table still on?" calls that arrive in the middle of service, which is exactly when nobody can answer the phone.
Where consent comes from
For bookings, the booking itself — the guest gave the number to reserve a table and expects to hear about it. For offers, a separate question: a line on the booking form, or a QR code on the table that opens a chat ("send JOIN for the weekend menu"). A guest who writes first has asked to hear from you, and their message opens the 24-hour window for your reply.
The full opt-in rulesThe messages
What to send, and what it costs.
Meta prices by category, so which category your message lands in matters more than almost anything else you can control. Utility is a small fraction of marketing.
How Meta charges-
Table for four confirmed, Saturday at 8pm.
UtilityAbout a booking they made. The cheapest category, and it replaces the double-check phone call.
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Reminder: your table is at 8pm today. Reply to change it.
UtilityFewer empty tables on a full night, and a reply opens the window to rearrange.
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Your takeaway order is ready for pickup.
UtilityThe same transaction, sent at the one moment it matters.
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This weekend: Sunday brunch is back.
MarketingPromotional. Marketing rate, marketing opt-in, opt-out button.
The mistake
Specific to this trade
Broadcasting to every booking
A restaurant builds a list from a year of reservations and sends the festival menu to all of it. Most of those people gave a number for one dinner, and the ones who do not remember you press Report rather than Stop. Reports lower a number’s quality rating, and a number with a low rating can be limited in how many people it may message. Send offers only to people who said yes to offers, and keep the booking list for bookings.
Do not take orders on WhatsApp that nobody can see during service. A message sitting unread in a busy kitchen is worse than a phone that rings out — set an away reply for the hours nobody is watching the inbox.
Other trades
Other use cases
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WhatsApp for salons and spas
How salons and spas use WhatsApp for appointment reminders and rebooking: which messages are utility, where consent comes from, and the "we miss you" mistake.
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WhatsApp for travel agencies
How travel agencies use WhatsApp for confirmations, vouchers and trip updates: what counts as utility, where consent comes from, and where documents belong.
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WhatsApp for retail shops
How shops with a counter use WhatsApp: order-ready and alteration messages, where consent comes from at billing, and why a bill number is not an opt-in.
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WhatsApp for ecommerce
How online shops use WhatsApp: which order messages are cheap utility templates, where opt-in comes from at checkout, and the abandoned-cart mistake to avoid.
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WhatsApp for clinics and doctors
How clinics use WhatsApp for appointment reminders without risking patient data: which messages are utility, where consent comes from, and what never to send.
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WhatsApp for coaching institutes and schools
How coaching institutes use WhatsApp for attendance and fees without spamming parents — and the consent problem: the student is not the payer.
Start
Free to open, and nothing to pay until you send.
Meta bills you directly for the messages. We charge a prepaid fee per message for the software — no subscription, no per-seat charge, no minimum top-up.
