Guide · Restaurants and cafés
How to take table bookings and takeaway orders on WhatsApp
Use one WhatsApp Business number just for the restaurant, keep a current menu with prices ready to send, and repeat every booking and order back to the customer in writing: name, time, items and total. Send a UPI payment link with each takeaway confirmation, and keep a single booking register so two people never promise the same table.
In short
- A separate WhatsApp Business number keeps orders out of your family chats and on one phone at the counter.
- A dated menu with prices ends the “paneer tikka kitne ka hai?” back-and-forth.
- Every booking and order should be confirmed in writing before anyone holds a table or starts cooking.
- One shared booking register, not three phones, is what stops double-booked tables.
- A UPI payment link with the confirmation cuts down on takeaway orders nobody collects.
Why take restaurant orders and bookings on WhatsApp
Your regulars already message you. Delivery apps take a commission on every order and keep the customer to themselves. A takeaway or a table booked on your own WhatsApp costs nothing extra, and the customer is yours to tell when the Diwali thali or the winter menu is out.
The hard part is doing it during service. At 8:30 pm on a Saturday, nobody has time to read twenty messages, check the tables and type out prices. So you need a routine that is quick to follow.
How to set up WhatsApp Business for a restaurant
Set it up properly once, and the rush gets easier:
- Use the WhatsApp Business app on a number only for the restaurant, on one phone that stays at the counter.
- Fill in the profile: address with a map pin, opening hours, and a line like “Table bookings and takeaway orders on this number.”
- Save quick replies for the menu, timings, location and payment details.
- Use labels like “New order”, “Paid”, “Ready” and “Booking” so anyone at the counter can see what is pending.
- Keep the menu as clear photos or a PDF with prices and the date on it, and replace it everywhere when prices change.
- Print the number on bills, parcels, your Google profile and the board outside.
How to take table bookings on WhatsApp
Decide your rules once: how many tables you keep for bookings, how long you hold a table after the booking time, such as 15 minutes, and whether big weekend groups pay an advance.
Ask for the same details every time: name, number of people, date, time and any occasion, like a birthday. Then confirm: “Table for 6, Saturday 9 pm, in the name of Sharma. We hold the table for 15 minutes. See you!”
Keep every booking in one register, on paper at the counter or in one shared sheet. Double bookings happen when the owner, the manager and the cashier each take bookings on their own phones. On Diwali, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day, book fixed slots, such as 7 pm, 8:30 pm and 10 pm, and say so in the confirmation. For big groups, a short check on the afternoon of the booking tells you by 6 pm if plans have changed.
How to take takeaway orders on WhatsApp without mistakes
Order mistakes usually come from guessing what the customer meant. If someone writes “2 paneer, 4 roti, 1 dal”, ask: butter masala or kadai? Butter roti or plain? Half or full? Then send the whole order back with prices and a pickup time:
“1 Paneer Butter Masala (full) ₹320, 4 Butter Roti ₹160, 1 Dal Makhani (half) ₹180. Total ₹660. Ready by 8:15 pm. Pay here: [UPI link].”
Write the customer’s name and pickup time on the parcel, and mark Jain, no onion-garlic and extra-spicy orders clearly. If your own staff deliver, ask for the full address with a landmark or a live location, and give an honest delivery time.
Payment, big orders and running out
Send a UPI link or QR with every confirmation. A paid order gets collected; an unpaid one from an unknown number sometimes does not. For regulars you know, payment at pickup is fine. For a kitty party or an office lunch for 30, take an advance and confirm the menu and time in writing the day before.
Few things annoy a WhatsApp customer more than paying and then hearing the mutton is finished. Before evening service, check the items that run out most often and tell whoever answers WhatsApp what is off tonight.
Doing this on WhatsApp with Kalki
Answering on your restaurant’s own WhatsApp number is the front desk, a custom add-on for Kalki for Business that the goKalki team sets up with you. It answers menu and price questions from the menu you give it, sends your menu photos, takes the takeaway order, confirms it with the customer and puts it into your book. Anything it cannot answer comes to you. Talk to us at hello@gokalki.com to see what your restaurant needs.
Kalki for Business keeps the table register. Tell it each booking in one message and it knows what is already booked, so when a customer asks for 9 pm you can offer the next free time: “9 baje full hai, 9:30 khali hai.” It reminds you before the booking and can write the customer’s reminder for you to send in one tap. In the same book it keeps count of the items you name, like paneer or mutton, and warns you before they run out.
Kalki handles orders and bookings on your own WhatsApp number only; it does not connect to Zomato or Swiggy. Kalki for Business is ₹1,999 a month with 3,000 messages, and the first 3 days are free, with no card needed.
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Meet Kalki for BusinessQuestions
Can I take restaurant orders on normal WhatsApp?
Yes, but WhatsApp Business is better for a restaurant. It is free and gives you a business profile, quick replies for the menu, and labels to track orders.
How do I stop fake takeaway orders on WhatsApp?
Confirm every order in writing and send a UPI payment link with the confirmation. Start cooking once it is paid, except for regulars you know.
How long should a restaurant hold a booked table?
Pick a rule, such as 15 minutes, and say it in every confirmation. On very busy nights like New Year’s Eve, fixed time slots work better than open-ended bookings.
Can Kalki take orders on my restaurant’s existing WhatsApp number?
That is what the front desk does, a custom add-on for Kalki for Business. The goKalki team sets it up on your restaurant’s own number to take orders from your menu, confirm them and put them in your book; talk to us at hello@gokalki.com. It does not connect to Zomato or Swiggy.