Restaurants
WhatsApp bookings for restaurants, without picking up your phone during service
How to note tables, confirm and remind on WhatsApp while you are at the bar. A sample conversation and what the assistant must not do.
What you’ll get from this
- The booking comes in even when the dining room is full.
- The reminder asks for confirmation before the table is left empty.
- Menu, terrace and allergens are answered with what you have already written.
In a restaurant the phone rings at the worst moment: your hands are on a plate. WhatsApp does the same, except it also piles up. At 23:47, with the shutter down, “have you got a table on Saturday?” still comes in. If you don’t reply, the next day they’ve booked somewhere else.
What the assistant can do
- Note the party size, the time and the name.
- Offer only the slots you have marked.
- Ask for confirmation the day before.
- Alert you if nobody confirms, so you can decide whether to release the table.
- Answer menu, allergens, terrace and how to get there, with your own texts.
It doesn’t decide whether you seat twelve at a table for four. That’s still you.
Sample conversation
Fictional business. The time is late on purpose:
Customer, 23:46. Hi! Have you got a table for 4 on Saturday at 21:30?
Virtual assistant, 23:46. Hi! I’m the virtual assistant at La Plaza. Yes, we have a table on Saturday at 21:30 for 4. Whose name should I put it under?
Customer, 23:47. Laura’s
Virtual assistant, 23:47. Table booked. On Friday I’ll send you a reminder to confirm.
No-shows
A reminder doesn’t force anyone to come. It lets you know sooner. If they say no, you can offer the table to whoever was on the waiting list. If they don’t reply, you still get the alert and you decide.
Asking for the review the next day is another message, only to whoever came. Fake reviews are not incentivised.
What to prepare first
Lunch and dinner hours, how many tables you let people book online, which dishes or allergens you can actually confirm, and the sentence you want the assistant to introduce itself with. That’s enough to set it up. You don’t configure the phone.
If you want the full flow for the sector, it’s in restaurants. And if you don’t know whether it’s worth it, the form counts messages, calls and bookings separately.