Solutions
Social media and WhatsApp reservation automation for restaurants and cafés
A ready-made start for restaurants, cafés, bakeries and takeaway businesses: the dish of the day becomes a post draft every morning, the AI Chatbot answers menu, opening-hours and reservation questions on WhatsApp from your knowledge base, and reply drafts are prepared for Instagram comments. The “Restaurant & Café” sector pack in the setup wizard creates all of it as drafts; nothing runs until you activate it.
The challenge
Nobody can answer the phone or messages during service
“Do you have a table for four tonight?”, “How late are you open?”, “Any gluten-free options?” arrive at the busiest hour, and when the answer is late the guest messages another place.
Posting every day is not the kitchen's job
Photographing the menu of the day, writing a caption and publishing at the right time is a daily chore, and the first thing to be skipped on a busy day.
Comments stay unanswered
Thank-yous and questions on Instagram wait for days, and a sensitive complaint about hygiene or allergies gets noticed late.
Announcements go to lists without consent
Sending the weekend menu to everyone in the phone book is risky both under message-consent rules and for your WhatsApp number's quality rating.
How OrqLabs handles it
A menu-of-the-day post, with your approval
The pack's workflow runs every day at 10:30: the Content Creator picks a dish from the menu in your knowledge base that fits the season and the day and writes a short post for Instagram and Facebook, the Generate image node suggests a visual, you edit and approve the text at the Request approval step, and the Social Publisher schedules it. The agent is set up to quote a price only if it is the current one in the knowledge base and to use a single call to action per post (book, order or visit).
A WhatsApp reservation and question bot
The AI Chatbot answers menu, opening-hours, address and reservation questions on WhatsApp (and on Messenger if you connect your Facebook Page) from your knowledge base. For a reservation it collects date, time, party size, name and phone; it does not confirm availability itself, says the team will confirm shortly and hands the chat over. For allergen questions it only gives what the knowledge base says and leaves the rest to your team.
Reply drafts for Instagram comments
New comments are read every hour; the Community Manager drafts thank-yous for positive comments and answers to questions, and the drafts wait on the Approvals page. Comments containing escalation keywords such as food poisoning, allergy, hygiene or complaint are handed to your team in the Inbox.
A weekend announcement to the opted-in list
Every Thursday a WhatsApp announcement of at most 300 characters is written for the weekend menu or event. After you approve it, the Broadcast campaign node sends it only to contacts tagged
whatsapp-izinli, at 20 messages per minute. People who opted out are skipped in later sends.Special-day plan and weekly summary
On the 20th of each month the Campaign Planner prepares a campaign and content plan for next month's special days that fits your venue; in the pack it is set up to suggest experiences such as a tasting menu or live music rather than discounts. Every Monday the Report Writer gathers post performance, incoming messages and reservation requests, and comments in a short summary.
Example flow
Open the Setup wizard in the panel, let it read your website (or skip that step if you have none) and choose the “Restaurant & Café” sector; untick the workflows you don't want in the preview.
Setup creates everything as drafts. Fill in the draft knowledge-base topics: menu and prices, allergen information, opening hours and reservation rules, address and parking, takeaway, private events.
Connect your Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp Business (Cloud API) accounts.
Try the “menu of the day” workflow with a test run, review the draft, then activate it; approve each morning's post on the Approvals page.
Activate the WhatsApp reservation and question bot; your team confirms handed-off reservation requests from the Inbox.
Save guests who gave message consent with the
whatsapp-izinlitag; the Thursday announcement goes only to that list once you approve it.If your POS or reservation system can send a name and phone number to the workflow's webhook URL when a bill is closed, the post-visit review workflow sends a thank-you and your Google review link three hours later.
Things to keep in mind
The bot collects the request, it does not book a table
The AI Chatbot does not write into a reservation system or confirm availability; it gathers the details and hands the request to your team. Because the Instagram connection does not currently request the messaging permission, the bot does not answer Instagram DMs; on Instagram you use publishing and comment replies.
The WhatsApp 24-hour window and message consent
If the guest has not written to you in the last 24 hours, WhatsApp only allows a Meta-approved template message; for announcements and review requests, enter your approved template name in the Send message and Broadcast campaign nodes. In Turkey, commercial messages to consumers need prior consent and an İYS record; once you connect your İYS account, each recipient's consent is checked with İYS before a broadcast. Details: WhatsApp templates and the 24-hour window.
The pack's rules
The sector pack gives the agents these rules: prices and offers come only from the knowledge base; claims such as “gluten-free” or “sugar-free” use verified information only; alcoholic drinks are not advertised and no priced alcohol promotion is posted; guest photos and reviews are not shared without permission. Dish photos should be real; AI images are meant for atmosphere and backgrounds. Every post still goes through your approval before it is published.
Agents used
Content Creator
Platform-native posts, captions, threads and calendars
Social Publisher
Schedules and publishes approved content at the best times
AI Chatbot
Auto-replies on WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger and more
Community Manager
Replies to comments and mentions in your brand voice
Campaign Planner
Turns a goal into a multi-channel campaign plan
Report Writer
Weekly digest of everything the agents did
Ready-made templates
Frequently asked questions
Does the bot confirm the reservation itself?
No. The bot collects date, time, party size, name and phone and hands the chat to your team, who confirm the table. This rule comes preset in the agent's instructions in the sector pack.
Are posts published without me seeing them?
The pack's social media workflow has an approval step before publishing; you can edit, approve or reject the text. For comment replies, auto-reply is off by default and drafts wait on the Approvals page.
Does the bot also answer Instagram messages?
Not at the moment. The Instagram connection does not request the messaging permission by default; the bot runs on WhatsApp and Telegram, and on Messenger if you connect your Facebook Page. On Instagram, posts are published and comments are answered.
How does the review request work if I have no POS system?
That workflow starts with a Webhook trigger and expects your system to send a name and phone number. Without such a system you can leave the workflow as a draft or untick it in the preview; the rest of the pack is not affected.
Do I have to pay to try it?
Start free, no credit card required. The setup wizard's preview step shows an estimated monthly cost for the workflows you select, and nothing is charged until you activate them.
Get started with OrqLabs
Build your first workflow today
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