AI WhatsApp bot for restaurants: reservations, menu and events on your own number
In short
An AI WhatsApp bot for restaurants instantly answers the usual questions (hours, menu, location, reservations and events) with your restaurant's information, on the number you already use. When a guest wants to book something special or talk to someone, it alerts your team. Ikusa Media builds them as a Tech Provider approved by Meta.
What does a WhatsApp bot solve for a restaurant?
In a restaurant, WhatsApp fills up exactly when nobody can answer: mid-service, late at night and on weekends. And people almost always ask the same things. An AI assistant understands normal sentences, like “do you have a table for six on Saturday night?”, and answers with what you taught it.
- Hours, location, directions and parking.
- Menu, daily specials, vegetarian or gluten-free options and prices, if you choose to share them.
- Reservation requests: date, time, party size and name, ready for your team to confirm.
- Events and celebrations: birthdays, company dinners or weddings, with the right questions to prepare a quote.
- Takeout or delivery orders, if your process allows it.
Can I keep using the restaurant's WhatsApp on the phone?
Yes. With coexistence, the number your guests already have saved is connected to the official WhatsApp Business API and keeps working in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone. Your team can reply whenever they want and the assistant steps back from that conversation.
A few features change once it's connected, like broadcast lists and disappearing messages. Our WhatsApp coexistence guide explains them in detail.
Real case: Bianca, Villa Emma's assistant
Villa Emma is a restaurant and event venue in Los Altos de Sucre, Venezuela. We handle its brand, food photography, content, website with the menu and e-card, and we built Bianca, its AI WhatsApp assistant.
Villa Emma was the first business we built an AI WhatsApp assistant for, and that project is what led us to become a Meta Tech Provider. You can see the full project in its case study, in our work section.
How does the bot learn about your restaurant?
The assistant is only as good as the information you give it. Before connecting it, we write its knowledge base and rules with you:
- The menu, hours, reservation and group policies, and details about each space.
- The tone: how it greets, how it treats guests and the words your brand uses.
- What it must not say: changing prices, promises it can't keep or confirmations only a person can give.
- When it hands the conversation to your team and how it alerts them.
What happens when a guest wants to talk to a person?
The assistant never pretends to be human. If a guest asks for someone, or the conversation is a complaint, a large event or something it doesn't know, it takes the details, alerts your team and steps aside. In Europe, it also introduces itself as a virtual assistant from the first message, as the EU AI Act requires.
How much does a WhatsApp bot for a restaurant cost?
It comes down to three parts: what Meta charges for API messages, the initial setup of the assistant and monthly maintenance. That's why we don't quote a number without knowing your restaurant, how many messages you get and what you want it to handle. Our guide on what a WhatsApp chatbot costs breaks it down, and your proposal comes with a fixed scope and investment.
How we do it at Ikusa Media
An assessment of what guests ask, a knowledge base and tone, an official connection with coexistence, testing with real conversations and monthly tuning based on what your guests write. To feel it from the other side, message Sofía, our own assistant, on WhatsApp. And if you want one for your restaurant, tell us about it in the planner.