A WhatsApp AI agent for your cafe: what it does and where it stops

Start with what customers ask. Regulars ask what the special is today, whether you have oat milk or gluten-free options, whether they can pre-order for pickup, and whether the space is free for a small meeting. An agent answers all of that from your own information. Then give it the work cafes repeat every day:

1. First visit — customer enrolled in loyalty — Scan your QR code, customer gets WhatsApp message with their points balance instantly.
2. Every visit earns points via WhatsApp — Points auto-calculated and notified. No stamp cards to lose or forget.
3. New menu & offers broadcast — Send new arrivals and weekend specials to all loyalty members in one click.
4. Reward redeemed → next-visit nudge — When a reward is redeemed, the next offer is scheduled automatically.

The agent runs these on WhatsApp in the customer's language, day and night, and writes what it did back to the contact record so staff see the full history.

1. The menu with prices, sizes, milk options and dietary tags.
2. Practical details — hours, Wi-Fi, power outlets, pet policy, parking, outdoor seating.
3. Loyalty rules — stamps, rewards, expiry.
4. Cake and catering — sizes, flavours, lead times, deposit.
5. Events — what is on and how to join.

An AI agent is only as accurate as what you give it. On Reputoo it answers from your knowledge base — pages crawled from your website, documents and price lists you upload, and policies you write down — rather than from general knowledge. Two rules keep it right:

• If it is not in the knowledge base, the agent says it will check and hands over, rather than guessing.
• Prices, timings and policies live in one place. Update the source and the agent's answers change with it.

It also needs to see the records your cafe already keeps — what to connect: A POS with a customer list and, often, a delivery-app tablet; the POS is where loyalty data should sync to.

"Large cappuccino with almond milk, extra hot, and whatever sandwich is vegetarian" is a complete order to the agent: it maps each part to the menu, asks which vegetarian sandwich if there are several, confirms the total and a ready time, and sends it to the counter.

These are the moments customers remember, and they are worth a human:

• Customers visit once, never return. They loved the oat latte. They just forgot you exist by next weekend. No reason to come back specifically.
• New menu items reach nobody. You launched a seasonal special. Instagram showed it to a fraction of followers. WhatsApp reaches them directly.
• Regulars drift away without anyone noticing. A daily customer stops coming and nothing flags it. By the time you notice, they have a new cafe.

The agent can open each of these conversations and collect the details; a person should close anything involving a complaint, an exception to policy, or money that has not been agreed. Handover goes to the shared inbox with the full conversation attached.

The same agent that answers on WhatsApp can answer your cafe's phone line as Vajra, Reputoo's voice agent, so a customer who calls gets the same answers as one who messages. It speaks 36 languages and switches to the caller's.

The agent answers from the menu's tags only. If an item is not tagged, it says it will check. Severe allergies go to a person, because cross-contamination in a busy kitchen is something only staff can speak to honestly.

The agent collects every detail — date, time, size, flavour, eggless, message, reference photo — checks the lead time, sends the deposit link, and passes the order to the baker to confirm. It reminds the customer the day before pickup.

The agent sends payment links for pickup orders and cake deposits and confirms payments. Refund requests go to the manager. It never asks for card numbers, PINs or OTPs.

Cafes have personality — cosy, quirky, minimalist. Tell the agent yours, and how to greet regulars. Read its chats and adjust until it sounds like your friendliest barista.

1. Load the menu with tags, practical details and loyalty rules.
2. Turn on ordering for regulars first.
3. Review conversations daily and add missing items or phrasings.
4. Open it to everyone once orders come through cleanly.

"What's good for a hot afternoon, not too sweet?" — the agent recommends from the menu and a short "house favourites" note you write, mentions tags that matter, and offers to order it. It never invents drinks or prices.

At peak times the agent gives realistic ready times based on the queue, and suggests a later pickup when the bar is overwhelmed. Customers forgive a longer wait they were told about; they do not forgive a promised five minutes that becomes twenty.

The agent tells customers their stamp balance, applies rewards to orders when asked, and explains the loyalty rules. It never creates rewards or discounts that are not in the rules.

For small groups the agent books tables by time and size; for events and private use it collects the details and hands to the manager. It explains any minimum spend or deposit up front.

Office admins ask for coffee and snacks for a meeting of twelve at 11 am. The agent takes the order, suggests the platters you offer, confirms the delivery or pickup time and sends a payment link or adds it to the office's monthly invoice, as your rules allow.

The agent replies in the customer's language across 36 languages, including mixed Hindi and English orders. Add the names customers use for your drinks — "cold coffee", "filter kaapi", "cutting chai" — so every version maps correctly.

A month of conversations shows which drinks people ask for that you do not make, which dietary needs come up, and when people try to order and cannot. Those are menu and staffing decisions, taken from what customers actually said.

"Do you deliver to Sector 21?" — the agent checks the delivery area, quotes the charge and a realistic time, and takes the order. Outside the area it offers pickup. It never promises a delivery time the kitchen cannot meet.

The agent sells gift cards by amount, takes the recipient's name and a message, sends the payment link and delivers the card as an image. It recognises card codes when recipients order.

A wrong order or a cold drink gets an apology and a handover to the manager, with the order details. The agent never offers refunds or free items on its own; the manager decides how to make it right.

Cake orders, allergy questions, catering and complaints go to the right person with everything attached. The agent tells the customer who will reply and when.

The agent answers hours, holiday closures and event evenings from one place in the knowledge base, and stops taking pickup orders after the last slot on days you close early.

Give the agent your cafe's voice — warm, playful, minimal — and a few phrases you like. Read its chats weekly and adjust until regulars feel they are talking to the counter, not a machine.

In the rush, the agent's job is speed: confirm the usual in one message, give an honest ready time, and get out of the way. Long replies and suggestions can wait for the afternoon.

A first-time customer who asks "what do you recommend?" is deciding whether to come back. The agent recommends from the house favourites, explains the loyalty card, and after the first order asks one question about how it was. The answer goes to the manager if it was not good.

The agent sends payment links for pickup and cake orders, confirms payments, and sends receipts. Offices on monthly invoices get their orders added to the account. It never asks for card numbers, PINs or OTPs.

For chains, the agent asks or remembers the customer's outlet, checks that outlet's hours and menu, and routes the order there. Menus that differ between outlets are kept per outlet in the knowledge base.

"Same as yesterday" is the most common morning message. The agent finds yesterday's order, confirms it in one line with a ready time, and sends it to the bar.