How to build a WhatsApp chatbot for your cafe

Start from what customers actually send. 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.

Then look at what goes wrong today:

• 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.

Each of these is a conversation with a predictable shape — a question, a lookup, a confirmation. That shape is what a chatbot handles well.

1. What would you like? A list message by section — Coffee, Tea, Cold drinks, Bakery, Food.
2. Size and milk as buttons, with a free-text note for anything else.
3. Anything else? [Add more] [That's all].
4. Pickup time — "in 10 minutes" or a set time.
5. Confirm and pay — total, ready time, payment link or pay at the counter.

Notice what the business side does: it answers with the specific detail (time, reference, next step), it asks for one thing at a time, and it gives the customer a one-word way to reply. Those three habits matter more than how clever the bot is.

Most morning orders are the same every day. A returning customer who types "usual" or taps [Order again] on yesterday's receipt gets their last order back to confirm, with a ready time. Two taps from "I want coffee" to "it's ready" is what makes regulars use it.

Reputoo supports both, and most cafes end up using both:

• Keyword flows — a fixed menu or trigger word ("MENU", "BOOK", "STATUS") leads down a set path. Predictable, easy to audit, right for anything with a fixed answer.
• AI chatbot — reads the customer's own words and answers from your knowledge base (website, price list, policies). Right for the long tail of questions nobody wrote a menu item for.

A sensible start for a cafe: keyword flows for the top two or three tasks, AI for everything else, and a person behind both.

Customers can type "stamps" to see their balance, and the bot sends the reward code when they earn it. Staff add stamps by scanning the customer's code or entering their number at the counter. It works across outlets if your stamps are recorded centrally.

"Can I see the menu?" gets an instant, readable menu — a phone-friendly image or PDF, or a WhatsApp catalogue with prices — plus today's specials if someone updates them. Keep it current; a menu with old prices causes arguments at the counter.

• Complaints, refunds and anything where the customer is upset.
• Anything involving money the bot cannot see — a disputed bill, a custom quote.
• Health, safety or legal questions.
• Any customer who asks for a human. Do not make them ask twice.

For cafes specifically: catering orders, event bookings of the space, and anything about a bad experience go to the owner or shift lead.

Handover on Reputoo moves the chat into the shared inbox with the conversation so far, so staff never ask the customer to repeat themselves.

1. Connect your WhatsApp number to Reputoo (official API; takes minutes).
2. Add your website and documents to the knowledge base so the AI answers in your cafe's own terms.
3. Build keyword flows for the top tasks above. What to connect: A POS with a customer list and, often, a delivery-app tablet; the POS is where loyalty data should sync to.
4. Choose who gets handed-over chats, and during which hours.
5. Test from a personal phone, then share the number or a QR code with customers.

The bot collects the date, the occasion, the size or number of people, the flavour, eggless or not, the message on the cake and a reference photo, then hands to the person who takes cake orders. Allergy questions always go to a person.

For small groups the bot books a table by date, time and number of people. For private use of the space, it collects details and hands to the manager, who confirms the minimum spend and deposit.

Hours, holidays and early closing on special days live in one place so the bot answers correctly. On days the cafe closes early, it stops accepting pickup orders after the last slot instead of taking orders nobody will make.

Customers write orders in their own words and languages: "ek cold coffee kam sugar". Keyword flows need common phrasings; the AI chatbot handles the rest and replies in the customer's language. Add the names customers use for your drinks.

• Order a drink with modifiers and check the barista sees it correctly.
• Reorder the usual.
• Check stamps and redeem a reward.
• Ask for a cake with an allergy and check a person takes over.
• Order after closing time and check the reply.

Watch WhatsApp pickup orders per day, reorders of the usual, loyalty sign-ups and the morning queue. Read handovers weekly for drinks or phrasings the bot misses.

At peak times the bar can only make so many drinks. The bot can give realistic ready times based on the orders already queued — 10 minutes at 11 am, 20 at 9 am — rather than promising the impossible. If the queue is too long, it says so honestly and offers a later pickup.

For bakeries, the bot takes orders for the next morning — a sourdough, a dozen croissants — with a cut-off time in the evening. Bakers see the total pre-orders before they start, bake to demand and waste less. Customers collect exactly what they wanted, still warm.

Many cafes are workplaces for students and freelancers. The bot answers the questions they ask before coming — Wi-Fi, power outlets, how long they can stay, quiet hours — and can reserve a table in quiet hours if you offer it. These customers visit often and are worth making welcome.

Pickup orders can be paid by link in the chat or at the counter, and cake orders take a deposit. The bot confirms payments and sends receipts; refunds go to the manager.

Cake and catering details, allergy questions, complaints and anything the bot cannot place go to the right person with the order and the customer's words attached. The bot tells the customer who will reply and when.

If you deliver nearby, the bot checks the address against your delivery area, adds the delivery charge, and gives a realistic time. Orders outside the area get a polite no and the option to pick up. Keeping delivery local keeps drinks hot and riders few.

Cafe gift cards make easy presents. The bot sells them by amount, takes the recipient's name and a message, sends the payment link and delivers the card as an image to forward. When the recipient orders, the bot recognises the code.

After a first order, one question — "How was your coffee?" with two buttons — tells you whether the new customer will come back. "Could be better" goes to the manager. It is also the moment to invite them to the loyalty card.

On festival days and event evenings, the cafe may run a special menu or close early. Update the bot in one place so it offers only what is available and stops taking pickup orders after the last slot.

Regulars have precise orders: half-sweet, extra shot, no foam, oat milk, very hot. The bot offers the common modifiers as buttons and accepts a free-text note for the rest, then saves the combination as the customer's usual. Baristas see the note clearly on the order, so the drink is right the first time.

For cafes with more than one outlet, the bot asks which one before taking the order, and remembers the customer's usual outlet. Orders go to that outlet's bar, and the ready message names it.

The "your order is ready" message is the one customers act on immediately. Keep it short, name the outlet and the counter to collect from, and include a line if the order is at a pickup shelf rather than the bar. A clear ready message stops people waiting in the queue for an order that is already sitting there.

When you open a new outlet, the bot can ask existing customers which outlet they prefer for pickup and move their default, so nobody's usual goes to the wrong bar on the first morning.