WhatsApp marketing for restaurants: rules, a campaign plan and costs

Meta allows promotional messages only to people who agreed to receive them, only as approved marketing templates, and only with an easy way to stop. For a restaurant the practical question is where consent comes from. The reservation itself is the natural moment: a line on the booking form, or a table-tent QR code that opens a chat with the menu already sent. A number printed on an invoice is not consent.

• At booking: a button on the confirmation — "Would you like our new-menu and event messages?"
• At the table: a QR code on the bill folder that opens a chat with "Send me your offers".
• On takeaway bags: the same QR code with one line about what they will receive.
• After a good evening: the day-after thank-you is a natural moment to ask.

Keep two lists: guests who agreed to booking messages (everyone who books) and guests who agreed to marketing. Only the second gets campaigns.

Build campaigns on moments that already happen in your customer's relationship with you, not on a calendar of generic promotions. Tie promotions to your own calendar: a new seasonal menu, a quiet weekday you want to fill, a guest's birthday month. A generic "10% off" says nothing a regular cares about.

In practice, for a restaurant:

1. Customer books via WhatsApp — Bot checks availability and confirms instantly — no calls, no staff needed. (service reply)
2. 24hr & 2hr reminders sent — WhatsApp reminder with booking details and one-tap confirm or cancel. (utility template)
3. Post-meal win-back timer — 45 mins after the reservation, the guest is tagged for an automatic win-back if they do not return in 30 days. (marketing template)
4. 30-day win-back for lapsed guests — Guests who haven't returned in 30 days get a personalised "We miss you" offer. (marketing template)

Confirmations belong the moment a table is booked and reminders a few hours before service. Offers do best mid-afternoon, when people are deciding where to eat — never during the rush you are trying to fill. Half of this plan is not "marketing" in Meta's sense. Confirmations and updates are utility messages — cheaper, and they build the trust the promotional ones depend on.

• Regulars — come often; want to hear about new dishes first, not discounts.
• Occasion diners — birthdays, anniversaries, date nights; message them before the occasion comes round again.
• Takeaway customers — want the menu and a quick way to order.
• Group and event bookers — worth a message before party season and festivals.
• Lapsed guests — came regularly and stopped.

Meta charges each delivered marketing message. A campaign to 1,000 opted-in customers in India costs about ₹863 plus GST in Meta fees; the same send elsewhere:

Meta list rates, July 1, 2026. India in INR, plus 18% GST.

Reputoo does not add a per-message markup; you pay Meta's rate and your plan.

1. One reason to come: a new dish, a set menu, an event — not "great food and ambience".
2. A real photo of the dish, taken in your restaurant.
3. A specific night and price.
4. Booking in one tap: [Book a table] opens the booking flow.

Our monsoon menu starts Thursday 🌧️ — pakoras, mutton curry and hot jalebi, ₹799 for two. Thursday and Friday only. [Book a table]

(Dishes and prices are an example.)

Guests who booked for a birthday or anniversary will usually celebrate again next year. A message a couple of weeks before — "Last year you celebrated your anniversary with us; shall we keep your table?" — is personal, useful and almost never unwelcome. Store the occasion and date on the guest record when they book, with their permission, and let the reminder run itself.

These are the problems restaurants are usually trying to fix with WhatsApp:

• No-shows burn your revenue daily. Empty tables on Friday evening — booked, never showed, no call. 4-5 tables a week = pure lost revenue.
• Guests come once and are never heard from again. A great evening ends at the door. Nobody has their number, nobody follows up, and the table sits empty next Friday.
• Instagram DMs sit unanswered for hours. "Table for 2 tonight?" asked at 6 PM. You reply at 9 PM. They've already eaten elsewhere.

A broadcast fixes none of them on its own. Segment first — recent customers, lapsed ones, people who asked about a specific thing — and send each group the one message that matters to it. Smaller, relevant sends get more replies and fewer blocks than one big blast.

Reads show a message arrived; replies, bookings and orders show it worked. Reputoo attributes revenue to the campaign that brought each customer back, so you can drop the sends that only produce reads.

A regular who stopped coming often had a reason: a dish that changed, a bad evening, a new place nearby. One honest message — "We haven't seen you in a while; was something not right last time?" — brings some back and tells you what went wrong with others. It is worth more than a discount sent to everyone.

For 2,000 opted-in guests at ₹0.8631 per marketing message on Meta's July 1, 2026 India rate card: one campaign a month costs ₹1,726; occasion reminders to 150 guests a month add ₹129. Booking confirmations and reminders are utility messages and cost far less. Compare against the covers the campaigns bring in on nights that would otherwise be quiet.

• Two or three campaigns a month is the ceiling for most restaurants; one good one beats four forgettable ones.
• Send in the afternoon, when people decide where to eat — never during your own service.
• Honour "stop" instantly, and if your quality rating in WhatsApp Manager dips, send less and segment more.

The photo does most of the work in a restaurant campaign. Take it in your own restaurant, in daylight, of the dish as it is actually served — not a stock image and not a heavily edited poster. One dish per message is enough. A phone photo of a steaming plate on your own table persuades more than a designed banner that could belong to anyone.

Live music, quiz nights, a chef's tasting menu, a match screening: events give guests a specific reason to come on a specific night. Announce them a week ahead to the guests who would care — regulars and group bookers — with the date, what is happening, the price if any, and a booking button. Follow up only with those who asked for a reminder.

Takeaway customers respond to convenience rather than occasions: a new family combo, a weekday lunch box, a "your usual?" reorder button. Send these around lunch and dinner decision times, only to guests who ordered takeaway and opted in. A one-tap reorder of their last order is the most effective takeaway message there is.

Reads show a message arrived; bookings and orders show it worked. Reputoo attributes bookings and orders to the campaign that brought the guest back, so after two or three campaigns you can see which kinds fill tables — set menus, new dishes, events — and stop sending the ones that only produce reads.

Every campaign affects your number's quality rating: blocks and reports lower it, and a low rating limits how many guests you can message per day — including booking reminders. Send only to guests who opted in, make stopping easy, and keep the frequency modest. Protecting the rating protects the reminders that fill your tables every night.

Many guests will not download a restaurant's app, but they will keep a WhatsApp chat. A simple loyalty programme run in the chat — every fifth visit earns a dessert, a regular gets first booking for a special night — rewards the guests who matter most without anyone installing anything. Send the balance after each visit as a short note, and keep offers to members separate from general campaigns.