WhatsApp for restaurants: bookings, pickups and regulars who come back
Confirm reservations, tell guests when their pickup order is ready, answer questions about menus and timings as a team, and bring regulars back with offers. You pay Meta's official rates directly and $14.99/month to Mywa.
Updated October 2026
The WhatsApp messages restaurants and cafés send, and what each costs
Meta prices each message by its category. US rates shown, effective 1 October 2026; every country's rate is on the pricing pages.
| Message | Meta category | Sent by | Per message (US) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reservation confirmed, with Change / Cancel buttons | Utility | Your booking tool, through webhook or API | $0.0034 |
| Reminder on the day of the booking | Utility | Your booking tool, through webhook or API, or a scheduled automation | $0.0034 |
| Pickup or delivery order ready | Utility | Your ordering system, through webhook or API | $0.0034 |
| Weekend offer, new menu or event night | Marketing | Campaign to opted-in guests, one-off or recurring | $0.025 |
| Answers about menus, allergens, timings | Service (free reply window) | Your team, in the shared inbox | Free for 1,000/month, then $0.0034 |
Meta decides a template's category when it reviews it; a message written as an update but containing an offer is billed as marketing.
Three WhatsApp automations for a busy restaurant
- 1
Booking confirmed, reminder sent
Your reservation tool calls Mywa when a table is booked; Mywa confirms it and sends a reminder on the day, with buttons to change or cancel.
- 2
Cancellations free the table
A guest who taps Cancel triggers an automation that tags the chat and alerts your team, so the table can go to the waitlist.
- 3
Regulars come back
A recurring campaign every month to guests who opted in: the new menu, an event night or a weekday offer.
A real monthly bill, by where your customers are
A restaurant with 1,200 bookings a month (confirmation and reminder each), a 3,000-guest monthly offer and 1,500 replies, at Meta's rates effective 1 October 2026, with 1,000 free replies.
| Customers in | Paid to Meta | Paid to Mywa | Total / month | With a $0.005 fee per message |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States & Canada | $84.86 | $14.99 | $99.85 | $119.36 |
| United Kingdom | $254.30 | $14.99 | $269.29 | $288.80 |
| Germany | $569.00 | $14.99 | $583.99 | $603.50 |
| UAE | $218.33 | $14.99 | $233.32 | $252.83 |
| Australia | $285.37 | $14.99 | $300.36 | $319.87 |
| Brazil | $207.22 | $14.99 | $222.21 | $241.72 |
| India | $39.46 | $14.99 | $54.45 | $73.96 |
Before local taxes; Mywa on the monthly plan. The last column is Meta's charges plus a $0.005 provider fee on each message sent (Twilio's listed fee), for comparison.
Messaging guests the right way
Meta's policies keep WhatsApp useful for customers, and following them keeps your number healthy:
- 1
A booking confirmation is utility; the same message with “and 20% off desserts” is marketing.
- 2
Send offers to guests who opted in, not to every number from your booking list.
- 3
Alcohol promotions are restricted under Meta's Commerce Policy and local law in many countries.
- 4
Get opt-in before sending marketing, and make opting out easy: Mywa handles opt-out replies for you.
Frequently asked questions
They can message you to book and your team confirms in the shared inbox. If you use a reservation tool, it can send bookings to Mywa through a webhook or the API, and Mywa sends the confirmation and reminders. Mywa doesn't take reservations itself.
It's a utility message at Meta's rate for the guest's country: $0.0034 in the US, $0.022 in the UK, effective 1 October 2026. Mywa adds nothing per message.
Yes. Mywa campaigns can repeat on a schedule, to a list or tag of guests who opted in to offers.
Grow on WhatsApp,
without the chaos.
Bring your team into one inbox, launch your first campaign, and let the follow-ups run themselves.