WhatsApp Ordering for Restaurants: AI Chatbot for Bangladesh

At 8 pm on a Friday, a Dhanmondi restaurant's Facebook Page fills with the same questions: "menu ta den", "kacchi half koto?", "Mohammadpur e delivery hoy?". The person answering is also taking calls and checking the kitchen. Orders get typed into a notebook with a missing house number, and the customer who waited ten minutes for a price has ordered somewhere else. WhatsApp ordering for restaurants means customers order food in a chat and the restaurant receives a complete, numbered order. SaleMag gives that Friday rush a structure: one inbox, an AI that knows your menu, and orders that arrive complete.

What does a restaurant chatbot do in Bangladesh?

A restaurant chatbot in SaleMag answers the menu, price and delivery-area questions that repeat all evening and turns a chat into an order your kitchen can cook. SaleMag's AI chatbot reads your menu, prices, delivery areas and FAQ, and replies on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and Telegram in Bangla, English or Banglish.

The table shows common customer messages and what SaleMag does with each.

How do I put my menu into SaleMag?

Add each dish to SaleMag as a product with a name, price, photo, category and a short description such as "serves one, contains nuts". If a dish comes in two portions at different prices, add each portion as its own item so the price is always exact. Restaurants with a Shopify or WooCommerce site can sync that store instead.

Then write a short knowledge-base note for everything that is not a dish: opening hours, branch addresses, the delivery cut-off time, halal and allergy notes, minimum order, and which items are only made on Fridays. You can paste it as text or upload a PDF, Word or Excel file. The AI answers from this material and is instructed never to invent prices or policies.

How does WhatsApp ordering for restaurants work?

With SaleMag's AI order taking on, a restaurant chat becomes a cash-on-delivery order in six steps:

1. The customer asks about dishes. The AI searches your menu and answers.
2. The AI builds the cart with quantities.
3. The customer gets an order form: a native WhatsApp order form on WhatsApp, or a secure link on Messenger, Instagram and Telegram.
4. They pick their delivery area, enter name, phone and address, and place the order.
5. SaleMag adds the area's fee, re-checks prices and creates a numbered order, such as CH-000123.
6. With team notifications on, everyone who can view orders gets an in-app and push notification.

Delivery areas are flat fees you set once, up to 20 of them, each with an optional Bangla label. A cloud kitchen might use Dhanmondi, Lalmatia and Mohammadpur at one fee and everything else in Dhaka at another. The customer picks the area; SaleMag does not measure distance.

Your team then confirms the order, sends the rider and marks it fulfilled or completed. When a customer asks "where is my food?", the AI reads their last three orders and replies with the status your team recorded.

Which messaging channels matter most for a restaurant?

For many Bangladeshi restaurants, Messenger comes first because that is where the Facebook Page sends people, and WhatsApp is next, especially for regulars and office orders. SaleMag puts both, plus Instagram DMs and Telegram, in one shared inbox.

• Messenger: the AI answers Page messages. Post comments are not answered automatically.
• WhatsApp: Meta's official WhatsApp Cloud API, with the in-chat order form and template messages.
• Your website: the website chat widget adds a WhatsApp button that opens a chat with your number.

Can a restaurant chatbot take table reservations and catering orders?

Not by itself. SaleMag has no reservation system and no table availability, so the AI collects the request and staff confirm it. In the AI's instructions, tell it to ask for the date, time, number of guests and a name, then hand the chat over. Staff see the details in the conversation and reply with a confirmation.

Catering, office lunches and party orders follow the same path. The AI makes a human handover for bulk orders, because the price and timing usually need a manager's decision. After a team member replies, the bot stays quiet in that chat for 15 minutes so the customer does not hear two voices.

How should a restaurant set up its team inbox?

Set up SaleMag's inbox with clear roles, labels and saved replies, so a small team can split a busy service without missing chats. Keep it simple:

• One person watches handovers and complaints; others confirm new orders.
• Use labels such as "reservation", "catering" or "late delivery" so anyone can see what a chat is about.
• Save replies for common answers, such as the iftar menu or parking directions.
• Give floor staff the agent role: an agent sees the chats assigned to them and chats nobody has picked up yet. A moderator can see and assign every chat.

Inbox reports show first-response and resolution times, which helps you see whether Friday nights need another person.

What messages can a restaurant send after an order?

A restaurant can send order confirmations, "rider has left" updates and offers from SaleMag, built in the automation flow builder or sent as broadcasts. An "order placed" trigger can send a confirmation template with the order number. An "order fulfilled" trigger can tell the customer the rider has left.

For offers, use WhatsApp broadcasts to contacts who have opted in: a new Friday menu, Ramadan iftar boxes or Eid pre-orders. These are marketing templates that Meta approves first. Order confirmations are usually utility templates. Customers who are not on WhatsApp can get the same news by bulk SMS through a Bangladeshi gateway.

Get started

Add your 20 best-selling dishes, two or three delivery areas and your opening hours, then test the AI with the questions your page gets every night. Create an account or compare plans and pricing.