Can a WhatsApp bot answer questions about today's menu and specials?

Yes, if today's menu is in the knowledge base. Paste the menu once and update the specials line each morning, and the bot answers price, dietary and availability questions from it. It will not guess at an item that is not listed.

Can it take reservations or catering enquiries?

It collects the details, party size, date, time, dietary notes and the customer's number, and logs them to a Google Sheet for a human to confirm. For a small cafe that is safer than letting a bot commit tables on its own.

Will it reply to chats that were already on the phone?

Only if nobody else does. New customers get an answer straight away. For chats that were already on your phone when you paired, it waits 5 minutes and answers only if nobody from your team has replied. Mark friends, family or suppliers "Never answer this contact" and it leaves them alone for good. Prefer it to stay out of existing chats completely? Choose "New conversations only" in Settings.

What does it cost for a cafe?

On Replai the Starter plan is $19 a month for one WhatsApp number and 120 conversations a cycle, where a conversation is one customer thread of up to five bot replies; Growth is $49 for up to three numbers, 300 conversations and campaigns. The AI is included, there are no per-message fees because it pairs to your existing number, and the 7-day trial needs no card.

WhatsApp for cafes and coffee shops

Quick answer

A cafe assistant on WhatsApp answers opening hours, menu prices, dietary options, delivery areas and today's specials from a document you update each morning. Table and catering requests are captured to a Google Sheet with party size, time and contact for your floor manager to confirm. Allergy checks, large events and complaints go to a person.

Update one specials document each morning and the bot stops quoting last week's promotion.
Table and catering requests become sheet rows: party size, time, dietary notes, contact.
It does not take payment or manage a waitlist; your floor team confirms every booking.
Pairs to your existing cafe number by QR; Starter is $19 a month.

At a glance

It answers

Menu and prices
Opening hours and busy times
Delivery area and fees
Table bookings

It hands to you

Large events and catering
Allergy questions
Complaints

10 min

to set up

You first

on existing chats

Any

language

Cafes

answered by Replai, after hours

What time do you close tonight? Do you have oat milk?21:14
Open until 10pm tonight, kitchen closes at 9.30. Oat milk yes, +$0.80. Want me to book a table?21:14
Table for 4 at 8?21:16
Table for 4 at 8pm noted. Name and number please, and I'll confirm with the floor team.21:16

Illustrative exchange. Your bot answers from your own prices, hours and rules.

Replai knowledge base screen with pasted prices, hours and policies — Your prices, hours and rules live here. Paste them once; every answer comes from this.

Replai leads table showing captured customer details — Every enquiry that shows intent lands in a sheet with the name, number and what they asked.

The pain

Reply speed is what separates a booking from a walk-past. The MIT lead response study found that calling a web lead within five minutes rather than thirty makes contact 100 times more likely (InsideSales.com/MIT Lead Response Management Study, 2007). A table request at 6pm has an even shorter shelf life: the customer is standing on the street deciding where to eat.

If you run a cafe, your WhatsApp Business inbox is the third register nobody mans. "What time you close today?", "Got vegan options?", "Can I book a table for 6 at 3pm?", "Do you do catering for 20pax?", "Is parking available?", "Are you pet-friendly?". Your barista is pulling shots and your floor staff is balancing trays — nobody's watching the phone.

By the time someone gets to the message, the customer has already walked into the cafe down the street that picked up.

What can a WhatsApp bot handle for a cafe?

Drop your cafe's information into Replai once — menu, prices, today's specials, opening hours by day, dine-in vs takeaway policy, dietary options, catering pricing, location, and parking notes. The bot pairs to your WhatsApp Business number in 30 seconds and handles the predictable questions while your team focuses on the people inside the cafe.

When a customer wants to book a table or place a catering order, Replai captures the details to a Google Sheet — name, party size, time, contact, dietary notes, special requests — so your floor manager has everything they need to confirm.

What you get

Menu + price answers from your real menu. Drop in your menu as a Google Doc. Replai quotes correctly — "Iced flat white is $15" — and says "let me check with the kitchen" on edge cases instead of guessing.
Today's specials, automatically. Update one Google Doc when specials change — Replai picks it up immediately. No more "sorry that promo ended last week" moments.
Reservation capture to a Google Sheet. Every booking lands as a row with everything your floor team needs to confirm.
Catering enquiries triaged. "How much for 20pax?" gets your catering menu + price band + a callback offer for custom orders.
Any language, auto-detected. English, Malay, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic and more, voice notes included. Customers send a voice note in mixed languages? Replai handles it.
Out-of-hours coverage. Late-night message asking about brunch tomorrow? "We open at 8am, here's the brunch menu, see you then."
Vegan / gluten-free / dietary answers. Stops the "call us to check" loop on dietary questions — answers from your maintained list.

What should stay with your floor team?

Replai does not take orders or process payments. Catering quotes and bookings go to a Google Sheet for your team to confirm. It also doesn't manage waitlists or POS integration. What it does is shave the "are you open / what's the menu / do you have X" repetitive load off your team so they can stay on the floor.

Setup in 5 minutes

Pair your cafe's WhatsApp Business number via QR code — 30 seconds, no Meta application needed
Drop in your menu, hours, dietary options, catering pricing (Google Doc works fine)
Set up a "specials" doc you can update daily
First customer enquiry answered within minutes

What it costs

From $19/month, AI included. No per-message fees, no API keys to manage. 7-day free trial — pair your number, see how it handles a Saturday lunch rush, decide.

Want this on your number?

7-day free trial — no credit card, no API key.

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Frequently asked questions

Can a WhatsApp bot answer questions about today's menu and specials?: Yes, if today's menu is in the knowledge base. Paste the menu once and update the specials line each morning, and the bot answers price, dietary and availability questions from it. It will not guess at an item that is not listed.
Can it take reservations or catering enquiries?: It collects the details, party size, date, time, dietary notes and the customer's number, and logs them to a Google Sheet for a human to confirm. For a small cafe that is safer than letting a bot commit tables on its own.
Will it reply to chats that were already on the phone?: Only if nobody else does. New customers get an answer straight away. For chats that were already on your phone when you paired, it waits 5 minutes and answers only if nobody from your team has replied. Mark friends, family or suppliers "Never answer this contact" and it leaves them alone for good. Prefer it to stay out of existing chats completely? Choose "New conversations only" in Settings.
What does it cost for a cafe?: On Replai the Starter plan is $19 a month for one WhatsApp number and 120 conversations a cycle, where a conversation is one customer thread of up to five bot replies; Growth is $49 for up to three numbers, 300 conversations and campaigns. The AI is included, there are no per-message fees because it pairs to your existing number, and the 7-day trial needs no card.

Sources

About WhatsApp, WhatsApp, 2026-09-07
Lead Response Management Study, InsideSales.com and MIT, 2007
Making voice messages better, WhatsApp blog, 2022-03-30