Customer Onboarding WhatsApp Template for Restaurants
The first WhatsApp message a new guest receives from your restaurant sets the tone for every order that follows. This ready-to-use, Meta-compliant customer onboarding template welcomes a diner the moment they sign up, place a first order, or join your loyalty club, and points them to their next action in a single tap. It ships as a Utility template, so it clears review faster and delivers at the lower utility rate. Copy the message below, swap in your restaurant's name and the guest's first step, and start sending in about a day with InfiQ.
Variables
{{1}}= Spice Route Kitchen{{2}}= Aarav{{3}}= browse today's menu and place your first order for 10% off
Verified business
10:24
Preview · as customers see it
When to send this onboarding template
Timing is what keeps this message in the Utility category and makes it feel like a natural next step rather than an interruption. Trigger it off a real, first-time action the guest just took — not a bulk push to your whole contact list. Common moments for a restaurant are the instant a guest completes signup on your ordering site, right after their first order is confirmed, when they scan a QR code at the table to join your WhatsApp list, or the moment they enroll in your loyalty programme. Send it once, promptly, and tied to that event, and it reads as a genuine welcome. Because it is transactional and action-linked, it also lands inside the free 24-hour service window if the guest messaged you first, and it opens a thread your team can continue in for support.
- First order confirmed on your website or aggregator handoff
- New signup or account created on your ordering flow
- Guest scans a table or receipt QR to opt in on WhatsApp
- Enrolment in your loyalty or membership programme
- First reservation booked through your booking link
Personalise it so it reads 1:1, not like a blast
The difference between a welcome that builds loyalty and one that gets muted is specificity. Use {{2}} for the guest's first name and {{1}} for your exact outlet name — if you run multiple branches, insert the branch they ordered from so the chat feels local. The real work happens in {{3}}, the first step: make it a single, concrete action tied to what they just did. For a fresh signup that might be 'browse today's specials and place your first order'; for a loyalty enrolment it could be 'you now have 50 welcome points — redeem them on your next dish'. Keep the sentence short enough to read in one glance, match the tone your restaurant uses in person, and consider a Hindi or regional-language variant for guests who ordered in that language. Pair the copy with one clear button so the next action is a tap, not a decision.
- {{1}} — restaurant or branch name, exactly as approved
- {{2}} — guest's first name for a personal opener
- {{3}} — one concrete first step, phrased as an action
- Match your in-house tone; add a regional-language version where it fits
Approval tips for the Utility category
Submit this template as Utility, because it is transactional and tied to a real action the guest completed. The single biggest reason a welcome template gets rejected is drifting into promotion: a coupon code, a discount headline, or 'check out our offers' pushes the message into Marketing and Meta will bounce the Utility submission. Keep the body strictly informational — welcome, orient, point to a first step. A modest, action-linked perk phrased as part of onboarding (for example '10% off your first order') is usually fine, but a standalone promotional pitch is not; if promotion is the point, build a separate Marketing template instead. Always fill in realistic sample values for every variable at submission time, avoid ALL-CAPS shouting and excessive emoji, and make sure your button labels describe a genuine next step. Clean submissions like this typically clear review within a day.
- Category: Utility — transactional and action-triggered
- No standalone promotions; keep the body informational
- Provide real sample values for {{1}}, {{2}} and {{3}}
- Avoid ALL-CAPS, emoji spam and vague button labels
- For pure promotions, use a separate Marketing template
What it costs to send
Since Meta moved off per-conversation billing on 1 July 2025, WhatsApp charges per delivered message by category. This onboarding template is a Utility message, so each delivery bills at the utility rate rather than the higher marketing rate — a real saving at scale for a restaurant sending welcomes every day. On top of Meta's live rate you pay InfiQ's transparent ₹ pricing, ex-GST, with no per-conversation guesswork. If a guest messaged you first and you reply inside the 24-hour service window, that window is free for service replies — a good reason to let your team continue the onboarding thread there. Use the cost calculator to slide your monthly welcome volume and see the ₹ figure and typical payback for your outlet.
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Frequently asked questions
Which category is this template?+
Does it still need opt-in?+
Can I add a discount code to the welcome?+
How is this billed?+
Can I edit the wording?+
How fast can I start sending?+
Can I send it in Hindi or a regional language?+
How many buttons can I add?+
Welcome every new guest in 24 hours
Copy this Utility template, personalise the variables, and go live with InfiQ — official Meta Business Partner, transparent ₹ pricing on Meta's live rates, and full BSUID ownership from day one.