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A WhatsApp assistant for a restaurant takes the reservation with date, time and party size, answers the daily specials, the hours and allergen questions, and takes orders. It runs on the restaurant's own number, with no commission per order, compared with the 30% delivery apps can charge. FaroVivo sets it up from $350 USD.
In the middle of service nobody is free. The phone rings at two thirty with the dining room full, and the caller wants a table for four on Friday. Answering means someone stops serving; not answering means that table gets booked somewhere else. Both options cost money.
Same with the questions repeated over and over: what time you open, whether there is a lunch special, whether you have anything gluten-free, where to park, whether you are open on the holiday. None of them needs anyone on the team, and they take attention away right when it is needed most.
The expensive part is something else. Delivery apps take a percentage of every order, and it is not small. The two that publish their rates (Uber Eats and DoorDash) reach 30% when they do the delivery. To bring in new customers, that percentage can be justified. For the customer who already knows you, who has already eaten at your place and just wants to order the usual, it is a toll on an introduction that is no longer needed. That customer already has your WhatsApp.
Uber Eats publishes its commission: 20% on the Lite plan, 25% on Plus and 30% on Premium when Uber does the delivery. With the restaurant's own delivery it drops to 15%, and pickup stays at 7% if you match your in-store prices. In Spain the published rate is 30% with Uber delivery and 15% with your own delivery.
DoorDash publishes the same: 15% on the Basic plan, 25% on Plus and 30% on Premier for each delivery order, and 6% on orders the customer picks up.
Rappi, on the other hand, does not publish its commission. Its own merchant site says it "varies by country" and that the exact figure is shared during sign-up.
In Spain, disclosing the fourteen allergens in food served unpackaged is mandatory, and the information has to be available before the customer orders. It is set by Royal Decree 126/2015, which transposes EU Regulation 1169/2011.
All of this interrupts someone who is serving today. The assistant answers it on your number, not on a delivery app's.
With your reservation system if you already have one, and if not, with a simple calendar. The idea is not to stack a new system on top of the one you already use.
Most of our restaurants are in the United States. What really changes from one country to another is which platform takes the commission and what the restaurant is required to disclose before the customer orders.
It is the main market, and the only one where the platforms publish their commission: Uber Eats 20-30% and DoorDash 15-30%, depending on the plan. The phone matters much more than in the other three countries, so the assistant covers WhatsApp and text messages and answers in Spanish and English. In a Hispanic-owned restaurant, half the conversation comes in Spanish even when the menu is in English.
Reservations compete with TheFork and Covermanager, and delivery with Glovo, Just Eat and Uber Eats, which here publishes 30% with its own delivery and 15% if you deliver. Allergen information is mandatory under Royal Decree 126/2015 and has to be available before the customer orders, so the assistant either answers it right or does not answer it. "Menú del día", 21% VAT, and people "reservan mesa" rather than "hacer una reservación".
Rappi and DiDi Food dominate delivery, and a good share of pickup orders is arranged directly on WhatsApp. People "piden la cuenta" rather than "checarla", and payment is usually settled by SPEI or in cash at pickup.
Rappi dominates delivery and Uber Eats stopped operating in the country in 2020, so there are fewer alternatives and the one in charge does not publish its commission. For a restaurant that means negotiating blind. Ordering directly on WhatsApp is the norm, and prepayment goes through Nequi or PSE.
On the orders you move to your own channel, yes: an order that comes in through your WhatsApp pays no commission to anyone. To see the difference, Uber Eats and DoorDash publish commissions of up to 30% when they deliver. What the assistant does not do is replace the platform for the new customer who discovers you there. The sensible move is to keep the customer who already knows you and leave the platform for bringing in new ones.
Yes, with the information you load for each dish, and only that. If a dish is not documented, the assistant says so and hands the conversation to a person. In Spain disclosing the fourteen allergens is mandatory under Royal Decree 126/2015, and it has to be available before the customer orders, so we prefer to leave no room to improvise.
It does not confirm the table. It works against your real availability and, if there is no room, offers another time or another day in the same message.
For pickup orders, directly. For your own delivery too, as long as you have someone to take it: the assistant takes the order and the address, but it does not deliver.
From $350 USD setup, with monthly operation from $99 USD/mo, and no commission per order or reservation.
Each industry has its own page, because the problems are not the same.
Look at one invoice from your delivery app and add up a month of commission. With that number on the table, it becomes obvious what is worth moving to your own channel and what to leave where it is.
I want one for my restaurant →No obligation, in English or Spanish.
Luis · FaroVivo
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