Everything restaurants ask us
Straight answers, including the ones that are a no. Prices change, so the current figures are always on the pricing page.
Price
What does Waplo cost?
Three plans, one flat price each — no commission on your orders.
• Waplo Direct — priced on the pricing page. QR ordering, kitchen screen, cashier, staff and reports. No WhatsApp.
• Waplo Chit Chat — priced on the pricing page. Everything in Direct, plus your customers order and talk to you on WhatsApp.
• Waplo Celebrations — priced on the pricing page. Everything, plus kitty groups, parties and campaigns.
Direct is not Chit Chat with WhatsApp removed — it is the same idea reached a different way. Pick by how your customers reach you: Direct if they are standing in front of you and scan a QR, Chit Chat if they message you.
Is there a free trial?
Not at the moment — you choose a plan when you sign up, and your restaurant is live as soon as it is paid.
What there is instead is no lock-in. There is no contract and no notice period, so if the first month does not convince you, you cancel from the Billing screen and nothing further is charged. Your menu, orders and customers stay where they are if you come back.
If you would rather see it working before you decide, write to support@waplo.io and we will walk you through it.
Do you take a cut of my orders?
Waplo takes no commission at all. It charges one flat monthly amount and nothing per order. If you sell ten thousand meals in a month, the bill is the same as if you sold ten.
That is the whole reason this exists — the aggregators take 18–30% of every order.
Do I need a card to start?
A card is needed at signup. You pick a plan, pay for the first period, and your restaurant is live straight after.
There is no contract behind it: cancel from the Billing screen whenever you like and nothing further is taken.
What happens when the trial ends?
There is no trial running at the moment — you choose a plan when you sign up.
If you mean what happens when a payment is missed: paid plans get 3 extra days after one is due, so a card that fails on a Friday does not close your counter over the weekend. After that the restaurant stops taking new orders through Waplo, but nothing is deleted — your menu, your orders and your customers are all still there when you come back.
How do I cancel?
From the Billing screen inside the app. There is no notice period and nobody to argue with — you stop, and Waplo stops charging you at the end of the period you have already paid for.
If you want your data out first, ask us and we will send it.
Monthly or yearly?
Both. The yearly price is shown next to the monthly one on the pricing page.
Is there a setup fee?
No setup fee, no joining fee, no per-order fee. The monthly price is the whole of what Waplo charges you.
The one cost that is not ours: if you send WhatsApp campaigns, Meta bills you for those directly. Ask me about that — it is usually zero.
Can I change plan later?
You can change plan any time, from the Billing screen. An upgrade is charged pro-rata for the days left in your period, so you never pay twice for the same week.
Can I buy just the party bookings?
Parties & Kitty Groups is sold on its own as an add-on at priced in the app, on top of whichever plan you are on — so you do not have to move up to Celebrations for it alone. It is also included in Celebrations.
Which countries do you work in?
Waplo is built in India and priced for India, the United States, Canada and Australia today — you are being quoted in INR. It works anywhere with an internet connection; if your currency is not listed you are quoted in US dollars.
WhatsApp ordering depends on Meta approving your number in your country. The QR and counter side works everywhere regardless.
Is tax added on top?
The price you see is what you pay — Waplo does not add tax on top of the subscription.
Tax on your customers' bills is a different thing and entirely yours: set your rate once in the app and it is applied to every bill automatically.
Do I need a new phone number?
Waplo connects to the number you already use for your restaurant — no new number, no new SIM.
There is one rule worth knowing: a number can only be on WhatsApp Business API once, so it must not already be connected to another provider.
Does my WhatsApp Business app keep working?
Your WhatsApp Business app carries on working on your phone, with your chats and your contacts, and Waplo answers on the same number alongside you. You lose nothing.
This is the question we get asked most, and it is the good answer: when you type a reply yourself, Waplo sees it and steps back. Your number is not taken away from you.
Who pays WhatsApp — you or me?
WhatsApp charges you, not us — and only when you start a conversation.
In practice that means almost nothing. Replying to a customer who messaged you first is free, and that is what nearly every message is. Across the restaurants running on Waplo today, the real WhatsApp bill so far is zero.
It starts costing when you send a campaign to people who have not just written to you. You will see the figure in the app before it surprises you.
How long does WhatsApp approval take?
Usually the same day, sometimes within an hour — it is Meta's review, not ours, so nobody can promise an exact time.
What actually decides it: a business profile that is filled in properly, and being ready to show a real ID if Meta asks. Ask me what to have ready and I will list it.
What do I need ready to connect WhatsApp?
Five things, and having them ready is most of the battle:
1. A Facebook business account you already use, rather than a fresh empty one.
2. A filled-in business profile — legal name, address, website, business phone. An empty profile is the commonest reason a review fails.
3. A real ID ready to upload if Meta asks. This is the single most useful thing on this list: a restriction we saw on a live restaurant was lifted the moment a proper ID went in.
4. A payment method on the Meta account. Meta raises your messaging limits once billing exists.
5. The restaurant's own number, not already connected to another WhatsApp provider.
One warning: do not start the signup half a dozen times. Repeated abandoned attempts are what trips Meta's automatic flags.
What if Meta rejects or restricts me?
It is usually fixable and usually the same cause: an incomplete business profile, or an identity check that has not been answered.
We have seen exactly this on a live restaurant and it was lifted by submitting a genuine ID. Write to us and we will walk you through what Meta is actually asking for — we read the same error you do.
Do my customers have to install anything?
Nothing. That is the whole idea.
They either scan the QR on the table and a menu opens in their browser, or they message your WhatsApp the way they already message their family. There is no Waplo app for a diner to download, and there never will be — a hungry person will not install anything.
Can I use Waplo without WhatsApp at all?
Waplo Direct is exactly that, at priced on the pricing page.
QR ordering at the table, a takeaway and delivery QR, car orders, the kitchen screen, the cashier, staff logins, bills and reports. No WhatsApp number needed, no Meta approval to wait for. You can be taking orders this afternoon.
Why does WhatsApp have to approve my messages?
WhatsApp lets you write freely to someone for 24 hours after they message you. Outside that window — a campaign, a birthday wish, a booking reminder — Meta insists the wording was approved in advance.
Waplo submits those for you from inside the app; you do not have to learn WhatsApp Manager. Approval is normally under a day.
Is there a limit on how many messages I can send?
Replying to customers is unlimited. Starting conversations has a limit, and it is Meta's, not ours — a new number typically begins at 250 new people a day and climbs as it sends well.
Waplo shows you that limit in the app rather than letting you find it halfway through a campaign.
Setup
Does Waplo work for a food truck or a cloud kitchen?
A truck, a cloud kitchen and a home baker are the three places Waplo fits best. You have no dining room, so a till is not weak for you - it is pointless.
• A truck - say where you are parked today, cap how many orders you will take, and let people order from the back of the queue instead of deciding at the window.
• A cloud kitchen - several brands out of one kitchen, each with its own menu and prices, sharing your staff and your billing.
• A home baker - orders taken in chat, a date capacity so Saturday cannot be double-booked, a deposit written down, and photos approved before a cake leaves.
All of it runs on a phone. There is nothing to install and no hardware to buy.
How long does it take to set up?
The QR side: about ten minutes. Sign up, get your menu in, print the QR, take an order.
The WhatsApp side depends on Meta's review, which is usually the same day. You can run on QR while you wait.
Do I have to type my whole menu in?
You do not have to type it. Photograph your printed menu card and Waplo reads it — dish names, prices, sections — and turns it into a menu you can correct in a few minutes.
You can also add items by hand, and add a photo to any dish.
Will you set it up for me?
Write to us and we will do the first setup with you: menu in, QR printed, WhatsApp connected. There is no charge for it.
Waplo is small enough that the person answering you built the thing you are asking about.
Do I need a computer or a printer?
A phone is enough. Waplo runs in a browser, so any phone, tablet or old laptop in the shop will do — most kitchens use a cheap tablet on the wall for the order screen.
No POS machine to buy, nothing to install. A printer is optional; plenty of restaurants run entirely off the screen.
Do I need a website?
You do not need one. Waplo gives your restaurant its own page and its own ordering link, and you can put that link anywhere — your Instagram bio, a WhatsApp status, a poster on the wall.
What if my internet goes down?
Waplo needs the internet, so during an outage new orders will not reach your screen. Nothing is lost — they appear as soon as you are back.
Most restaurants keep a phone hotspot as a fallback, which is enough, because Waplo is light and does not need a fast connection.
Ordering
How does a customer actually order?
Four ways, and you choose which of them you use:
• At a table — they scan the QR on the table, the menu opens, they order. The order arrives on your kitchen screen with the table number on it.
• On WhatsApp — they message your number, get a numbered menu, and reply "134 x2". No typing sentences, no app.
• At the counter — they order ahead and collect on a token number. Good for a takeaway window or a food truck.
• From the car — they order from the parking spot and tap "I've arrived"; your staff walk it out.
Do you send me the QR codes?
Waplo generates them and you print them. Each table gets its own, so the order knows where to go without anyone asking.
You can print them on a home printer, or take the file to a shop for proper standees. Nothing is posted to you and nothing is charged for them.
Do you deliver the food?
Waplo does not deliver, and that is deliberate — it has no riders and takes no delivery commission.
What it does is take the delivery order: the address, the items, the bill, the status messages to the customer. Who carries the bag is yours to arrange, exactly as it is today.
What if four people at one table order separately?
They get one bill. Everyone at the table can order from their own phone, all evening, and it joins the same running tab — the counter sees one table, not four unconnected orders.
At the end it can be split between them if they want to pay separately.
Does it work in Hindi and other languages?
A customer writes in whatever language they are comfortable in and Waplo answers in that language — Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Marathi and others, including Hinglish written in English letters.
Dish names are never translated. "Paneer Tikka" stays "Paneer Tikka", because a translated dish name is a dish nobody can find on the menu.
Money
How do my customers pay?
By UPI to your own UPI ID, or in cash at the counter — your choice, per order.
The money goes straight from your customer to your bank. It does not pass through Waplo, which is why there is nothing for us to hold, delay or take a cut of.
Can customers pay by card?
Not through Waplo yet. Diners pay by UPI or cash today; card payments from diners are on the list and not built.
If you already have a card machine, keep using it — mark the order paid at the counter and the bill closes the same way.
When do I get my money?
Immediately, because it never leaves you. A UPI payment lands in your account the moment your customer sends it — there is no settlement cycle, no T+1, no Waplo wallet in between.
How do refunds to a customer work?
You handle it directly, the same way you would today — the money came to you, so it goes back from you. Waplo records the cancellation on the order so your day's figures stay right.
Staff
Can my staff use it?
Your staff can each use it, and each of them sees only their own screen. Kitchen staff get the cooking queue, the cashier gets the till, waiters get the floor — each signs in with a short PIN, not an email and password.
Nobody but you sees the money side unless you say so.
How many staff can I add?
As many as your plan allows, and for a single restaurant that has never been the binding limit in practice. Your Billing screen shows the number for your plan.
My staff are not good with technology.
Waplo is built the right way round for that. The kitchen screen is a list of tickets with one button on each. The cashier screen is a list of tables. There is nothing to type.
Most kitchens are running it properly within a shift, and the screens are in the language your staff read.
I have more than one outlet.
Each outlet runs as its own restaurant on Waplo today — its own menu, its own kitchen, its own numbers. That works, and plenty of small chains use it that way.
What is not built yet is one screen showing all your outlets together. If that is what you need, tell us — it moves up the list when a real restaurant asks.
AI
What does the AI actually do?
It answers your customers on WhatsApp when you are busy — what is on the menu, are you open, do you deliver, how much is the paneer — and it takes their order.
The common questions it answers straight from your own data rather than by thinking about it, which is why the reply comes back in about a second.
Will the AI make up prices or promise things?
It is not allowed to. Prices, timings, delivery charges and what is on the menu are read from your own records and given to the customer as they are — the AI never decides them.
When it does not know something about your restaurant, it says so and asks you, once, and remembers your answer for next time. It does not guess, because a confident wrong answer costs you a customer.
Can I turn the AI off?
Every automatic message is a switch you control, and you can turn any of them off without affecting the rest. You can also answer any chat yourself at any moment — Waplo steps back the instant you type.
Will my customers know they are talking to a machine?
Waplo does not pretend to be a person. It replies in your restaurant's name, briefly and plainly, and when a customer asks for a human it pulls one in rather than talking around it.
Most people cannot tell, and the ones who can do not mind — they wanted their food, and they got an answer at 11pm.
Growth
Can I message all my customers about an offer?
You can message the customers who have agreed to hear from you. Waplo keeps that list and refuses to send to anyone who has replied STOP — which is the law in most places and, more usefully, is what stops your number getting reported.
Meta charges you for these, not us. It is a few paise a message.
What is the kitty party feature?
A kitty is the same twelve or fourteen women every month. The restaurant that waits to be asked gets one party; the one that asks gets twelve.
Waplo remembers the group, and about three and a half weeks after the last one it asks the organiser whether she wants the usual date again. It also runs the day itself — a card with the plan, a bill split across everyone's phones, an invite link, and tambola on fourteen phones with the numbers called out in Hindi.
Part of Waplo Celebrations, or priced in the app as an add-on to any plan.
Can it get me Google reviews?
It asks. When you mark an order completed, Waplo can message that customer and ask how it was — at most one ask per person per day, and never about an order from yesterday.
It is off until you switch it on, because a review request that arrives at the wrong moment does more harm than the review does good.
Will you spam my customers?
Waplo does not, and that is enforced in the code rather than promised in a policy. A marketing message needs a yes on record from that customer; "they never said no" does not count. Anyone who replies STOP is refused from that moment, and the refusal is logged so you can prove it.
Order updates are unaffected — someone who has stopped the offers still gets told their food is ready.
Trust
Is my customers’ data safe?
Your restaurant's data is walled off from every other restaurant at the database level, not just in the app — a query cannot reach across even if something above it is wrong. WhatsApp access tokens are encrypted where they are stored.
Waplo does not import or store your existing WhatsApp chat history. Those are other people's private conversations and we have no business holding them.
Where is my data stored?
In Mumbai. Waplo moved its whole database there from Australia so that Indian restaurants are not paying a round trip across the ocean on every order — it made the customer-facing pages about three times faster.
Who owns my customer list?
You do. They are your customers, on your own WhatsApp number, and Waplo does not market to them, sell them, or use them for anyone else.
If you leave, ask and we will send you your data. Your WhatsApp number is yours and stays yours — disconnecting Waplo hands it straight back.
Do you sell my data?
Waplo makes its money from the monthly subscription and from nothing else. Your data is never sold or shared. There is no advertising business here that your customer list would feed.
Company
Who is behind Waplo?
Waplo is built by S.U Enterprises, and it is small — which is the honest answer and also the useful one. When you write in, you get the people who wrote the code, not a ticket number.
How do I get help if something breaks?
Write to support@waplo.io, or tell me here and I will pass it on with your question attached.
There is no call centre — there is a small team that reads everything. If your restaurant is stuck mid-service, say so in the first line and it gets looked at first.
Can I see a demo first?
Write to support@waplo.io and we will walk you through it properly — including on your own menu, so you are looking at your restaurant rather than a made-up one.
Once you are set up it is quick: put five dishes in, print the QR, and order from your own phone in about ten minutes.
Can I earn by referring restaurants?
There is a partner programme. You refer a restaurant, and you earn a share of what they pay for as long as they stay. Write to us and we will set you up with a link that tracks your referrals.
I want to talk to a person.
Leave me your email and your question and a person will come back to you — usually the same day. Or write straight to support@waplo.io.