WhatsApp Business API for restaurants, explained
The WhatsApp Business app on your phone is fine until two people need to answer it at once, or until you want an order to become a kitchen ticket by itself.
The WhatsApp Business Platform — most people still call it the API — is the version Meta built for software to use. Here is what that actually means for a restaurant, without the jargon.
What changes for you
Your number can be answered by software and by people at the same time. Orders can become real orders. Order updates can be sent automatically.
What does not change: it is still your number, still your name, still your chat history with the customer.
Do you lose the app on your phone?
No. Meta supports running both — your staff carry on replying from the phone, and the software works on the same number.
Waplo holds its automatic replies back for a while after a human has answered, so the customer is never answered twice.
Who pays Meta, and how much
Meta bills the business that owns the number — that is you, on your own account, with your own card. Waplo never adds anything to it and never sees it.
The important detail: Meta charges for conversations your restaurant starts, not for replies inside a conversation the customer started. Ordinary ordering chats are started by the customer, so they are free.
You pay when you start the conversation — an order update outside the window, a booking reminder, a marketing message.
What a template is, and why it exists
To start a conversation you must use a message Meta has approved in advance. That is a template.
It stops businesses spamming people out of the blue, which is the reason WhatsApp is still a channel people read. It also means you cannot invent a new promotional message at five minutes' notice.
What you need before you connect
A Facebook business account with your real business details filled in — legal name, address, website. An empty one usually fails review.
Identity documents ready, in case Meta asks. This is the single most common cause of a stuck connection in India, and it is resolved by submitting real ID rather than by trying again.
A payment method on the Meta account, which also raises how many people you are allowed to message.
Waplo never sees your card, your password or your Facebook login.
Common questions
Is the WhatsApp Business API free?
The platform access is free. Meta charges per conversation that your business starts. Replies inside a conversation the customer began are not charged, which covers most ordering chats.
Can I use my existing WhatsApp Business number?
Yes, in most cases, and you keep using the app on your phone alongside it.
How long does approval take?
Often minutes if your business details are complete and verified. It stretches to days when Meta asks for identity documents, which is the usual delay in India.
Can I send marketing messages?
Only to people who agreed to receive them, using a template Meta approved. Waplo refuses to send a marketing message to anyone who opted out, and records that it refused.
Connect your number and start taking orders
Waplo handles the platform side. You keep the number, the app on your phone and the customer.