For restaurants

The restaurant chatbot that takes the 11pm reservation, booked while you sleep.

The message that lands on your website at 11:14pm on a Tuesday ("table for 4 Saturday, 7 or 8?") doesn't need you to answer it. The same goes for the takeout question about gluten-free pizza, the anniversary party of 12 with a $700 budget, and the e-gift card someone's trying to send their mother-in-law before Sunday brunch. Alma is the chatbot that catches those four conversations on your website, asks the right follow-ups, and lands the request in your inbox before service starts the next day.

Start free → Ask Alma

/RESTAURANTS · 12 HOSPITALITY TEMPLATES · WEBSITE WIDGET

The Alma chat widget open on a restaurant website. A guest has asked for a table for six on Friday at 8pm and whether the patio is heated, and the bot answers both: the covered patio is heated year round and has a six-top at 8pm, with the dining room free at 8:45pm.

/A · WHY THIS WORKS FOR RESTAURANTS

How a restaurant chatbot handles late-night reservations

Picture a 30-seat chef-driven place with no host stand. The owner is on the line until 10:30, breaks down by 11:15, and finds 14 unread messages on the website's contact form: six reservation requests, three "do you have GF options?", two anniversary parties, two gift-card buyers, one delivery-radius question. Answering them is two hours of the next morning gone.

Alma sits on the website and runs the same intake the host would. Party size, date, time window, dietary notes, special-request capture. The result lands in your inbox as a finished request (not a transcript) and routes to OpenTable, Resy, or your reservation system via webhook for the slot hold.

Availability check by date + time window
Party size + dietary notes captured upfront
Special-request capture (anniversary, allergies, high-chair)
Routes to OpenTable / Resy / Tock via webhook
Confirmation SMS via CampaignCNX+ if you wire it in
Owner sees the finished request the next morning, not 14 raw messages

What an Alma restaurant conversation looks like

Reservation · 11:14pm on the site

Table for 4 Saturday

Hey! Looking to book a table?

Yes! Saturday, 4 of us

Got it. We have 7:00 or 8:15. Which works?

8:15

Any allergies or special occasion? And what's the best phone for a confirmation text?

Takeout · pizza shop · Friday rush

Delivery + GF question

Hey, what brings you in today?

Do you deliver to 60035? And do you have GF crust?

Yes to both. 60035 is in our 4-mile radius and the GF crust is +$3. Looking to order now?

Yes, large pepperoni for 6

Got it. I'll send the order link. Name and phone first?

Party booking · anniversary

Dinner for 12, $700 budget

Planning an event? Tell me about it.

Anniversary dinner, party of 12, mid-March

Wonderful. Roughly what's the budget per person, and any dietary needs in the group?

~$60/head, two vegetarian

I'll send the prix-fixe options to your email and have the GM follow up tomorrow morning.

Gift card · Sunday morning

$50 e-gift for mom

Looking for a gift card?

Yes, a $50 e-gift

Got it. Recipient's name and email, plus a short message?

Linda · linda@... · "Happy birthday Mom!"

I'll send a Stripe checkout link to your phone. The e-gift goes out the moment the payment clears.

/B · TEMPLATES FOR RESTAURANTS

Restaurant chatbot templates: reservation, gift card, catering, and more

The Hospitality category in Alma was written by people who've actually run restaurants, not a startup writing what it thinks restaurant ops looks like. Each template loads as a starter graph; you change the wording to your voice, drop in your hours and dietary options, and publish.

Restaurant Welcome & Navigator: greets visitors and directs them to the right flow (reservation, menu, hours, ordering)
Table Reservation Bot: date, time, party size, contact, and allergies, then routes to OpenTable / Resy via webhook
Menu Navigator Bot: explore the menu by category and dietary preference (GF / vegan / nut-free)
Online Ordering Bot: pickup or delivery with address collection and handoff to your order system
Hours & Location Bot: the question most website visitors are asking, answered without a phone call
Private Events & Catering Bot: qualifies private dining, off-site catering, and full-buyout inquiries with budget + headcount
Wait Time & Waitlist Bot: walk-in wait estimates and waitlist signup
Feedback & Review Bot: post-visit feedback, routes happy customers to your Google review page
Happy Hour & Specials Bot: surfaces weekly specials and featured items
Gift Card Bot: amount selection, recipient info, Stripe-checkout handoff

The Alma template library at 145 ready-to-use templates across 15 categories, grouped by job: lead generation, qualification, booking, retargeting and support.

Hospitality12

Booking5

Customer Service2

Qualification26

Lead Gen6

Hospitality has roughly twelve templates; Booking (Appointment Scheduler, Consultation Scheduler) and Customer Service (Business Info) add complementary flows for restaurant operators who want a more conversational front door.

The Alma leads inbox for a restaurant, showing five captured enquiries tagged by the reservation flow: a party of six on the patio, a private room booking for 22, a tasting menu with wine pairing, a gluten free request with notice given, and a waitlisted reservation.

/C · RESERVATION SYSTEM INTEGRATION

Restaurant chatbot integration: OpenTable, Resy, Tock, SevenRooms

Alma does not have native integrations with the big reservation platforms. The bot captures the request and your reservation system holds the slot. Most operators bridge it through a Zapier zap or a direct webhook. The bot handles the conversation; the reservation system stays the source of truth for the table.

If you want SMS confirmations in the loop, push the captured request into CampaignCNX+. The confirmation text fires the moment the conversation ends, while the customer's hand is still on the phone.

OpenTable, Resy, Tock, SevenRooms, and Yelp Reservations: bridge via webhook
Zapier zap is the path of least resistance for most operators
Webhook is the path for engineering teams who'd rather pipe events themselves
The bot captures intent; your reservation system holds the slot
SMS confirmation via CampaignCNX+, fires when the conversation ends
Email to GM for large-party / catering / buyout inquiries

From sign-up to first reservation

Set up your restaurant chatbot in 30 minutes

The Hospitality templates do the hard part. The questions are already written and the branches already make sense. You're editing your hours and your menu options, not writing a conversation from scratch.

/01

Pick a template

Table Reservation, Private Events & Catering, Online Ordering, Gift Card. Start with whichever flow is closest to the question you're tired of answering yourself.

/02

Edit the variables

Drop in your hours, your seating capacity, your cuisine type, your dietary options, your delivery radius. Change the bot's wording to your voice. 20 minutes max.

/03

Paste the widget

One line of JavaScript on your website. The widget is live the moment the page reloads. Wire the webhook to OpenTable / Resy / Tock if you want the slot held automatically.

/04

Watch requests land

Reservation requests, party inquiries, and gift-card orders arrive in your inbox and a Google Sheet, finished rather than raw. Push to CampaignCNX+ for the SMS confirmation.

Start the trial → Ask Alma

Restaurants FAQ

Restaurant chatbot FAQ

Honest answers, including the parts Alma doesn't do. Where the answer is no, we say no instead of promising you a dashboard that isn't shipping.

Does it integrate with OpenTable or Resy?

There is no native integration. The path is webhook plus Zapier: Alma fires a new_lead event with the captured fields (date, time, party size, contact), and a Zap pushes the slot into OpenTable / Resy / Tock / SevenRooms. The conversation lives in Alma; the reservation system stays the source of truth for the table.

Can it actually book the table, or just capture the request?

It captures and routes. It does not call OpenTable's booking API directly. The bot finishes the conversation with all the details a host would ask for, and your reservation system holds the slot. Most operators find this is the right division of responsibilities.

What about large-party inquiries: anniversaries, rehearsal dinners, full buyouts?

The Private Events & Catering template asks for event type (private dining, off-site catering, full restaurant buyout), guest count, date window, budget per head, and dietary needs, then routes the finished request to your GM's email instead of trying to slot it into the reservation system. Wedding venues and catering operations run this template as their primary intake.

Can I take deposits for big parties?

Yes, via Stripe Checkout link sent through Zapier. The bot collects the acknowledgement (event type, headcount, budget, dates) and the Zap fires a Stripe Checkout link to the inquirer's email. The link is what actually collects the deposit. Alma is not a payment processor.

Will the widget work on my website builder?

Yes, if you can paste a line of code. Restaurant sites on Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, and most custom builds all take the snippet. If a designer still manages your site, forward them the snippet and it takes about five minutes. You can also style the chat bubble to your colors so it reads as part of the restaurant, not a bolt-on.

What about gift cards?

The Gift Card template walks the buyer through amount selection, recipient name + email, and a short personal message. The handoff is a Stripe Checkout link via Zapier. Alma collects the order, and your gift-card system processes the payment and emails the e-gift. Works the same way for physical cards if you ship them yourself.

Can each location of a small chain have its own bot?

Yes. Growth tier runs up to 5 active bots, Agency tier runs 20. A three-location chain often runs Growth: three bots, one per location, each with its own hours, menu, and reservation routing. Chains over five locations usually run Agency with sub-account workspaces (data isolated per workspace).

How long does setup take for a working restaurant?

Under 30 minutes for most operators. The Hospitality templates are pre-written; you're editing your hours, capacity, cuisine type, and dietary options, not building the conversation from scratch. Onboarding is a real person, not a chatbot.