For restaurants

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

A message that arrives on your website at 11:14pm on a Tuesday ("table for 4 Saturday, 7 or 8?") does not need you to answer it. The same is true for a takeout question about gluten-free pizza, an anniversary party of 12 with a $700 budget, or an e-gift card someone wants to send their mother-in-law before Sunday brunch. Alma is a chatbot that handles these conversations on your website, asks the right follow-up questions, and sends each request to your inbox before service starts the next day.

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/RESTAURANTS · 11 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

Consider a 30-seat restaurant run by its chef, with no host stand. The owner cooks on the line until 10:30, finishes closing the kitchen by 11:15, and then finds 14 unread messages from the website's contact form: six reservation requests, three questions about gluten-free (GF) options, two anniversary parties, two gift-card buyers, and one delivery-radius question. Answering them takes two hours the next morning.

Alma runs on the website and asks the same questions a host would: party size, date, time window, dietary notes, and any special requests. The result arrives in your inbox as a complete request rather than a transcript. It can also be sent to OpenTable, Resy, or your reservation system through Zapier or, on the Agency plan and up, a webhook (an automatic message Alma sends to another system) so the table can be held.

Availability check by date and time window
Party size and dietary notes collected at the start
Special-request capture (anniversary, allergies, high-chair)
Sent to OpenTable, Resy, or Tock through Zapier, or through a webhook on the Agency plan and up
Confirmation text message through CampaignCNX+ (our companion texting service), if you connect it
The owner sees complete requests the next morning instead of 14 unsorted messages

Example Alma conversations for restaurants

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 have actually run restaurants. Each template loads as a starter flow (a set of questions the bot asks in order). You change the wording to match your restaurant, add 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 sends the request to OpenTable or Resy through Zapier or a webhook
Menu Navigator Bot: lets guests explore the menu by category and dietary preference (gluten-free, vegan, nut-free)
Online Ordering Bot: pickup or delivery with address collection and handoff to your order system
Hours & Location Bot: answers the most common question from website visitors without a phone call
Private Events & Catering Bot: screens private dining, off-site catering, and full-buyout inquiries by budget and headcount
Wait Time & Waitlist Bot: walk-in wait estimates and waitlist signup
Feedback & Review Bot: collects post-visit feedback and directs happy customers to your Google review page
Happy Hour & Specials Bot: shows weekly specials and featured items
Gift Card Bot: amount selection, recipient details, and handoff to Stripe Checkout

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

Hospitality11

Booking1

Customer Service2

Qualification17

Lead Gen5

Hospitality has 11 templates. The Booking category (Appointment Scheduler) and the Customer Service category (Business Info) add related flows for restaurant owners who want a more conversational greeting on their website.

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 large reservation platforms. The bot records the request, and your reservation system holds the table. Most owners connect the two with a Zapier zap (an automation in Zapier, a service that passes information between apps) or, on the Agency plan and up, a direct webhook. The bot handles the conversation, and the reservation system remains the official record for each table.

If you want text message confirmations, send the captured request to CampaignCNX+. The confirmation text is sent as soon as the conversation ends, while the customer is still holding the phone.

OpenTable, Resy, Tock, SevenRooms, and Yelp Reservations: connected through Zapier or a webhook
A Zapier zap is the simplest option for most owners
A direct webhook (Agency plan and up) suits technical teams that prefer to send the data themselves
The bot records the request, and your reservation system holds the table
Text message confirmation through CampaignCNX+, sent when the conversation ends
Email to the general manager for large-party, catering, and buyout inquiries

From sign-up to first reservation

Set up your restaurant chatbot in 30 minutes

The Hospitality templates handle most of the work. The questions are already written, and the branches (the different paths a conversation can take) are already set up. You edit your hours and menu options instead of writing a conversation from scratch.

/01

Pick a template

Choose Table Reservation, Private Events & Catering, Online Ordering, or Gift Card. Start with the flow that matches the question you answer most often yourself.

/02

Edit your details

Enter your hours, seating capacity, cuisine type, dietary options, and delivery radius. Then change the bot's wording to match your restaurant. This takes 20 minutes at most.

/03

Paste the widget

Add one line of JavaScript code to your website. The widget is live as soon as the page reloads. Connect Zapier, or a webhook on the Agency plan and up, to OpenTable, Resy, or Tock if you want the table held automatically.

/04

Receive your requests

Reservation requests, party inquiries, and gift-card orders arrive complete in your inbox. Send them to CampaignCNX+ if you want a text message confirmation.

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Restaurants FAQ

Restaurant chatbot FAQ

These answers include the things Alma does not do. Where the answer is no, we say so instead of promising features that are not available.

Does it integrate with OpenTable or Resy?

There is no native integration. The connection uses Zapier: Alma sends a new_lead event with the captured details (date, time, party size, contact), and a Zap adds the reservation to OpenTable, Resy, Tock, or SevenRooms. On the Agency plan and up, a webhook can send the same details to your own system. The conversation stays in Alma, and the reservation system remains the official record for the table.

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

It records the request and sends it on. It does not call OpenTable's booking API (its connection for outside software) directly. The bot completes the conversation with all the details a host would ask for, and your reservation system holds the table. Most owners 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 the event type (private dining, off-site catering, full restaurant buyout), guest count, date range, budget per person, and dietary needs. It then sends the complete request to your general manager's email instead of trying to fit it into the reservation system. Wedding venues and catering businesses use this template as their main intake form.

Can I take deposits for big parties?

Not inside the chat, because Alma is not a payment processor. The bot collects the event details (event type, headcount, budget, dates), and a Zap can then send a Stripe Checkout link to the person's email. The link is what collects the deposit.

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-built sites all accept the snippet. If a designer still manages your site, forward them the snippet, and the work takes about five minutes. You can also set the chat bubble to your colors so it looks like part of the restaurant's site rather than an add-on.

What about gift cards?

The Gift Card template guides the buyer through choosing an amount, entering the recipient's name and email, and writing a short personal message. The buyer is then sent a Stripe Checkout link through Zapier. Alma collects the order, and your gift-card system processes the payment and emails the e-gift card. It works the same way for physical cards if you mail them yourself.

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

Yes. The Growth tier includes up to 5 active bots, and the Agency tier includes 20. A three-location chain often uses Growth, with one bot for each location, and each bot has its own hours, menu, and reservation routing. Chains with more than five locations usually use Agency, with sub-account workspaces (separate account areas, with data kept separate for each workspace), which our team turns on when the account is set up.

How long does setup take for a working restaurant?

Setup takes under 30 minutes for most owners. The Hospitality templates are already written, so you edit your hours, capacity, cuisine type, and dietary options instead of building the conversation from scratch. Onboarding is done by a real person, not a chatbot.