Restaurant Instagram playbook: turn comments into bookings and orders

Four flows at a glance, and the limits that come first

Each flow is a keyword, an optional public reply and a private message with the right link.

Menu requests and delivery orders

Both run on the Free plan: a comment automation on the post, your keywords, a DM and an optional public reply, which ChattyFlow rotates so the thread doesn't repeat itself.

• Menu: “Here's our full menu with today's prices 🍽️” with a “See the menu” button.
• Delivery: “Order for delivery or pickup here 🛵” with a button to the page where you already take orders.
• A Story reply or a DM that contains the keyword starts the same message.
• Conditional Logic gives each keyword its own reply, and a DM can carry up to three link buttons: website, delivery app, WhatsApp chat link.

Table reservations with ChattyFlow Booking (Instagram)

Someone comments your keyword, say حجز or BOOK, and gets a DM such as “Pick your table 👇” with a Book button. It opens your booking page on the right service: date, time, number of guests, name, phone, your questions, confirm.

You set your hours and seats per time slot. Seats count guests, so a party of four takes four, and a full slot can't be booked.

• Confirm or cancel requests in the Manage Bookings tab, and add phone or walk-in reservations so the seat count stays right.
• Guests get a cancel-or-reschedule link and an add-to-calendar file.
• Prefer your current reservation system? The DM can send its link instead.
• Each automation also gets a public booking page for your bio.

Events and special nights

Give each event its own post and keyword: Thursday live music, a seafood night, a Ramadan ghabga. The DM carries the date, the price per person and how to book.

For a single date, Booking takes the whole reservation inside the DM: number of guests first, checked against the seats left, then name, phone and your multiple-choice questions, with a waitlist offer when the night is full.

• Keywords: event, live, حفلة, غبقة, soirée. DM: “Live oud night, Thursday 8 pm 🎶 Book your table here.”
• Teasing before tables open? A Drop collects every commenter and sends everyone the link at release, which must come within 7 days of the first comments.

Trigger words in Arabic, French and English

Customers type the way they talk, so add every spelling you see in your comments. Separate keywords with a comma; the Arabic comma ، works too.

Hours, parking and allergens: FAQs Engine and AI agent

Questions like “open on Friday?”, “parking?” or “is the sauce nut-free?” need your own answers. On a Growth plan, two tools answer them from one knowledge base: your website pages, notes and files.

The FAQs Engine replaces your website's FAQ section: paste one snippet where the old list was. It shows your questions in your site's colours, lets visitors ask in their own words, and answers only from those questions and your knowledge base.

The AI agent handles follow-up questions: when a DM matches no keyword, it answers from the knowledge base, qualifies the lead and hands over to your team when needed. On TikTok it answers comments publicly, and DMs where allowed.

• Write your hours day by day, Friday and Ramadan included.
• Upload the menu as a PDF with real text, or type it: photos and scans are stored, not read.
• List the allergens in every dish.

TikTok: what a restaurant account can automate

TikTok DMs run on the TikTok Business Messaging API, and TikTok decides where messaging is open. New comments are checked in rotation, every minute across all active automations, and public replies wait a human-like 10 to 30 seconds, so they land within a few minutes.

What not to do

Every flow here starts with a customer's comment or message, as Instagram's and TikTok's rules require. Keep it that way.

• No mass DMs: one private reply per comment within 7 days, then the 24-hour window once they answer.
• No bought followers, likes or comments.
• No fake reviews: don't review your own restaurant or trade a discount for a review; Google Maps forbids paid or rewarded reviews.
• No scraping phone numbers from comments into broadcast lists.
• No stale answers: an old price left in the knowledge base becomes a wrong reply.

Answers during the rush

Menu, booking and ordering links go out on their own while your team is busy serving.

Direct bookings, next to the apps

Followers book or order through your own link, alongside the delivery apps.

Arabic, French and English

Keywords work in any script, and the dashboard runs in all three languages.

Can guests book a table without leaving Instagram?

Mostly: the DM's Book button opens your booking page in Instagram's browser, and a single-date event is booked entirely inside the DM. Booking is in beta, on Growth plans, Instagram only.

Does ChattyFlow connect to Talabat, my POS or a payment system?

No. It sends the link you choose: your ordering page, your delivery-app page or a WhatsApp chat link. Orders and payments stay where they are.

Can a TikTok comment trigger a DM in Kuwait, Tunisia or Morocco?

No. TikTok opens comment-to-DM only for accounts in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. In Kuwait, Tunisia and Morocco, you reply publicly and automate replies to people who message you first.

Will the AI agent answer allergen questions?

Only from your knowledge base, so keep allergens per dish exact and current, and ask guests with a severe allergy to confirm with staff.

What does it cost?

Comment automations and public replies run on the Free plan. Booking, the AI agent and the FAQs Engine need a Growth plan, from 49 a month in your currency (TND, EUR or USD), and every new account starts with a 14-day trial.