Telegram Bot for Restaurants: Take Orders in Telegram

A Telegram bot for a restaurant is a mini-shop where the customer, without leaving Telegram, sees the menu, builds a cart, pays and follows the courier. The order goes to the CRM, POS and courier automatically, and the operator doesn't write it down by hand.

Telegram is the most widely used messenger in Uzbekistan, so a bot is the easiest channel for a customer to enter: no app download and no registration. Below we cover what the bot does, how it is set up and what to watch for.

Key points:

• A bot is a complete order channel: catalog, cart, payment, tracking.
• In Delever the Telegram bot is included in the platform subscription, with no separate fee.
• You can create the bot without a developer through @BotFather and launch it in a few hours.

How does a customer order through the bot?

The customer opens the bot, browses the menu by category, picks a dish and adds it to the cart, enters the address, chooses a payment method and sends the order. After that they get a message in Telegram itself at every stage (accepted, being prepared, courier on the way).

Inside the bot there is a catalog with photos, descriptions and prices. Modifiers such as size, extras and comments are supported too. When the courier sets off, the customer receives a tracking link on a map.

What is the bot good for?

A bot gives you four things: commission-free orders, a customer base, the ability to write to customers directly and a fast launch. In an aggregator the customer stays the aggregator's, but in the bot every order goes into the CRM with the customer's profile.

You send promos, new dishes or promo codes to that base. You can also segment by category and order history. Reminders about abandoned carts work in the bot too: we wrote about this separately.

What does the bot include?

The Delever bot includes:

• a catalog with categories, photos, prices and modifiers;
• a cart and address selection;
• Click, Payme, Uzum and other payment systems, as well as cash;
• automatic messages about order status;
• CRM connection: every order is written to the customer's profile;
• loyalty: points and cashback collect equally in the bot, website and app;
• mass messages to customers.

The bot also connects to your POS. The order goes to the register, and a dish that runs out in the POS also closes in the bot. There is a separate article on how this works.

How do you launch a Telegram bot?

Four steps: create the bot, upload the menu, connect payment, announce to customers. The first step takes a few minutes, while full readiness depends on the menu and payment status.

• Create the bot. In Telegram, open a new bot through @BotFather, give it a name and picture, and get the token. Official guide: Telegram Bots.
• Enter the token in the Delever panel. The bot connects to the platform.
• Upload the menu. Enter dishes, photos, prices, modifiers and stop-list, or import them from your POS.
• Set up payment and delivery zones. Set the delivery price and the minimum order.

What mistakes happen?

Three mistakes are the most common: a menu that is too long, an awkward address entry and drop-off at the payment step. A customer gets tired of scrolling a long menu, so narrow the categories and put popular dishes on top.

Make address entry as easy as possible: add a button to share geolocation. For payment, offer at least two options (card and cash), otherwise the customer leaves if one doesn't work.

Bot, website or app: which first?

For most, the bot should come first: it launches fast and the customer needs no download. Then add the website and the app. We compare all three in mobile app, bot or website.

Conclusion

• Launch the bot as your first own channel.
• Put a flyer with a QR code in aggregator orders to move customers to the bot.
• Check that the bot is connected to the CRM and the customer base is being collected.

We show how to launch the bot in one day with Delever: delever.io or @delever_bot on Telegram.