Key Takeaways
- Restaurant templates are waitlist, reservation, “your table is ready,” and — separately — opted-in offers.
- Keep “table ready” on a number guests can reply to. Keep login OTP for the booking app on another SIM.
- One GSM-7 segment. Quiet-hour laws still apply to promo, not usually to “we’re seating you now.”
- STOP on offers. Do not treat “C to cancel the booking” as a global marketing opt-out without a rule.
- You bring the Android and operator credit. Pricing is devices plus send volume.
Android sms gateway for restaurants message templates live or die at 19:30 on Friday. Guests need a local number, a short body, and a radio that is not in battery saver. This spoke is copy + which SIM may send it — not a POS integration cookbook. Fields stay in the Developer Center.
You bring the phone and airtime. We meter devices and volume. For how mobile networks treat A2P-style traffic in general, start at GSMA— quiet-hour and marketing rules stay local.
Host stand
Bistro: table for 2 is ready. See the host.
The four restaurant SMS jobs
- Waitlist: you’re on the list / your table is ready.
- Reservation confirm + reminder.
- Booking-app or POS staff OTP.
- Opted-in offers (different number).
If “20% off cocktails” shares a thread with “your table is ready,” guests will mute you and you will walk a four-top.
Template sheet
| Template | Must include | Leave out | SIM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waitlist ready | Venue name, what to do | Menu URLs, emoji storms | Floor / host |
| Reservation | Time, party size, how to cancel | Full address dump every time | Floor / host |
| Staff OTP | Brand + digits + expiry | Anything promotional | OTP only |
| Offer | STOP path | The table-ready MSISDN | Promo |
OTP craft: OTP templates. Spam wording: spammy wording.
Waitlist codes
A 4–6 character party code is enough. Do not put the guest’s full name and phone in a blast to the kitchen WhatsApp. Idempotency per party id when the host taps “ready” twice.
Reservations and no-shows
Confirm at booking; remind once. Two-way cancel keywords need a policy vs STOP. Two-way · auto-reply.
Offers without burning the bookable number
Blacklist. Quiet hours on promo only.
Friday 19:30
Size for peak covers, not Tuesday lunch. Keep the host SIM charged and Doze-exempt. Doze. Fail over: failover.
Airtime vs covers
One ready-SMS per seated party is the unit. Free: 300 SMS lifetime. Developer: 25,000/year. Starter/Pro/Business uncap platform volume, devices 2/5/15. Operator airtime yours. Pause on Free/Developer at allowance. No unlimited carrier SMS.
Checklist
- Table-ready copy fits one GSM-7 segment.
- OTP SIM isolated from floor SMS.
- Host phone plugged in; night canary unused — Friday canary instead.
- Promo STOP not destroying reservation keywords.
Next steps
Send “table ready” to three staff phones in a pocket, then to a real waitlist. Downloads · setup.
Related product pages
Jump to the live product docs for this topic—not another long-form article.
- SMS API documentationLive endpoint reference
- device and SMS volume pricingPlans and allowances
- Android SMS gateway product guideDefinition, product, and how to buy
- download the Android gateway appGet the APK
