Event and Catering Deposits on WhatsApp
This recipe turns a customer’s “ok, confirm” into a date you can plan around. It sends a deposit link, blocks the date in your catering calendar once it is paid, re-prices headcount changes, and sends the balance link when the customer confirms final numbers. It works for catering orders, private dining and function room bookings. Part of the restaurant and caterer workflows.
What happens today
The customer says “ok, confirm for the 14th, 60 people”. The owner writes it in the book and sends bank details. No transfer arrives. A week later another customer asks for the 14th and is turned away. Two days before the event, the first customer says the company cancelled. The stock has been ordered and the staff rostered.
A verbal confirmation weeks ahead leaves the date, the stock and the staff at risk until money arrives.
The flow that works
- The customer agrees to the quote. AeroChat confirms the date, headcount, menu and total, and states the deposit and cancellation terms.
- It sends a deposit link in the chat.
- When the payment is confirmed, it blocks the date in your catering calendar, updates the order in your catering orders log and notifies your team.
- If the customer changes the headcount, it re-prices at the right tier and sends a link for any difference.
- When the customer confirms final numbers, or replies to your final details message, it sends the balance link.
The date is blocked only after the deposit is paid. That keeps your calendar free of unpaid holds.
The recipe
Copy this into AeroChat
When a customer wants to confirm a catering order or event booking, follow these steps.
- Confirm the date, serving time, headcount, menu or set, delivery address or room, and the total from our price tiers.
- Tell them a 30% deposit holds the date (example amount), and state our cancellation terms. Example: deposit refundable up to 14 days before, kept after that (example policy).
- Check the date in our catering calendar is still open, then send a deposit payment link.
- When the payment is confirmed, check the date is still open. Block the date and time in our catering calendar with the customer’s name, headcount and set. Update the row in our catering orders Sheet with the deposit paid and the balance due. Notify our team. If the date has gone, offer the nearest open dates and keep the deposit for the new date.
- Send a confirmation with the date, time, headcount, menu, address, deposit paid, balance due and when the balance is due. Example: balance due 3 days before the event, final headcount by then (example rule).
- If the customer changes the headcount, re-price at the tier for the new number. If the total goes up, send a link for the difference. If it goes down, update the balance due. Changes inside 3 days of the event go to our team.
- When the customer confirms final numbers or asks to pay the balance, send a payment link for the balance and update the Sheet when it is paid.
Never change the deposit or cancellation terms, and never promise a refund. Requests to cancel, to move the date inside the cancellation window, or for a refund go to our team. Reply in the customer’s language.
Change the deposit amount, cancellation terms and balance timing to your own before you paste it.
What to connect
- Your catering calendar. The Google Calendar where you keep booked event dates and time slots. The recipe blocks dates here once a deposit is paid.
- A catering orders Sheet. A Google Sheet with one row per order showing the total, deposit paid and balance due, shared with your kitchen and delivery team.
- How AeroChat reaches them. Connect your Google account when AeroChat asks, and approve the access.
- If you take private dining in your reservation system. Restaurants that hold function rooms in Eat App or ResDiary can block the date there instead. Both connect through their APIs: ask your provider to turn on API access and give you the API key, then paste it in when AeroChat asks.
- Your terms. Upload your deposit, cancellation and balance terms to the AeroChat knowledge base so the replies quote them exactly.
- Payments. Airwallex is built in: connect your Airwallex account and AeroChat sends the payment link and confirms the payment. Money settles directly into your Airwallex balance. If you already take payments with HitPay or Stripe, both connect through their APIs with your API key. Payment links are included from the Growth plan.
The final details message before the event comes from your team, from your calendar’s own reminders, or from a WhatsApp broadcast on the Growth plan and up. AeroChat handles the reply and the balance.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
What you still decide
- The deposit amount, as a percentage or a fixed sum.
- Your cancellation window and whether the deposit is refundable.
- When the balance and final headcount are due.
- How late a headcount can change.
AeroChat follows these as written. It does not block a date without a paid deposit.
The result to expect
Dates are held by customers who have paid, so you buy stock and roster staff against real orders. Fewer dates are lost to customers who said yes and went quiet. Headcount changes are priced correctly the first time.
Measure it with your own numbers: the share of confirmed orders with a deposit paid, and late cancellations, for a few months before and after.
Next: order status and delivery. See also payment link.
Hold your next date with a deposit
Connect your catering calendar and Airwallex, paste the recipe, and confirm a test order from your own number.
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On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.