WhatsApp Business API setup used to mean a developer, a business solution provider and a week of emails. With Meta's embedded signup it is a ten-minute flow in a popup window: log into Meta, pick or create a business portfolio, enter your number, verify it with an OTP, set a display name. Tezzu runs that flow from inside the dashboard, and the number stays yours.
This guide walks through the whole thing in order: what to have ready, what each screen asks for, which number to use, what to do right after connecting, and the handful of errors that account for most stuck signups. If you are still deciding whether you need the API at all, start with WhatsApp Business vs the WhatsApp Business API and come back.
Why ordering needs the API and not the app
The WhatsApp Business app is a phone app for one person. It can show a catalog and send a greeting, but it cannot run a bot that holds a cart, applies delivery charges, takes a payment and prints a KOT. The WhatsApp Business API is the version of WhatsApp that software connects to. It has no phone app; messages are sent and received by a system, which is what makes automated ordering, order status updates and campaigns possible.
The trade-off is that a number can be on the app or on the API, never both. That is the single fact that shapes the choices below.
What to have ready before you start
- A Meta (Facebook) login. Embedded signup runs on Meta's side. Use a login you control, ideally the owner's, since it will own the WhatsApp Business Account.
- A phone number that can receive an OTP. By SMS or by voice call. Landlines work if they can take a call. The number must not be currently registered on the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app, and must not be on another provider's API.
- Your legal business name and address. Meta asks for these when creating the business portfolio.
- A display name. This is what customers see. Meta reviews it and expects it to match your real business name; abbreviations, slogans or a generic word like "Kitchen" tend to be rejected.
- Ten free minutes. Do not start the flow between lunch orders. If the popup is closed halfway, you may have to restart it.
Step by step: Meta embedded signup inside Tezzu
- Open the WhatsApp connection in the Tezzu dashboard. It opens a Meta window. Log in with your Facebook account if asked.
- Choose or create a business portfolio. If you already manage a Facebook page or Instagram account for the restaurant, that portfolio probably exists; pick it. Otherwise create one with your legal name and address.
- Create the WhatsApp Business Account. Meta names it after the portfolio. You can keep the default.
- Set the display name and category. Enter the name customers know you by and pick a category such as restaurant or food.
- Enter and verify the number. Choose SMS or voice call, type the OTP. If the number is still active on the WhatsApp app at this point, the verification will fail; delete the app account first and retry.
- Grant the permissions and finish. The last screen asks you to allow Tezzu to manage messaging for this account. Confirm, and the window closes.
Back in the dashboard the number shows as connected. Send "hi" to it from another phone. A reply from the bot within a few seconds means the connection is live.
Which number to connect: your options
Most of the thinking in WhatsApp API onboarding is about the number, not the software. The table lays out the four realistic choices.
| Option | What you have to do | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Your current business number, now on the WhatsApp Business app | Export your chats if you want them, delete the account from the app, then verify the number in embedded signup. Customers keep messaging the same number. | Businesses whose customers already have the number saved and printed |
| A number already on another provider's API | Ask that provider to release it. Meta allows one API connection per number, so it cannot be connected to Tezzu until it is freed. | Businesses switching from another ordering or chat tool |
| A new SIM | Buy it, keep it in a phone or a drawer for the OTP, and verify. Your personal WhatsApp is untouched. | Owners who use their current number personally and do not want to change it |
| A landline or virtual number | Verify by voice call instead of SMS. Check that the line can receive calls during the flow. | Restaurants with a known landline that customers already call |
If your current number is also your personal number, read the rules on using a personal number for WhatsApp Business before deleting anything. In most cases a new SIM for the business is the cleanest answer.
After connecting: profile, templates and a real test
Three things to do in the first hour. First, complete the business profile: address, opening hours, a short description and your store page link, so a customer who taps your name sees a real business. Second, upload a profile photo, usually the logo. Third, place a test order from a phone that is not the owner's, all the way through to a status update, so you see what a customer sees.
Order confirmations and status updates are sent as template messages that Meta approves. Tezzu provisions the standard ordering templates for you after connection, so you do not write them. If you later run campaigns, the marketing templates you create go through Meta's review as well; keep them specific and plain and they are usually approved within a day.
Business verification is a separate, optional step in Meta Business Manager. You do not need it to take orders. You do need it if you want the green tick and higher limits on how many customers you can message first in a 24-hour window. Replies to customers who message you are not limited. The process is covered in how to get the WhatsApp green tick.
Common problems and how to fix them
The OTP never arrives. Switch to the voice call option. If the number is a landline or has SMS blocked by the operator, SMS will not work. Wait for the retry timer rather than requesting repeatedly, which can lock the number for a few hours.
"This number is already in use." It is still registered on the WhatsApp app or on another API provider. For the app, open WhatsApp, go to Settings, Account, Delete my account. For another provider, ask them to release the number. Then retry.
Display name rejected. Use your real business name as customers see it on your board or Google listing. Remove taglines, emojis and words like "official". Meta may ask for proof that the name belongs to you if it does not match the business portfolio name.
The popup closed or showed an error halfway. Refresh the dashboard and start the connection again. Meta usually remembers the portfolio and account you created, so you resume from the number step.
Connected, but the bot does not reply. Check that the number verified is the same one you are messaging, that you are messaging from a different phone, and that your store has at least one item and is marked open. If all three are right, contact support from the dashboard with the number and the time of the message.
How Tezzu handles the connection
Tezzu is the system on the other end of the API. Once the number is connected, every message to it reaches the ordering bot: a greeting, the menu in Hindi or English, a cart, address or pickup selection, delivery charges by zone, and payment by UPI or card through Razorpay or cash on delivery. Orders appear in the live dashboard and on the staff app with an alert.
The standard order templates (confirmation, preparing, out for delivery, delivered, served for dine-in) are set up for you, and campaigns run from a prepaid wallet on the same number. If you add outlets later, they can share this one number, with each order routed to the nearest outlet.
The connection step is one of the first screens in the Tezzu setup playbook, and the 15-minute setup guide shows where it sits between creating your account and adding the menu. The whole first setup, including this step, takes about 30 minutes.
Connect your number today
Start the free trial, run embedded signup from the dashboard, and send your first test order within the hour.
Start your free 7-day trialFrequently asked questions
Does the WhatsApp Business API cost money to set up?
Meta does not charge a setup fee for the API itself. Tezzu includes the connection in every plan, and the plan starts with a 7-day free trial. What costs money is messaging: Meta charges per conversation for messages your business starts, such as campaigns, which Tezzu bills from a prepaid wallet. Replies inside a customer-started conversation window are handled by Meta's conversation rules, and the current pricing is on Meta's website.
Can I keep using WhatsApp on my phone after connecting the number to the API?
Not on that number. A number is either on the WhatsApp app or on the API. After connecting, you read and reply to customers in the Tezzu dashboard, and the bot handles ordering automatically. Many owners keep their personal number on the app as before and put a separate business number on the API.
Do I need Facebook business verification to take orders?
No. You can connect the number, run the ordering bot and send order updates without verification. Verification matters for the green tick and for raising the limit on how many customers you can message first within 24 hours, which only affects campaigns. Customer-started conversations, which is what ordering is, are not capped by that limit.
How long does Meta embedded signup take?
About ten minutes if your number can receive the OTP and is not registered on the WhatsApp app. The longest part is usually deleting an existing app account or waiting for another provider to release the number. Display name review by Meta can take a little longer, but the number works for ordering while that review runs.