WhatsApp Order Confirmation Message Templates

A WhatsApp order confirmation message does one job: it tells the customer that you have their order, what is in it, what it costs, and when it will arrive. Get those four things into one short message and most "where is my order" chats disappear. These templates cover the situations a food business actually hits, from a paid delivery order to a cake with an advance to a tiffin subscription, and each one can be copied as is.

The confirmation is also the first message many customers ever receive from your number, so it sets the tone. Plain, specific and polite beats clever.

What every order confirmation must contain

Whatever the order type, the message needs an order number, the items with quantities, the total with any delivery charge shown separately, the payment status, and the time the customer can expect. Delivery orders add the address; pickup orders add your address and collection time; dine-in pre-orders add the table or the time.

One line about changes matters more than it looks. "Reply within 5 minutes to change anything" gives the customer a window and gives your kitchen a point after which the order is final.

Order confirmation templates for delivery

1. Delivery, paid online

Order #1043 confirmed, [Name]. 1 butter chicken, 2 butter naan, 1 jeera rice. Total ₹520 including ₹30 delivery, paid by UPI. Delivering to [address] in about 40 minutes. Reply within 5 minutes to change anything.

2. Delivery, cash on delivery

Order #1044 confirmed, [Name]. 2 veg thali. Total ₹360 including ₹40 delivery, to be paid in cash on delivery. Please keep change ready. Arriving at [address] by 1:15 pm.

3. Delivery, scheduled for later

Order #1045 confirmed for tomorrow, [Name]. 1 family biryani pack. Total ₹899, paid. We will deliver to [address] between 7 and 7:30 pm on Saturday. We will message when it leaves the kitchen.

4. Order received, awaiting kitchen acceptance

Thanks, [Name], we have received order #1046 for 2 chicken momos and 1 thukpa, ₹340. The kitchen will confirm in a few minutes. If anything is unavailable we will message you before cooking starts.

Template 4 is for restaurants that accept orders by hand. Send it immediately, then send a full confirmation once the kitchen accepts, so the customer is never waiting in silence.

Order confirmation templates for pickup and dine-in

5. Self-pickup

Order #1047 confirmed, [Name]. 1 large margherita, 1 garlic bread, ₹499, paid. Ready for pickup at 8:10 pm from [Restaurant], [address]. Show this message at the counter.

6. Pickup, pay at counter

Order #1048 confirmed, [Name]. 3 masala dosa, ₹270, pay at the counter. Ready at 12:45 pm at [address]. Reply if you will be late and we will hold it.

7. Dine-in pre-order

Table for 4 at 8 pm confirmed, [Name], order #1049. Pre-ordered: 1 dal makhani, 2 paneer tikka, 4 roti, ₹780, pay at the table. Your food will be served about 10 minutes after you sit down.

Order confirmation templates for tiffin, bakery and catering

8. Tiffin subscription start

Welcome to [Kitchen], [Name]. Your monthly lunch plan is confirmed from Monday 3 November: 24 meals, ₹2,880, paid. Delivery to [address] between 12 and 12:45 pm. Reply SKIP by 9 pm the night before to skip any day.

9. Cake pre-order with advance

Cake order #1050 confirmed, [Name]. 1 kg chocolate truffle, message "Happy Birthday Riya". Total ₹1,200, advance ₹500 received, balance ₹700 at pickup. Ready on Friday 14 November at 5 pm from [address].

10. Catering or bulk order

Bulk order #1051 confirmed, [Name]. 40 veg meal boxes at ₹150, total ₹6,000. Advance ₹3,000 received, balance on delivery. Delivery to [venue] by 12:30 pm on Sunday. Any change in count by Friday evening, please.

11. Payment pending

Hi [Name], order #1052 for 2 chicken biryani, ₹560, is waiting for payment. Pay here to confirm: [link]. The order is held for 15 minutes. Reply COD if you would prefer to pay on delivery.

12. Item unavailable, substitution

Hi [Name], for order #1053 the fish curry is sold out today. We can swap it for prawn curry at the same price or remove it and refund ₹280. Reply 1 for prawn, 2 for refund. Everything else is being prepared.

Confirmation, received and status are three different messages

Owners often send one message and expect it to do everything. Keep them separate. "Received" tells the customer their request arrived. "Confirmed" tells them the kitchen has accepted it and gives the details above. Status messages, such as out for delivery, follow later, and we cover those in order status message templates. If your system confirms instantly, you can skip "received"; if a person accepts each order, send both.

Greeting messages, which arrive before any order exists, are a separate set again, covered in WhatsApp greeting message examples for restaurants.

Cost and category on the WhatsApp Business API

If you send confirmations through the API, they fall under Meta's utility category, which is priced at a fraction of marketing messages in India. They also usually go out inside the 24-hour window after the customer's own message, which under current Meta pricing is not charged at all. Two rules keep them cheap: do not put an offer inside a confirmation, which would make it a marketing message, and submit any confirmation you send outside the window as a utility template. The approval process is in how to get WhatsApp templates approved, and the broader channel strategy is in our complete guide to WhatsApp marketing for restaurants.

Mistakes that generate "where is my order" messages

• No order number, so every query starts with "the one I placed at 7".
• No time, or a time that is a guess. Say 40 minutes if it is 40 minutes; do not say 25 to sound good.
• Total without the delivery charge broken out, which reads as a mistake when the customer compares it to the menu.
• Payment status missing, so COD customers do not keep cash ready and paid customers worry they will be charged twice.
• Confirmation sent only to the dashboard, not to the customer, because the staff assumed the system did it.

Ordering platforms handle most of this automatically. On Tezzu, for instance, the ordering bot confirms the order in the same WhatsApp chat the customer ordered from, the order lands in the live dashboard and on the staff app with an alert, and the customer gets a review request after delivery. The setup is described in how to set up WhatsApp ordering with Tezzu.

Frequently asked questions

What should an order confirmation message include?

An order number, the items with quantities, the total with delivery charge shown separately, the payment status, the expected delivery or pickup time, and the relevant address. Add one line on how to change or cancel and the time window for doing so. Keep it under 60 words so it reads in one glance on a phone.

How do I write an order received message for WhatsApp?

Thank the customer by name, repeat the order number and items, state the amount, and say when the kitchen will confirm. For example: "Thanks, Priya, we have received order #1046 for 2 chicken momos, ₹340. The kitchen will confirm in a few minutes." Send it immediately, then follow with a full confirmation once accepted.

Is an order confirmation a marketing or utility message on WhatsApp?

Utility. It relates to a transaction the customer has already made, so it is priced at the lower utility rate on the WhatsApp Business API and usually falls inside the free 24-hour reply window anyway. Adding an offer or a promotion to the confirmation turns it into a marketing message, which costs more and needs a marketing template.

Should I send order confirmations by SMS or WhatsApp?

WhatsApp, if the customer ordered on WhatsApp or gave a WhatsApp number, because the confirmation lands in the same chat as the order and the customer can reply to change it. SMS works as a fallback for customers without WhatsApp, but it cannot carry a reply, a payment link that opens cleanly, or the conversation history.