Industries · Food & beverage
Online catalog and pre-orders for home-based food.
You cook from home. You take orders on WhatsApp. You can't do 50 a day, but you can do 20. WhatsMenu gives you the catalog, pre-order window, daily caps, and structured order flow that turn a home kitchen into a real online business — without a commercial license.
Where home-based food businesses lose hours every week
Five frictions specific to running a food business out of your home kitchen.
Order chaos in WhatsApp
Twenty messages a day, half about menu questions, half ordering. You scroll up to find what someone said yesterday. Order details get lost. The pickup time misremembered. Payment chase by chat.
Daily caps you have to enforce manually
You can prep for 20 customers a day. The 21st message arrives at 9pm; you turn them away after they've already imagined their dinner. You feel bad; they feel bad.
Operating only certain days of the week
You cook Wednesday and Saturday. The rest of the week customers still message asking. You manually reply "we're closed" twenty times.
Pickup vs delivery confusion
Some customers come to pick up. Some want delivery via Lalamove. Some want their friend to fetch. Without a structured flow, every order has a clarifying chat about WHERE.
Ingredients and minimum-order rules nobody enforces
Bento boxes minimum 5. Soup sold by the pot, not the bowl. Some items need 24 hours notice. You enforce these rules in chat — every single time.
How WhatsMenu fits a home-based food business
Five features that move you from chat-chaos to structured orders.
Daily limit caps orders at what you can actually cook
Cap orders at 20 per Wednesday and 20 per Saturday. Once the cap hits, the storefront shows "fully booked for this date." No more 9pm awkward turn-aways.
Learn more →Scheduled availability blocks the days you don't cook
Set Wednesday and Saturday as orderable; everything else greyed out. Customers see the next available date — they don't message asking when, they just see.
Learn more →Pickup vs delivery sorted at checkout, not in chat
WhatsMenu's service-options selector at checkout asks the customer pickup or delivery — if delivery, they pick a delivery area; if pickup, a pickup point and time slot. Structured with every order, no clarifying chat. For per-item details (allergies, customisation, "less ice"), use Custom Item Fields on top.
Learn more →Share cart for the bespoke "make me something special" requests
Regular WhatsApps you a share-cart link asking for the usual plus an extra portion. You confirm in chat, they pay via the cart link, the order joins your structured flow. Best of both worlds.
Learn more →A storefront link that turns your WhatsApp followers into structured orders
Share your storefront link in WhatsApp status, broadcast lists, and group chats. Customers tap, browse, build a cart, check out — every order arrives in your dashboard with phone, items, pickup details all structured. They're still "ordering via WhatsApp" from their side; you just stop scrolling chat history to piece orders together.
Learn more →How a home cook uses WhatsMenu through the week
Sunday evening you set Wednesday's menu — 5 bento options, capped at 20 orders total. Schedule shows orders open Sunday 6pm through Tuesday midnight. Tuesday by 9pm the cap hits — storefront flips to "Wednesday fully booked, next date Saturday." Wednesday morning you have a clean order list — 20 customers, each with their bento choice, pickup vs delivery, address, pickup time. Cook, pack, hand out. Saturday repeats. No 9pm regret messages, no chasing payment, no clarifying "where" chats.
Recommended setup
Modes to enable
Features to enable
Frequently asked questions
Can I limit orders to 20 a day on certain days only?
Yes. Daily Limit caps total orders per day; Scheduled Availability blocks the days you don't cook. Set Wednesday and Saturday as orderable, capped at 20 each. Other days are greyed out — customers see "next available: Wednesday."
Do I need a commercial license to use WhatsMenu?
No. WhatsMenu doesn't require any license — it's an online catalog and order tool. Whether YOU need a license depends on your country's home-business rules; WhatsMenu doesn't add any compliance layer either way.
Can customers WhatsApp me directly instead of using the cart?
Yes — you can configure WhatsApp Ordering mode where the cart converts to a structured WhatsApp message. Same data, just delivered via chat instead of order email.
How do I handle different pickup vs delivery preferences?
Use Custom Item Fields to add a "pickup or delivery" field at checkout. If delivery, ask for address. If pickup, ask for time slot. All structured, no chat clarification.
Can I require a minimum order for some items?
Yes — set a minimum quantity per item or a minimum total order value. The cart enforces it at checkout. No more "actually we don't do single bentos."
How do I get paid — do customers pay online?
Both options. Connect Stripe / FPX / e-wallet for online payment, or accept cash on pickup / delivery. Many home cooks prefer cash on pickup; others want online to avoid the chase.
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Learn more →Turn your home kitchen into a real online business.
Daily caps, scheduled days, pickup slots, structured orders — all in one platform.
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