WhatsApp ordering for restaurants in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, WhatsApp is the app your customers already have open. The Communications, Space and Technology Commission's Saudi Internet 2025 report ranks it the most used social media app, at 92.7% of users. Menuthere turns that chat into an ordering channel on your own number: the customer sends "Hi", taps Order Now, orders in SAR, and pays cash or by card when the food arrives. Meta's SAR rate card prices each order update to a Saudi number at SAR 0.0401 from October 1, 2026. Updates are utility templates and always billed; the reply to "Hi" is a service message and falls in the 1,000 free a month.

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Saudi customers and WhatsApp: the numbers

The CST's Saudi Internet 2025 report, published July 18, 2026, lists the most used social media apps in the Kingdom:

WhatsApp leads in every age group from 20 upward, reaching 96.7% of users aged 40 to 49. The same report lists Keeta, HungerStation and Jahez among the most downloaded delivery and restaurant apps. In other words, your customers order food on apps but talk on WhatsApp. That's the gap a WhatsApp ordering channel fills.

Meta's prices for messages to Saudi numbers

Meta has published a Saudi riyal card since April 1, 2026. Its current file is titled "Cost per message in SAR on the WhatsApp Business Platform, effective October 1, 2026".

Three rules decide your bill:

1. The customer's number sets the price. A message to a Saudi (+966) number uses the Saudi row; a message to an Egyptian or Pakistani number uses that country's row.
2. Only service messages have a free tier. Each business number gets 1,000 a month, which covers the reply to "Hi". Order updates are utility templates and are billed from the first one.
3. Marketing costs about five times a service message. Broadcast to customers who opted in, not to everyone.

Our WhatsApp cost calculator shows every country's rate in SAR.

How customers pay for a WhatsApp order in Saudi Arabia

WhatsApp doesn't offer in-chat payments to businesses in Saudi Arabia; its Help Center lists only India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia. And Menuthere's online card checkout runs on Stripe outside India, which isn't available in the Kingdom. See is Stripe available in Saudi Arabia.

So a Saudi WhatsApp order is paid like this:

• Cash or card on delivery. Your rider brings your own card machine, if you have one. Menuthere marks the order as cash, and you can record how it was paid.
• Pay at pickup at your counter.
• Your own payment link or bank details, sent by you if you want payment first.

Menuthere doesn't connect Mada or STC Pay. If you use HyperPay, Moyasar, Tap Payments or PayTabs, tell us from the gateway request list in Settings → Payments & tax. Requests decide which gateway we add next.

For large or first-time orders, read should I ask for payment before cooking.

WhatsApp beside Jahez, HungerStation and Keeta

You don't have to leave the apps. Use them to reach new customers, and give your regulars your WhatsApp number on every bag.

Worked example: a Riyadh burger kitchen, 600 WhatsApp orders a month

Assume 600 orders at an average of SAR 60 (SAR 36,000 a month), every customer on a Saudi number, and the account billed on the SAR card.

WhatsApp fees with a lean flow: the reply to "Hi" plus three updates (order placed, dispatched with tracking, completed).

• 600 "Hi" replies: service messages, inside the 1,000 free
• 600 × 3 = 1,800 utility updates × SAR 0.0401 = SAR 72.18

With all five updates: 3,000 updates × SAR 0.0401 = SAR 120.30.

Plan: Menuthere Pro, US$39. There's no gateway fee, because customers pay cash or on your own card machine.

The same sales on the apps (before VAT):

The apps' figures are estimates from public reports; your contract rate is what counts.

Local notes

• VAT and invoices. Add your VAT number in Menuthere so it shows on the bill. Menuthere doesn't issue ZATCA e-invoices, so keep using your e-invoicing system. On VAT and gateway fees, see is VAT charged on payment gateway fees.
• Arabic first. Edit the Welcome reply and every update into Arabic. Add Arabic dish names (every plan), or switch on the Arabic menu language (Lite and up).
• Data law. Send offers only to customers who agreed to get them. Read WhatsApp marketing under Saudi data law.
• Shisha and tobacco can't be promoted on WhatsApp. See can a shisha café promote hookah on WhatsApp.
• Get the "Hi" started. Make a pre-filled link with the WhatsApp link generator and print it on menus and bags.

For the informational version, read how Saudi restaurants take orders on WhatsApp, or see the Saudi online ordering system.