WhatsApp ordering for restaurants in the UAE

WhatsApp ordering lets a UAE restaurant take orders on its own WhatsApp number, with no delivery-app commission. With Menuthere, the customer sends "Hi", taps Order Now, orders from your menu in AED and gets each update in the same chat. You pay your plan, Stripe's card fee if you take cards, and Meta's message fees. From October 1, 2026, Meta's AED rate card puts each order update to a UAE number at AED 0.0576. Menuthere sends updates as utility templates, so every one is billed; only the reply to "Hi" draws on Meta's 1,000 free service messages a month.

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How much do people in the UAE use WhatsApp?

A lot, though the official figure is old. The UAE's Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority asked about social media in its 2016 survey. It found that 97% of respondents used WhatsApp, ahead of Facebook at 89%. Among Emiratis the figure was 96%, and among residents 97%. We found no newer government figure, so treat it as a sign of habit rather than today's exact share.

What matters for a restaurant: your customers already message businesses on WhatsApp. Many of them are expats with numbers from home, and that affects your message costs (see below).

What Meta charges for WhatsApp messages in the UAE

Meta charges per delivered message. The price depends on the message type and on the country of the customer's number, not on where your restaurant is. Since October 1, 2026, Meta publishes a card in UAE dirhams. Its title reads "Cost per message in AED on the WhatsApp Business Platform, effective October 1, 2026".

• Order updates are utility templates and are always billed. Menuthere sends each update (placed, accepted, ready, dispatched, completed) as an approved utility template.
• The reply to "Hi" is a service message. The first 1,000 service messages each month are free per business phone number; Meta charges from the 1,001st.
• Utility messages are charged even inside the 24-hour window from October 1, 2026.
• Your account's currency is set when your WhatsApp account is created. You can't switch it later without moving accounts, so pick AED at the start if you want dirham bills.
• Expat numbers cost their own country's rate. An update to a UK (+44) number is priced on the UK row, and one to a Philippine number on the Rest of Asia Pacific row. Read is the price based on my country or my customer's.

Meta can change prices only on January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1. Check the live figures in our WhatsApp cost calculator.

How a WhatsApp order works with Menuthere

1. The customer sends "Hi" to your number, from your Instagram bio, Google listing or a sticker on the bag.
2. Your number replies with an Order Now button. The link signs them in automatically and works for 23 hours.
3. They order from your web menu: photos, sizes, add-ons, prices in AED, delivery or pickup.
4. Updates arrive in the same chat: order placed, accepted, ready, dispatched with a Track Order button, and completed.

The reply to "Hi" is a service message; each update is a utility template, billed at the utility rate. New orders ring on the partner app until someone accepts them. Full detail: how "send Hi to order" works.

Paying for WhatsApp orders in the UAE

WhatsApp's own in-chat payments aren't available in the UAE. WhatsApp's Help Center lists only India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia for paying businesses inside the app. So customers pay on your menu instead:

• Cards through your own Stripe account (Lite and up). Stripe's standard UAE rate is 2.9% + AED 1.00 per successful domestic card payment. Menuthere takes no commission on top. See is Stripe available in the UAE.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay can show at checkout once you switch them on in Stripe. They may not appear inside WhatsApp's in-app browser, where customers see card entry instead.
• Cash on delivery or pay at pickup, on every plan, with no fee.

Never ask for card numbers in the chat; WhatsApp's policies forbid it.

Delivery apps and WhatsApp: what each costs

Most UAE restaurants keep the apps for new customers and move their regulars to WhatsApp. Here's what the apps charge, from our commission pages:

Worked example: a Dubai kitchen with 400 WhatsApp orders a month

Say 400 regulars a month order on WhatsApp at an average of AED 80. That's AED 32,000 in sales. All customers have UAE numbers, all pay by card, and your account is on the AED card.

The lean flow keeps the "Hi" reply plus three updates: order placed, dispatched (with tracking) and completed. Customers check the tracking page as often as they like at no message cost.

The same AED 32,000 through noon Food at 25% would be AED 8,000 in commission, plus the 2% gateway fee noon listed in March 2026 (AED 640), before VAT.

Local checklist for UAE restaurants

• Prices in AED, with 5% VAT included where you're VAT-registered.
• Arabic names added to your best sellers (every plan). The language button that translates the whole menu is on Lite and up.
• Welcome and update messages written in the language your customers use. You can edit the wording of every flow.
• No alcohol or shisha in chats or broadcasts. Read can a restaurant sell alcohol on WhatsApp and can a shisha café promote hookah.
• A payment method added in Meta's billing, or service replies stop once the free 1,000 are used.
• Order link printed as a QR sticker with the WhatsApp QR sticker maker, and a pre-filled "Hi" link made with the WhatsApp link generator.

More context: how UAE restaurants take orders on WhatsApp and our UAE online ordering system.

How to start

1. Create your free ordering page and import your menu from a photo or PDF.
2. Upgrade to Pro (7-day free trial; a card is needed to start, and nothing is charged until it ends).
3. Connect your number with Facebook sign-in under Sales channel → WhatsApp, then switch on the Welcome and order-update flows.
4. Connect Stripe and send yourself a test "Hi" from another phone.