"Your order is ready for pickup" WhatsApp templates
Updated October 20, 2026
A "ready for pickup" WhatsApp message is a utility template that tells one customer their own order is ready to collect. It is the most useful message for a pickup restaurant: it replaces the shout across the counter and the "is it ready yet?" call. It costs about US$0.0034 per message to a US number (Meta's rate card effective October 1, 2026). In Menuthere the Order food ready flow sends it, with the items, when you mark the order ready. Below are three wordings for counter pickup, curbside and orders you keep warm.
In short
- Category: Utility. It reports the status of the customer's own order.
- Curbside trick: ask the customer to reply when they park. Their reply opens a fresh 24-hour window, so your next message can be a plain chat message.
- In Menuthere: the Order food ready flow: "Your Order is Ready!" plus the items. It starts switched off.
- In the US, WhatsApp can send order updates but not promotions; use email for offers.
Three ready-for-pickup wordings
{{customer_name}}, {{order_id}} and {{store_name}} come from Menuthere's order flows. {{hold_until}} is a time you type, such as "7:30 PM".
1. Counter pickup
Header: Your order is ready
Hi {{customer_name}}, your order #{{order_id}} is ready for pickup at {{store_name}}. Please show this message at the counter.2. Curbside
Header: Ready for curbside pickup
Hi {{customer_name}}, order #{{order_id}} from {{store_name}} is ready. Reply with your car color when you park and we'll bring it out to you.3. Kept warm
Your order #{{order_id}} from {{store_name}} is ready, {{customer_name}}. We'll keep it warm at the counter until {{hold_until}}, so come by when you can.The template to submit to Meta
Wording 2 (curbside) as a Meta template. It has no header value and no button, so it is the simplest kind to get approved:
Name: ready_for_pickup_curbside
Category: Utility
Language: en_US
Header (text): Ready for curbside pickup
Body:
Hi {{1}}, order #{{2}} from {{3}} is ready. Reply with your car color when you park and we'll bring it out to you.
Body examples:
{{1}} = Maria
{{2}} = 1042
{{3}} = Luna TaqueriaWhich wording fits your counter
| How you hand over food | Wording | What it saves |
|---|---|---|
| Counter or shelf pickup | 1. Counter pickup | Customers wait outside or in the car instead of at the till |
| Curbside, staff walk the bag out | 2. Curbside | The customer's reply ("blue Civic, spot 3") is free to receive and reopens the 24-hour window |
| Busy nights, orders ready early | 3. Kept warm | Sets a pickup deadline, so cold food isn't your problem after it |
| Order not collected after the deadline | Reply in the chat, or send wording 3 again from the inbox | See what to do when a customer doesn't collect a pickup order |
What it costs per send
| Customer's number | Utility rate per message | Per 1,000 sends |
|---|---|---|
| United States and Canada | US$0.0034 | US$3.40 |
| United Kingdom | US$0.022 | US$22.00 |
| India | US$0.0014 | US$1.40 |
| Brazil | US$0.0068 | US$6.80 |
| United Arab Emirates | US$0.0157 | US$15.70 |
Meta's USD rate card effective October 1, 2026, read on October 20, 2026. Meta bills your own WhatsApp Business account; Menuthere adds no markup. Check any other country in the WhatsApp cost calculator.
What Menuthere sends by default
| Part | Default wording |
|---|---|
| Flow | Order food ready, one of six order flows, off until you switch it on |
| Message | "Your Order is Ready!": "Hi {{customer_name}}, your order {{order_id}} from {{store_name}} is ready!", then the items |
| Sent when | You mark the order Food Ready in your dashboard |
| Button | None. The customer's order page shows Food Ready at the same moment |
Like every default order flow, this is a chat message. A pickup customer who ordered on your website without writing to you is outside the 24-hour window, so give the flow a window_open condition and a Send template step with one of the templates above. See order updates to customers.
Worked example: a Chicago ramen counter with 700 pickup orders a month
The counter sends one ready message per order. About 35 orders a month (1 in 20) sit on the shelf past 15 minutes, and staff send the kept-warm wording from the inbox to those.
| Message | Sends a month | US numbers | UK numbers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready for pickup | 700 | 700 × US$0.0034 = US$2.38 | 700 × US$0.022 = US$15.40 |
| Kept warm until… (late collectors) | 35 | US$0.12 | US$0.77 |
| Customer replies ("on my way") | about 100 | US$0: customers' messages are never charged | US$0 |
| Meta fees | US$2.50 | US$16.17 |
The 1-in-20 rate is this example's assumption, not a measured figure. Related: how to send being-prepared and ready-for-pickup messages and can I take pickup-only orders on WhatsApp.
FAQs
Is an order ready for pickup message a utility template?
Yes. It tells the customer that their own order is ready to collect and contains nothing promotional, so Meta files it as utility.
How do I write a ready for pickup message?
Name the customer, give the order number and the restaurant, say it is ready, and say what to do: show the message at the counter, reply when parked, or come by before a set time.
Does it cost money when the customer replies on WhatsApp?
No. Meta never charges for messages customers send you. A reply also opens a fresh 24-hour window, in which you can answer with a normal chat message.
What does Menuthere send when the food is ready?
The Order food ready flow sends Your Order is Ready! with the order number and items when you mark the order Food Ready. The flow starts switched off.
Sources (6)
- Meta pricing page: users are never charged; business-to-user messages charged per delivered message (accessed 20 Oct 2026).
- Meta for Developers, Template categorization (utility = non-promotional and specific to or requested by the user; mixed content = marketing; examples by category; utility submitted but judged marketing is approved as marketing since April 9, 2025): https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/template-categorization (accessed 20 Oct 2026; the page shows no date)
- Meta for Developers, Template components (text header 60 characters and 1 parameter; body 1,024; footer 60; up to 10 buttons; URL buttons up to 2, label 25, one variable appended to the end of the URL): https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/components (accessed 20 Oct 2026)
- Meta for Developers, Template review (rejection reasons: mismatched braces, non-sequential parameters, too many parameters for the length, template starts or ends with a parameter, duplicates; decisions can take up to 24 hours): https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/template-review (accessed 20 Oct 2026)
- Meta for Developers, Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform (per delivered message, by category and the recipient's country calling code; utility in the customer service window billed as regular from October 1, 2026; 1,000 free service messages per business number per month): https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/pricing (accessed 20 Oct 2026)
- Meta for Developers, Per-user marketing template message limits ("WhatsApp does not currently deliver marketing template messages to WhatsApp users with United States phone numbers", defined as +1 with a US area code): https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/marketing-templates/per-user-limits (accessed 20 Oct 2026)