Key takeaways<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n- Most restaurant DMs are published facts<\/strong> asked after closing. Automating them is mostly putting your own information where people ask.<\/li>\n\n\n
- Two questions are all a booking needs: how many, and which day and rough time.<\/li>\n\n\n
- Connect the booking system so the flow ends in a real table, not a callback.<\/li>\n\n\n
- Allergen questions must always route to a person.<\/strong> No partial answer, no \u201cusually\u201d.<\/li>\n\n\n
- Complaints arrive late and emotional – route them to a manager, never a template.<\/li>\n\n\n
- Keep your hours in the flow, including bank holidays, because that is the question nobody can find online.<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The Allergen Line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
First, because it is the one thing in this article that is not a preference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why Software Cannot Answer It<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Whether a dish contains a given allergen depends on tonight’s ingredients, tonight’s supplier substitutions, and tonight’s kitchen. An automated answer is a safety claim made by a system with no sight of any of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It does not matter how accurate your menu data is. The risk is not that the data is wrong; it is that the data is not the same thing as the plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Route It Without a Clever Partial Answer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The tempting design is to answer from the menu and add a caveat. Do not. A caveat attached to a specific \u201cno nuts\u201d is read as the answer, not as the caveat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The correct flow is one sentence – that you take this seriously and are putting them through to someone who can check – and then a person. During service that person is front of house; outside it, an honest time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make It a Hard Keyword List<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Allergy, allergic, coeliac, gluten, nuts, peanut, shellfish, dairy, intolerance, anaphyl-. Written down, matched broadly on purpose, and escalating before any other branch runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the one place in the whole cluster where a deliberately greedy keyword is correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Restaurant](\"https:\/\/dmpro.brandid.app\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/dm-automation-for-restaurants-variables.jpg\")
The flow is the same everywhere. Only these change.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe Easy Majority<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Having dealt with the hard part, most of this inbox is genuinely simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Questions for a Booking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How many people, and which day and rough time. That is everything a table booking needs, and both are buttons – party size as numbers, timing as a window rather than an exact slot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The calendar then offers real times. Connecting the booking system is what turns this from a message you have to action into a table that is booked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hours, Including the Exceptions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAre you open tomorrow\u201d is the single most common restaurant DM and the one most often wrong on the website, because bank holidays and private events never get updated there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Put the real hours in the flow and keep them current. It takes a minute a month and removes a question asked daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Logistics Nobody Publishes Well<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Parking, step-free access, whether dogs are welcome, whether you do high chairs, how long you hold a table. Each one is trivial and each one is asked constantly, often by somebody deciding between you and somewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A flow that answers them at eleven at night is competing well against a website nobody is reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/dmpro.brandid.app\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/dm-automation-for-restaurants-latenight.jpg\")
Almost all of it is published information nobody can find on the website.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nGroup Size Changes the Answer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The one place where party size should change the route rather than just the booking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Allergen Line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
First, because it is the one thing in this article that is not a preference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why Software Cannot Answer It<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Whether a dish contains a given allergen depends on tonight’s ingredients, tonight’s supplier substitutions, and tonight’s kitchen. An automated answer is a safety claim made by a system with no sight of any of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It does not matter how accurate your menu data is. The risk is not that the data is wrong; it is that the data is not the same thing as the plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Route It Without a Clever Partial Answer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The tempting design is to answer from the menu and add a caveat. Do not. A caveat attached to a specific \u201cno nuts\u201d is read as the answer, not as the caveat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The correct flow is one sentence – that you take this seriously and are putting them through to someone who can check – and then a person. During service that person is front of house; outside it, an honest time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Make It a Hard Keyword List<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Allergy, allergic, coeliac, gluten, nuts, peanut, shellfish, dairy, intolerance, anaphyl-. Written down, matched broadly on purpose, and escalating before any other branch runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the one place in the whole cluster where a deliberately greedy keyword is correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having dealt with the hard part, most of this inbox is genuinely simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How many people, and which day and rough time. That is everything a table booking needs, and both are buttons – party size as numbers, timing as a window rather than an exact slot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The calendar then offers real times. Connecting the booking system is what turns this from a message you have to action into a table that is booked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAre you open tomorrow\u201d is the single most common restaurant DM and the one most often wrong on the website, because bank holidays and private events never get updated there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Put the real hours in the flow and keep them current. It takes a minute a month and removes a question asked daily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parking, step-free access, whether dogs are welcome, whether you do high chairs, how long you hold a table. Each one is trivial and each one is asked constantly, often by somebody deciding between you and somewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A flow that answers them at eleven at night is competing well against a website nobody is reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The one place where party size should change the route rather than just the booking.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Easy Majority<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Two Questions for a Booking<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Hours, Including the Exceptions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Logistics Nobody Publishes Well<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Group Size Changes the Answer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n