Send AI-parsed restaurant orders and status updates via Telegram and Google Sheets

Description

🍕 AI-Powered Restaurant Order & Notification System
A Complete n8n Workflow for Automated Ordering and Customer Updates

This professional n8n workflow provides an end-to-end solution for small restaurants. It includes a Telegram Customer Bot for placing orders and an Automated Notification System that updates customers via Google Sheets.

📖 Description

This system eliminates the need for manual order taking and status updates. It features:

AI Order Bot: Customers chat with a Telegram bot to view the menu and place orders. An AI agent (Claude Haiku) parses natural language (e.g., "2 pizza + 1 coke") into structured data.
Order Management: Orders are saved automatically to Google Sheets for staff to manage.
Real-Time Notifications: As staff change the status in the sheet (e.g., to Preparing or Ready), n8n instantly notifies the customer via Telegram.

Key Bot Commands

| Command | Description |
| :--- | :--- |
| /start | Welcome message and instructions |
| /menu | View today's food and drink offerings |
| /help | See all available commands |
| STATUS [Queue #] | Check the live status of an order |
| CANCEL [Queue #] | Cancel an order (only if Pending) |
| /myorders | View your last 5 orders |

🛠 Setup Requirements

1. Google Sheets Configuration

Your spreadsheet acts as your Admin Dashboard. Ensure Row 1 has these exact headers in order:

| Column | Header Name | Description |
| :---: | :--- | :--- |
| A | Queue Number | Auto-generated by the bot (e.g., #4582) |
| B | Chat ID | Customer's Telegram ID — captured automatically |
| C | Name | Customer's first name |
| D | Order | Items ordered — parsed and cleaned by AI |
| E | Status | Dropdown: Pending, Preparing, Ready, Completed, Cancelled |
| F | Order Time | Timestamp of when the order was placed |
| G | Order Date | Date of the order |
| H | Last Status Sent | Internal: Tracks last notification sent to prevent duplicates |

> ⚠️ Important: Set up a Data Validation dropdown on column E with the values: Pending, Preparing, Ready, Completed, Cancelled. This is how staff update order status.

> ⚠️ Important: In the Read All Rows node, go to Options → Output Row Number and ensure it is enabled. The workflow uses row_number to write back to the correct cell.

2. n8n Credential Configuration

You need 3 credentials set up in n8n before activating:

| Credential Type | Where Used | Notes |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Anthropic API | Claude Haiku node | Required for AI order parsing |
| Google Sheets OAuth2 API | All Google Sheets nodes | Connect your Google account |
| Telegram Bot API | All Telegram nodes | Use your bot token from @BotFather |

Steps:
Go to n8n → Settings → Credentials → Add Credential
Add each credential type above
After importing the workflow, open each node and select the correct credential

3. Workflow Import Steps

Copy the workflow JSON
In n8n, click + → Import from JSON → Paste and confirm
Connect all credentials in each node
Ensure Output Row Number is enabled in Read All Rows node options
Pre-fill column H (Last Status Sent) with the current Status for all existing rows to prevent old rows from firing notifications on first run
Turn the workflow Active

🏗 How It Works

Phase 1: The Customer Bot (Workflow 1)

Customer texts bot
↓
Route Message — detects command type
↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ /start → Welcome message │
│ /help → Help guide │
│ /menu → Today's menu │
│ /myorders → Last 5 orders │
│ STATUS → Live order status │
│ CANCEL → Cancel if Pending only │
│ [order] → AI parses → saves │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
↓
Order saved to Google Sheet (Status = Pending)
Customer receives queue number + wait time

Phase 2: The Staff Notification System (Workflow 2)

Every 1 minute — Schedule Trigger fires
↓
Read ALL rows from Google Sheet
↓
For EACH row independently (runOnceForEachItem):
Skip if no Queue Number or Chat ID
Skip if Status = Pending
Skip if Status = Last Status Sent (already notified)
✅ Send notification if Status changed
↓
Send Telegram message to that customer only
↓
Write new Status into column H (Last Status Sent)
→ Prevents duplicate notification next minute

Status Flow & Customer Messages

| Staff sets Status to | Customer receives |
| :--- | :--- |
| Preparing | 👨‍🍳 "Your order is being Prepared! We'll notify you when it's ready." |
| Ready | 🍕 "Your order is READY for collection! Please collect from the counter." |
| Completed | ✅ "Order marked as Completed. Thank you for dining with us!" |
| Cancelled | ❌ "Your order has been Cancelled. We apologise for the inconvenience." |

🔒 Order Cancellation Rules

Customers can only cancel orders in Pending status. All other states are protected:

| Current Status | Customer tries CANCEL | Response |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Pending | CANCEL 1234 | ✅ Cancelled successfully |
| Preparing | CANCEL 1234 | ⚠️ Cannot cancel — being prepared |
| Ready | CANCEL 1234 | ⚠️ Already ready — please collect |
| Completed | CANCEL 1234 | ⚠️ Already completed |
| Cancelled | CANCEL 1234 | ⚠️ Already cancelled |
| Someone else's order | CANCEL 1234 | ❌ You can only cancel your own orders |

📦 Required Credentials Summary

| Credential | Provider | Free Tier |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Anthropic API | anthropic.com | Paid — ~$5 minimum deposit |
| Google Sheets OAuth2 API | Google Cloud Console | Free |
| Google Sheets Trigger OAuth2 API | Google Cloud Console | Free |
| Telegram Bot API | @BotFather on Telegram | Free forever |

🧪 Test Scenarios

Run these in order to verify the full system:

/start → Should receive welcome message
/menu → Should see the menu with prices
Type 2 pizza + 1 coke → Should get queue number
STATUS [queue] → Should show ⏳ Pending
In sheet: change Status to Preparing → Within 1 min, customer gets 👨‍🍳 message
In sheet: change Status to Ready → Customer gets 🍕 message
STATUS [queue] → Should now show 🍕 Ready
CANCEL [queue] → Should say "already ready, please collect"
In sheet: change Status to Completed → Customer gets ✅ message
/myorders → Should show order history with final status

⚠️ Known Limitations

Notification delay:** Up to 1 minute between staff updating the sheet and customer receiving the message (due to polling interval)
Column H required:** The Last Status Sent column must exist in your sheet. Without it, every row will fire a notification on every poll
Anthropic API cost:** Claude Haiku is not free — very low cost (~$0.25 per million tokens) but requires a funded account
Google Sheets trigger limitation:** The Google Sheets Trigger cannot detect which specific row changed, which is why a Schedule Trigger with row comparison is used instead

🗂 File Structure

restaurant_WITH_STICKIES.json — Complete workflow (W1 + W2) with sticky notes
restaurant_workflow_docs.md — This documentation file

Built with n8n • Claude Haiku AI • Google Sheets • Telegram Bot API