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

🍕 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