WhatsApp & SMS Ordering: Your Customers Message, Open Pantry Builds the Order
Open Pantry gives your business its own WhatsApp and SMS ordering number. When a chef messages it — a typed list, a photo of the order sheet, a PDF or a voice note — Open Pantry recognises the customer from their phone number, reads the message with AI, matches every line to your catalogue at that customer’s prices and builds the order. Confident orders place themselves; anything unclear waits for a quick review. Your customers don’t install anything.
- Texts, photos, PDFs and voice notes all become structured orders
- A burst of messages from one customer becomes one order, not five
- Prepaid AI credits, charged only for orders that are processed
★★★★★ Trusted by 600+ suppliers
Orders Already Arrive by Message. The Typing Is the Problem.
Orders land on a rep’s personal phone and leave the business when they do
Someone retypes every text, screenshot and voice note into the system before the cut-off
Messages sent after hours sit unread until the morning rush
Retyped orders lose the customer’s pack sizes and agreed prices along the way
How WhatsApp & SMS Ordering Works
Get your own ordering number
Open Pantry sets up a WhatsApp and SMS number for your business, so orders no longer depend on anyone’s personal phone.
Customers message it as usual
Typed lists, photos of order sheets, PDFs or voice notes — in their own words. Their phone number tells Open Pantry who they are.
AI reads and matches every line
Products matched to your catalogue, quantities and pack sizes extracted, and that customer’s prices applied.
Confident orders place themselves
Above the threshold you set, the order goes straight into picking. Below it, it waits beside the original message for a quick check.
Free trial · Cancel anytime
A number that belongs to the business
Your WhatsApp and SMS ordering numbers sit on your Open Pantry account, not on a rep’s handset. Messages from a known customer number are matched to that customer automatically; a number Open Pantry doesn’t recognise is flagged for your team instead of guessed.
- Separate WhatsApp and SMS numbers
- Unknown senders flagged, never guessed
Reads texts, photos, PDFs and voice notes
Chefs order however suits them at 5am. A typed list, a photo of a handwritten order sheet, a PDF purchase order or a voice note — Open Pantry reads each one, transcribing voice notes, and matches the lines to your catalogue, including shorthand like “usual herbs”.
- Voice notes transcribed
- Customer shorthand matched to real products
One order, even across several messages
Customers rarely send an order in one go. Messages that arrive close together in the same conversation are combined into a single draft, so “order for Fri”, “10kg spuds” and “oh and a box of lemons” become one order. Cut-offs, delivery days and the customer’s price list apply exactly as they do to app orders.
- Confidence-scored, with a threshold you set
- Unclear lines shown beside the original message
Pay only for orders that are processed
AI ordering runs on prepaid credits. Buy a credit pack, turn on auto-recharge if you like, and see every charge in a usage ledger. A credit is used once for each order that is processed — never for an import that fails or an order you reject.
- Auto-recharge below a balance you choose
- Full usage ledger
- More product lines purchased
- 24%
- Your always-on branded store and app put your full range in front of customers, so baskets grow.
- Less order-processing cost
- 95%
- AI order capture and auto-invoicing remove the manual keying between order and books.
- Fewer picking errors
- 80%
- Tablet pick & pack with FEFO lot and expiry tracking catches shorts and wrong items before they ship.
Real gains suppliers report after moving ordering, fulfilment and invoicing onto Open Pantry.
Message Orders Flow Everywhere Automatically
Trusted by M&J Chickens
- $175m+
- Annual turnover
M&J Chickens use Open Pantry to move ordering out of calls and messages and into one digital workflow — giving customers a smooth ordering experience and giving the team fewer errors and less admin.
“Moving to a digital process has transformed our ordering process which is now faster through our own mobile apps.”
Why not just answer WhatsApp on the work phone?
A shared work phone still needs someone to read every message and retype it, it goes quiet after hours, and voice notes get misheard on a noisy dock. With Open Pantry the message itself becomes the order, at the customer’s prices, and only the unclear ones need a person — while the number stays with your business, whoever is on shift.
Open Pantry for food suppliers in New Zealand
New Zealand food and beverage wholesalers use Open Pantry to take orders from restaurants, cafés and venues online, with every order flowing to picking, invoicing and accounting.
- Plans priced in
- NZD — see NZ pricing
- Accounting sync
- Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online
- Supplier directory
- 2,000+ New Zealand wholesale food & beverage suppliers
Can New Zealand food suppliers use Open Pantry?
Yes. Wholesalers and distributors in New Zealand use Open Pantry to take orders from restaurants, cafés and venues through their own branded ordering app and online store. Plans are priced in NZD, and orders and invoices sync with Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online.
Is there a free plan for suppliers in New Zealand?
Yes. The free plan lets you list products and receive unlimited orders. Paid plans add accounting, inventory and delivery tools, come with a free trial and are priced in NZD.
Questions Suppliers Ask About WhatsApp & SMS Ordering
How does WhatsApp ordering work for a food wholesaler?＋
Do my customers need to download an app?＋
What can customers send?＋
What if a customer sends their order over several messages?＋
How does Open Pantry know which customer is messaging?＋
Are the customer’s own prices applied?＋
Do orders go straight through or does someone check them?＋
How is it charged?＋
Can I use SMS as well as WhatsApp?＋
Does it work outside Australia?＋
Where do the orders go after they are created?＋
Works Even Better With
AI Order Capture
Email, PDF, photo, SMS, WhatsApp and voicemail orders turned into real orders — no retyping.
Explore →Branded Store & App
For customers who prefer to tap — your own ordering app and online store at their prices.
Explore →Digital Pick & Pack
Message orders land straight in tablet picking — shorts, subs and pack checks, no paper.
Explore →Turn Every Message Into an Order.
Join 600+ Australian suppliers running their ordering, fulfilment and invoicing on Open Pantry.
Setup done for you · Cancel anytime · Your data stays yours