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.

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📖 Description

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

1. 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.
2. Order Management: Orders are saved automatically to Google Sheets for staff to manage.
3. 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

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🛠 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.

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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:

1. Go to n8n → Settings → Credentials → Add Credential
2. Add each credential type above
3. After importing the workflow, open each node and select the correct credential

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3. Workflow Import Steps

1. Copy the workflow JSON
2. In n8n, click + → Import from JSON → Paste and confirm
3. Connect all credentials in each node
4. Ensure Output Row Number is enabled in Read All Rows node options
5. 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
6. Turn the workflow Active

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🏗 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 │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
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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."

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🔒 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

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📦 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

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🧪 Test Scenarios

Run these in order to verify the full system:

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

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⚠️ 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

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🗂 File Structure

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

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