Home / Restaurants and cafes / SB-037
Reply to private party inquiries and get every detail in one go
Turn a vague party or large group inquiry into one friendly reply with your real spaces and menus, and every question you need answered.
- Who it suits
- Restaurant owner, general manager, events coordinator
- Time saved
- About 20 to 30 minutes per inquiry, and fewer emails back and forth (estimate)
- Level
- Easy
- Updated
- Nov 5, 2026
Why this task
A message lands: "Do you do parties? About 25 people, sometime in March." No date, no time, no budget. Getting the rest takes three or four emails back and forth, the same questions every time, and while you wait the group books the place down the street. An agent can read the inquiry, match it to your event sheet and draft one reply that names the spaces that fit and asks every missing question at once, for the manager to check against the book and send.
You help [RESTAURANT NAME], a [TYPE OF RESTAURANT] in [TOWN], answer private party and large group inquiries. Our event sheet (use only these facts): Spaces: [NAME | SEATED | STANDING | DAYS AND TIMES IT CAN BE BOOKED] Food and drink minimum or room fee: [AMOUNT AND WHEN IT APPLIES, AS WE WROTE IT] Set menus: [NAME | PRICE PER GUEST | WHAT IS INCLUDED] What we don't allow: [FOR EXAMPLE: OUTSIDE FOOD, LIVE BANDS] Deposit and cancellation wording: [PASTE WORD FOR WORD] Our allergy and dietary wording: [PASTE WORD FOR WORD] Dates already booked or on hold: [DATES] How we sound: [FOR EXAMPLE: WARM, PLAIN, LIGHTLY FUN] The guest's inquiry, in their words, with phone numbers and emails taken out: [PASTE] It came by: [EMAIL, TEXT OR SOCIAL MESSAGE] Text permission: [YES OR NO] Our texting app's opt-out line: [COPY IT HERE] Do this: 1. Make a facts list of what the guest told us: date, start time, number of guests, occasion, budget, food and drink wishes, dietary needs. Write MISSING next to anything they did not say. Do not guess. 2. Pick the spaces whose seated or standing number fits the group. Never go over those numbers. If nothing fits, say so kindly. 3. If their date is on our booked list, say it is taken and offer to check nearby dates. Never say a date is free or held. Say the manager will confirm the date. 4. Write one email or social reply of 180 words or fewer: thank them, name the spaces that fit with their numbers, give the minimum or fee and up to two set menus with prices exactly as written, then ask every MISSING item in one short numbered list. 5. Mention the deposit or cancellation terms only in our exact words. 6. If they mention allergies or dietary needs, use our allergy and dietary wording exactly. Do not say any dish is safe for an allergy. 7. If it came by text and text permission is YES, write a text under 320 characters instead: thank them, ask for an email address for the full details, ask for any MISSING date or guest count, and end with our opt-out line. If it came by text and permission is NO, write nothing and list it under [MANAGER] so the manager can decide how to reply. 8. If the message is a complaint, a donation request or anything that is not an event inquiry, do not reply. List it under [MANAGER]. Show the facts list first, then the reply. Do not send anything.
Swap each highlighted part for your own prices, hours and policies before you run it.
Steps
- Write your event sheet on one page: each space with its seated and standing numbers and when it can be booked, your food and drink minimum or room fee, your set menus with prices per guest, what you don't allow, and your deposit and cancellation wording.
- Copy the dates already booked or on hold from your events calendar.
- Paste the guest's inquiry in their own words, with phone numbers and email addresses taken out. Note whether it came by email, text or social message, and whether they agreed to texts.
- Read the facts list the AI (artificial intelligence) returns first. If it says the guest gave a detail they never wrote, fix that before using the reply.
- Check the draft against your event sheet: the group fits the space, every price and minimum matches, and the deposit wording is word for word.
- Send the reply yourself, from the same inbox or app the guest used.
- Put the date in the book only after the guest says yes, and after the deposit if you take one. The reply never holds a date on its own.
- When the guest answers your questions, paste their answers into the same chat and ask for a one-page event summary for the kitchen and floor team. Check it before you share it.
What you get
A short facts list showing what the guest told you and what is missing, then one warm reply that names the spaces that fit, gives your real minimum and menu prices, and asks every missing question at once. For an inquiry that came by text, you get a short text asking for an email address and any missing details instead, or a note for the manager if the guest hasn't agreed to texts. The manager checks the date and sends it.
What could go wrong, and what to double-check
Two groups are promised the same night.
CheckBooked dates go into the prompt, the reply never says a date is free or held, and the manager confirms in the book before anything is promised.
A wrong price or minimum goes out and the guest holds you to it.
CheckPrices come only from your event sheet, word for word, and the manager checks each number before sending.
A space is offered for more guests than it holds.
CheckThe prompt uses your own seated and standing numbers and never goes over them.
A guest with an allergy reads the reply as a promise.
CheckThe reply uses only your own allergy wording and never calls a dish safe.
A guest gets a text without having said yes to texts.
CheckPrompt item 7 writes a text only when permission is YES, with your opt-out line last, and sends any other texted inquiry to the manager.
Phone numbers and email addresses from the inquiry get pasted into a chat.
CheckStep 3 takes them out first, so the prompt only ever holds the guest's words.
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