WhatsApp for POs

Connect your restaurant's WhatsApp Business number once so purchase orders can reach vendors on WhatsApp.

Maska sends purchase orders to vendors by email out of the box — there is nothing to set up for that. WhatsApp is optional, and needs a one-time setup by an owner in Settings → Communications: connect your restaurant’s WhatsApp Business number, then get the standard PO message approved by WhatsApp. Until both are done, the send screen offers email only.

This page is the one-time setup. For day-to-day sending, see Send a PO to a vendor.

The two readiness signals

The Communications tab shows a readiness card at the top — Ready to send on WhatsApp or Not ready yet. It only turns ready when both badges below it are green:

Business number — Connected means your WhatsApp Business number is linked and passed its health check.
PO message template — Approved means WhatsApp (Meta) has reviewed and approved the standard Maska PO message.

Note: if the tab warns that the WhatsApp provider isn’t configured on the server yet, contact Maska support first — the connection service (Kapso) has to be switched on for your restaurant before the steps below will work.

Only an owner can change these settings; everyone else sees the status read-only.

Step 1 — Connect your business number

Go to Settings → Communications.
Choose the Provider — Kapso (the standard setup) or Meta.
Enter the Phone number ID and WABA ID for your WhatsApp Business number, plus an optional display number. These two IDs come from your Kapso project — Maska support will walk you through finding them the first time.
Click Save & verify. Maska runs a health check on the number; when it passes, the badge shows Connected.

If the badge ever shows Health check failed, or you suspect the link has gone stale, click Verify connection — it re-runs the health check without re-entering anything.

Step 2 — Get the PO template approved

WhatsApp requires a pre-approved message template before a business can message a vendor first. Maska ships one standard PO message — you just submit it.

On the same tab, under PO message template, click Submit template (available once the number shows Connected).
The badge shows In review while WhatsApp checks it — usually minutes, occasionally a few hours. Click Refresh status to check.
When it shows Approved, WhatsApp sending is live for every PO.

If it comes back Rejected, click Submit template again — it’s almost always a passing review issue. Still rejected? Contact Maska support and we’ll sort it out with WhatsApp on your behalf.

Vendor WhatsApp groups

If your team already runs a WhatsApp group with a supplier, POs can go into that group instead of (or as well as) direct messages.

Groups need the provider set to Meta — with Kapso, the vendor’s page shows a note asking you to switch provider in Settings → Communications.
Open the vendor’s page and find the WhatsApp group card. Give the group a subject and the members’ numbers (comma-separated, with country code, e.g. +91…), then click Create WhatsApp group and wait for WhatsApp to confirm.
The card tracks who has joined and lets you Resend an invite, Remove a member, Reset link or Delete group.
Once the group is live, the PO send screen gains a WhatsApp group option for that vendor.

What staff see before it’s ready

On the PO send screen, the WhatsApp switch stays off with a short note: finish setting up your WhatsApp business number and template in Settings → Communications — or, if the provider isn’t enabled yet, ask an admin. Email keeps working the whole time, so orders are never blocked. If a member of staff reports this, an owner needs to finish the steps above.

Good to know

This is set up once for the restaurant — every outlet’s POs send from the same number.
The PO message wording is fixed (that’s what WhatsApp approved); the vendor gets a short message with your PO attached.
Email and WhatsApp are independent per send — either, or both.
If you only ever want email, skip this page entirely.