Guide
How to switch to WhatsApp Business, and what your customers see
For owners who take orders on a personal WhatsApp
Restaurants
Bahamian restaurants lead on Facebook Pages
The 2026 Bahamas Digital Readiness Index checked 573 restaurants on Google Business Profile, website, Facebook Page (not a personal profile) and WhatsApp.
Share of 573 businesses with each door open
- Google Business Profile : 70.9%. Country 60.5%.
- Website : 36.1%. Country 38.2%.
- Facebook Page : 43.8%. Country 33.2%, highest of 8 industries.
- WhatsApp : 19.0%. Country 22.7%.
Average score 40.2 of 100 · rank 2 of 8
The 2026 index
WhatsApp is where Bahamian restaurants have the most room.
19.0%
-
94.8%
of these restaurants have a phone number in public listings, the numbers the index checked for WhatsApp.
For most restaurants the index did not find the listed number on WhatsApp, so a diner who wants to message about a table often cannot. A WhatsApp Business number is free to start and takes an evening or more to set up with the hours and the menu.
How a WhatsApp Business number gets set up
What diners’ Google reviews say about getting a reply
In a June 2026 study of Bahamian restaurants’ Google reviews, owners answered 15.1% of them, so a diner who writes to a restaurant often gets no reply. One diner who liked the food wrote in November 2025: “when it comes to that phone, no one answers it, please answer the phone.”
The Google Business Profile, Facebook Page and WhatsApp count most for restaurants.
Diners find a restaurant on Google, decide from its Facebook Page and confirm the table on WhatsApp.
-
Google Business Profile
Required · 28 points
A visitor deciding where to eat searches Google first. Your Google Business Profile, with hours, photos and reviews, is how they pick you.
-
Website
Recommended · 16 points
A website holds the full menu and the story. The index counts it less for a restaurant, because a diner can find, check and reach one on the other three doors.
-
Facebook Page
Required · 28 points
A Facebook Page is where a diner checks the menu and the day’s special before choosing, so the index counts it as much as a Google Business Profile here.
-
WhatsApp
Required · 28 points
Whether a diner found you on Google or on your Facebook Page, WhatsApp is where they can ask about tonight’s hours, the menu or a table.
Required: central to how this industry’s customers find, trust and contact a business, so it carries the most points.
Recommended: useful, but customers can still find and contact the business through its other open doors.
The points on the four cards add up to 100, the most any business can score in any industry.
How restaurants compare with the country, door by door.
Restaurants are well ahead of the country on the Google Business Profile and Facebook Page, and close to it on the website and WhatsApp.
Check your score
Free · no account needed
Restaurants open share by door · the 2026 index All eight industries, compared
AI assistants answer diners from what is published about each restaurant.
For a restaurant here, the places an AI assistant reads that the owner controls start with the Google Business Profile and the restaurant’s own website. ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode both work in The Bahamas, and Google names an up-to-date Business Profile among the basics that still matter for its AI answers. Google may also copy a restaurant’s menu onto its profile from the restaurant’s own website, so a menu kept current there can reach the profile too. Restaurants have a website a little less often than the country, so the door the index counts least for a restaurant is still one an assistant reads.
Sources: OpenAI Help Center, ChatGPT supported countries, read 26 September 2026 · Google Search Help, AI Mode, read 26 September 2026 · Google Search Central, AI features, read 26 September 2026 · Google Business Profile Help, menus, read 27 September 2026
Of the Four Digital Doors, WhatsApp comes next for most restaurants.
The Google Business Profile, where diners find you, comes first, and most restaurants already have one.
-
Google Business Profile
Required
Diners find you here. Someone searching “restaurants near me”, or your name, sees your hours, food photos, menu and reviews.
Short to start, days to a week or more for Google’s check, an evening to fill in
- Set it up properly
- Claim and verify it. Search your restaurant on Google, because a profile probably already exists. Start the claim and complete the check Google asks for. Claiming is free.
Make it work harder
Add the menu in Google’s menu editor, and your order or booking link. Keep holiday hours right. Ask every diner for a review with the profile’s own link, and answer each one. Once a month, read its count of calls and direction requests.
-
WhatsApp Business
Required
Diners talk to you here. A takeaway order is confirmed, a table is held and “are you open today?” is answered in the chat.
Short to register, an evening or more to set up
- Set it up properly
- Register WhatsApp Business on a number kept for the restaurant. The app is free. Fill in the business profile with hours, address and a link to the menu.
Make it work harder
Write quick replies for the hours and the menu. Put the menu in the catalogue, each price in its description. Send a payment link from your bank or a payment app for a large order. Add the WhatsApp button to your Facebook Page, and put the restaurant’s name beside the number everywhere.
-
Facebook Page
Required
This door can put the day’s special in front of diners who were not looking for you today.
An evening if the photos are to hand, longer from nothing
- Set it up properly
- Create a Facebook Page for the restaurant. Do not run the business from a personal profile. Fill in the category, About section, hours and address. Publish a first post.
Make it work harder
Post the special often, as the kitchen’s own photo or short video, with the WhatsApp number in the post. Add the WhatsApp button so an order can start there. Answer messages daily. Meta Business Suite shows what each post reached.
-
Website
Recommended
This is the one door you own. The full menu with prices sits here, with the order or booking webpage your Google buttons point to.
A few evenings with a builder, weeks with a professional
- Set it up properly
- One webpage is enough to start: name, hours, address, the menu, a WhatsApp link. A website builder or a professional. Domain and hosting carry a small yearly cost.
Make it work harder
Put the WhatsApp link on every webpage. Keep the menu and prices the same as on your other doors, because Google may read the menu from your website. Check every few months that it loads on a phone. Google Search Console shows which searches bring visitors.
After the doors are open
Open doors need a weekly habit: the same hours, prices and contact number on every door, and every message answered. A diner can find you on your Google Business Profile, check the special on your Facebook Page and order in WhatsApp Business, and your website holds the full menu the others point to. Your WhatsApp chats show what diners ask and who orders twice, and a claimed Google Business Profile shows the searches that found you and how many diners tapped to call.
Need help opening these doors or getting more from them? DDigiLeads does this work for Bahamian businesses. Talk to us
See what customers see when they check you.
Free · no account needed
Send this to another restaurant owner
The Bahamas Digital Readiness Index found Bahamian restaurants ahead of the country on Google Business Profiles and Facebook Pages.