AI ordering chatbots for restaurants and food delivery: disclosure, allergens before the order, and changes after it
What applies to an ordering bot
| Step in the chat | Rule | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| First message | AI Act Article 50(1) and (5) | Say it is an AI, at the latest at the first interaction |
| Customer asks about a dish | Food Information Regulation Articles 9(1)(c), 14 and 44 | Allergen answers from a staff-kept list, available before the order |
| Basket and checkout | Consumer Rights Directive Articles 6(1)(e) and 8(2) | Total price with delivery and fees; a pay button that says so |
| "Can I cancel?" | Consumer Rights Directive Article 16(d) and (l) | Usually no withdrawal for meals; give your own cancellation policy |
| Wrong or spoiled order | General consumer law | Refund or replace; the bot does not argue |
| Ordering through a delivery platform | Consumer Rights Directive Article 6a | The platform's own bot has extra duties as a marketplace |
The AI disclosure
An ordering assistant on a website, app or messaging channel interacts directly with customers, so Article 50(1) of the AI Act applies, and the customer must be told at the latest at the first interaction (Article 50(5)). Food bots often get a friendly name and a chatty tone, which is fine if the first message is clear:
"Hi, I'm Bella Napoli's AI ordering assistant. I can take your order, answer questions from our menu and allergen list, or pass you to the restaurant."
The disclosure wording guide has more options. For a bot that answers the phone, see the AI receptionist guide, and for orders over WhatsApp, the WhatsApp and Messenger guide.
Allergens: before the order, from a list
The Food Information Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011) makes the 14 allergens in its Annex II mandatory information (Article 9(1)(c)). For food that is not prepacked, such as a restaurant meal, Article 44 keeps that allergen information mandatory and lets each Member State decide how it is given.
The distance-selling rule is what matters for an ordering bot. Article 14(1) requires the mandatory information for prepacked food sold at a distance to be "available before the purchase is concluded", and Article 14(2) applies the same to the Article 44 particulars for non-prepacked food. So when the order is taken in a chat, the allergen information has to be there before the customer pays, not only on the bag.
For a generative bot that means:
- It reads allergen answers from a dish-by-dish list that the kitchen maintains, and links to the full allergen table.
- It never says a dish is "safe" for an allergy, and never guesses about a dish that is missing from the list. "I don't have that information, I'll ask the restaurant" is the right answer.
- Requests such as "no nuts please" go to the kitchen as a note, and the bot says it is a request, not a guarantee, if the kitchen cannot exclude cross-contact.
- When the menu or a recipe changes, the list changes the same day, because the bot will repeat whatever it was given.
National rules add detail on how allergen information is given for non-prepacked food, so check the rule in each country you sell in.
The basket, the price and the pay button
A food order placed in a chat or app is a distance contract. Before the order, the customer must get the total price including taxes and any delivery charges, or how they are calculated (Consumer Rights Directive Article 6(1)(e)). Service fees, bag charges and small-order fees belong in that total, not in a surprise line at the end.
The final step must make clear that the order means paying: a button labelled "order with obligation to pay" or an equally unambiguous wording such as "Order and pay EUR 24.50" (Article 8(2)). If that step is missing, the consumer is not bound. A bot that turns "yes" in the chat into a paid order skips it, so hand over to a checkout card or page. The booking chatbot guide covers the same step for table bookings.
Cancellations: usually no 14-day withdrawal
Article 16 of the Consumer Rights Directive removes the withdrawal right for "the supply of goods which are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly" (point (d)), which covers a delivered hot meal, and for catering with a specific date or period of performance (point (l)). A table booking on a set date falls under point (l).
The bot can say so plainly, but it should then give the restaurant's own policy. For example: changes and cancellations are possible until the kitchen starts the order, and after that only by calling. Keep that answer fixed text, so the bot doesn't promise a refund the restaurant does not give.
Order changes. "Can you swap the fries for salad?" after payment changes the contract. The bot should either confirm the change with the new total and a new confirmation, or pass it to staff. It should not tell the customer a change is done unless the order system shows it.
Wrong, late or spoiled orders
No withdrawal right does not mean no remedy. A missing item, the wrong dish or food that arrives spoiled is a question of whether the order was delivered as agreed, and the restaurant has to put it right under general consumer law. The bot's job is to take the details (order number, what was wrong, a photo if the customer offers one) and either issue the refund or credit the restaurant has authorised or pass it to staff. It should not decide on its own that a complaint is invalid. What the bot tells the customer is the restaurant speaking (see the shopping assistant guide on bots' answers as the trader's statements).
Delivery platforms
A delivery platform that lists many restaurants is an online marketplace. Article 6a of the Consumer Rights Directive requires a marketplace to tell the consumer, before the contract, whether the seller is a trader and who is responsible for which parts of the contract, for example who handles refunds. A platform's own AI assistant that takes orders across restaurants also ranks results when it suggests dishes, which brings the ranking and paid-placement rules covered in the shopping assistant guide. A restaurant that only uses a platform's ordering tool should check which of these the platform's bot already covers.
Checklist for an ordering bot
- [ ] First message says it is an AI assistant.
- [ ] Allergen answers come from a kitchen-kept list, before the order, with a link to the full table.
- [ ] The bot never calls a dish "safe" and never guesses about unlisted dishes.
- [ ] Allergy requests are passed on as requests, with a cross-contact warning where needed.
- [ ] The total price includes delivery and every fee before checkout.
- [ ] The order ends on a pay button that says it is an order to pay.
- [ ] Cancellation answers state the legal position and the restaurant's own policy as fixed text.
- [ ] Changes after payment are confirmed with a new total, or passed to staff.
- [ ] Complaints about wrong or spoiled food are logged and passed on, not argued.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act) on EUR-Lex: Article 50(1) and (5). Article 50 text at artificialintelligenceact.eu.
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (Food Information Regulation) on EUR-Lex: Articles 9(1)(c), 14 and 44, Annex II. Article 14 at legislation.gov.uk, used for quoting.
- Directive 2011/83/EU (Consumer Rights Directive) on EUR-Lex, as amended: Articles 6(1)(e), 6a, 8(2) and 16(d) and (l). Article 16 at legislation.gov.uk (EU text as retained in the UK), used for quoting.