In Tawern, Germany, a town near the Luxembourg border where the population hovers between two and three thousand, sits La Taverna, a pizzeria that opened in 2007 — and the only restaurant in town.

When his father retired, Daniel Ayaz took over the eatery and set about making it his own. He gave the walls a fresh coat of paint, changed the menu, and hired new staff. However, it was Daniel’s wife, Alessandra, who spearheaded one of the most radical changes at La Taverna: in June 2018, she suggested Daniel download the WhatsApp Business app.

Thanks to the WhatsApp Business app, La Taverna is reaching more customers and its pizzas are traveling farther than ever before

“We asked ourselves what can we do to make ordering easier,” says Daniel, explaining that until it began using the app, La Taverna, which seats about 100 people but also offers delivery, only accepted orders by phone or through third-party food delivery services. Daniel gave the third parties a cut for every order and his staff struggled to answer the phone when the restaurant was busy.

Now, thanks to the WhatsApp Business app, La Taverna is reaching more customers and its pizzas are traveling farther than ever before. The company’s delivery radius has expanded by more than 12 miles and Daniel estimates that La Taverna’s delivery business has grown by about 15 percent since using the app. Also, because he no longer uses third-party services to complete deliveries, Daniel is making a bigger profit on each order.

“We can work faster,” says Daniel. “And thus we are able to satisfy more people.”

The La Taverna team uses the app’s away messages feature to let customers know that their message has been received, and Daniel created a business profile so that more people can learn about the only place in town to eat out.

“Ordering by phone was really painful,” says Marven Bill who now sends La Taverna orders via WhatsApp. “Sometimes you waited thirty minutes and gave up.”

Those days are gone. Daniel’s father wanted his pizzeria to be the talk of Tawern. And with the WhatsApp Business app allowing the restaurant to be more efficient and reach more people, Daniel is doing his father proud.