A restaurant website that gets people through the door.
For restaurants, cafes, bars, bakeries and food trucks. We design a homepage for your place, free, in 2 business days. Sites start at $500.
What the site has to do
- The menu as text on the page
- Most people open your site to see what you serve and what it costs. A menu typed into the page loads in a second, reads at any size, and lets someone search for a dish by name. A PDF makes them pinch and zoom, and on a lot of phones it opens as a download they never look at.
- Hours that match Google
- Someone checks your hours on Google, then on your site, and if the two disagree they trust neither. Google's own guidelines ask for your regular customer facing hours and a separate set of special hours for holidays. Your site should show the same ones, in the same words.
- One tap to order, book or call
- If you take orders through Toast, Square, ChowNow or a delivery app, the site needs a button that opens it. If you take reservations on OpenTable or Resy, same thing. A phone number should dial when tapped. These buttons belong at the top of the page, before anyone has to scroll.
- The address, and a way to get there
- Put the street address in the header or footer of every page, and make it a link that opens the map app on their phone. If parking is tricky or you're inside another building, say so in one line. A food truck needs this week's stops and times in the same spot.
- Photos of your food and your room
- People eat with their eyes, and stock photos of a generic burger tell them nothing. Google's advice for restaurant profiles is to upload photos of your interior, exterior and the dining experience. The same photos belong on your site. A phone photo in daylight beats a purchased one every time.
- Loads fast on a phone in a parking lot
- A diner deciding between you and the place next door is standing on a sidewalk on a weak signal. Big uncompressed photos and a page builder's scripts drag that wait out. The site has to be light enough to open before they give up.
- Specials and events without a redesign
- Fish fry Friday, a new seasonal menu, live music, a holiday closure. These change every week, and they should be a quick edit, not a project. A site that's painful to update ends up frozen on last year's menu.
- A form for catering and private events
- Catering, parties and large groups are the orders worth the most, and they start with a question. A short form (date, head count, a few lines) that lands in your inbox is enough. It beats an email address nobody checks between shifts.
What we build for restaurants
Free homepage mockup in 2 business days. Sites start at $500.
- A menu page written in code
- We type your menu into the page as real text, grouped by section with prices and short descriptions. It reads at any size and loads fast. When a price or dish changes, you email us the change and we make it.
- Hours in one place, holiday hours too
- Your hours sit in the header or footer of every page, written to match what's on your Google Business Profile. When you close for a holiday or change winter hours, we update the site so the two stay in step.
- Buttons that open the tools you already use
- Order online, reserve a table, call, get directions. Each one is a single tap at the top of the page and opens whatever system you already run. We don't replace your ordering or reservation software. We send people to it.
- Your photos, sized for phones
- We take the photos you have, then crop and compress them so they look sharp and load quickly. The food is what people see first. If you don't have photos yet, we'll tell you exactly which shots to take with your phone.
- Restaurant details Google can read
- We add the structured data Google documents for local businesses, with your menu link, hours, price range and cuisine. It helps Google match your site to your Business Profile and show the right details in search.
- Hosting, domain and updates on one monthly plan
- After the build, one monthly plan covers the domain, hosting and changes to the site, handled entirely by us. Email a new menu, a closure or a special and it goes up. You never log into anything.
Why restaurant websites lose the diner
A restaurant site has one job. Someone is hungry, they have a phone in their hand, and they want three things right now. What you serve, whether you're open, and how to order or get there. Most restaurant sites fail at one of the three, and the ways they fail are the same every time.
The PDF menu
A PDF is the menu you handed to the printer, uploaded as a file. On a phone it opens small, so the reader pinches and zooms and scrolls sideways to see a price. On some phones it downloads instead of opening. Google can index PDF files, so the issue isn't that Google ignores it. The issue is that nobody can read it comfortably, and it's hard enough to update that it stays wrong. Type the menu into the page as text, section by section, with prices. It reads at any size, and a one line price change takes a minute.
Hours that disagree with Google
Google's Business Profile guidelines ask restaurants to list their regular customer facing hours, meaning the hours diners can sit down and eat. Holidays and short closures go in special hours. Google also recommends confirming your hours for official holidays even when they don't change, so a holiday warning doesn't show on your profile. Your website should carry the same hours, in the same format, and change on the same day. When the site says open and the door is locked, that person doesn't try again.
No link to the tool you already pay for
Google's Business Profile lets you add ordering links, reservation links and a menu link. Third party apps that say they work with you get listed on your profile automatically. Your own website should do the same, with one button for ordering and one for reservations, pointed at the system you use. Put a contact form where the order button should be and people go to the delivery app instead. There you pay a commission on every ticket.
Photos that aren't yours
Google's guidance for restaurant profiles is plain: upload photos of your interior, your exterior and the dining experience. A site that uses stock food photos looks like every other site using them, and a diner can tell. Shoot your best three dishes by a window in daylight, and one of the room when it's full. Add one of the front door so people know they've found the right building.
What the homepage should hold
- Your name, what kind of food, and the neighborhood, in the first line.
- Today's hours, and whether you're open right now.
- Buttons: order, reserve, call, directions. Whichever ones apply, in that order.
- Three or four photos of your own food and your room.
- The menu, or a one tap link to it.
- This week's special or event, if you run them.
Everything else, the story, the catering form, the gift cards, can live on its own page. The homepage is for the hungry person deciding right now.
If you're deciding between a site and a Facebook page, read Do I need a website if I have Facebook?.
Questions.
How much does a restaurant website cost?
Graphyte Agency sites start at $500. The exact price depends on how many pages the site needs and what it has to do. The quote comes with a free homepage mockup in 2 business days.
Do I need a website if I'm already on DoorDash and Google?
Google's Business Profile shows your hours, menu and ordering links, and that's enough to get found. A website is where you control the menu, the photos and the ordering button. It's also where catering and event requests land in your inbox instead of a delivery app that takes a cut.
Should my menu be a PDF or on the page?
On the page, as text. A PDF is hard to read on a phone and hard to update, so it ends up out of date. A text menu reads at any size and a price change takes one edit.
Can you add online ordering or reservations to my site?
We link to the ordering and reservation system you already use, like Toast, Square, ChowNow, OpenTable or Resy. The button sits at the top of every page. We don't build or replace the ordering software itself.
Who updates the menu and hours after the site is live?
We do. After the build, a monthly plan covers the domain, hosting and updates. Email the change and it goes up. You don't need to log into anything.
Keep reading
- What a small business website needs, and how to score yours.Score your own site in 21 one minute checks: first screen, trust, Google, speed, contact, upkeep. Every bar is Google's or the W3C's. Sites start at $500.
- Do you need a website if you already have a Facebook page?When a Facebook page and a Google Business Profile are enough, when they fall short, and what a site adds. Free homepage mockup, sites start at $500.
- Websites for home servicesWhat a contractor website needs to turn a Google search into a call or an estimate request. Free homepage mockup in 2 business days. Sites start at $500.
- Websites for retailWhat a shop's website needs, when online checkout is worth it and when it isn't, and how to keep hours right everywhere. Sites start at $500.
See a homepage designed for your business before you decide.
Free homepage mockup in 2 business days. Sites start at $500.
Get your free homepage mockup.
Tell us about your business and what the new site should fix.
- We reply within one business day.
- Free homepage mockup in 2 business days.
- No payment and no obligation.
Rather write? hello@graphyteagency.com