Restaurant Web Design

What does your restaurant website need?

I have lots of opinions on restaurant web design. It seems that most restaurants aren’t interested or willing to pay for the cost of having a good website.

But the truth is that people do look at restaurant websites, but they do it with a purpose. Restaurant websites are not the kind of websites that people just randomly land on or read for fun.

When someone comes to a restaurant website, they are looking for:

• Hours
• Menus
• Specials/Events
• Address
• Phone number

If you own a restaurant or are a restaurant manager, then you need to make sure that all this information is easily found on the homepage. Don’t hide the menu. (And if you can, don’t put the menu only available as a PDF. It’s better than nothing, but right on the page is best. Doing both is ideal!) Don’t make the phone number or address only on the “contact” page. Your livelihood depends on people being able to find your location. Is parking difficult? Tell them where to park. Include a map. Include an interactive map. In fact, make a button that will open the location in their phone so they can navigate to your place of business. Make it super easy for people to come to your restaurant.

Speaking of navigating to your restaurant, please also be sure that your website is mobile-friendly. Restaurant websites are going have a higher percentage of mobile visitors than many other businesses as people are often looking for places to eat while on-the-go or traveling. If your restaurant’s website isn’t responsive, you are going to lose customers.

Should my website have photos?

Heck yeah. You need lots of photos for your restaurant website. Here’s what you should include:

• photos of the front of the building, so people know what to look for
• photos of the inside so people know if the place is going to be nice and/or comfortable
• photos of the food so people can see how delicious it all looks

People want to know if they are going to like your place before they show up, so they want to see photos of it, see photos of the food, know if you can accommodate their special needs.

Should I allow online reservations?

YES. If you take reservations, then by all means, allow people to make reservations online! It’s 2016, people want this feature. You can use Open Table or whatever outside service you want, but it’s a good idea.

Answer their questions before they ask.

People have questions. Make sure you address those questions on your website. If your customers can find the information they need online, they are more likely to visit your restaurant.

“Anything else I should do?”

Yes. Have a Facebook page where you post photos of food, updates, specials and coupons and claim your Google Local business listing as well as your Yelp listing. Add photos to all those sites.

But I can’t afford a website.

Websites aren’t free. Good ones aren’t cheap. But how many customers lost equals the cost of a website? It’s an investment in your business that could pay off for you.

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