by Charleen Montano April 27, 2022

When you are building or planning to get a website for your restaurant, you want it to be as delicious as the food that comes out of your kitchen. The best restaurant websites are not only visually stunning, but they also tell a compelling story and deliver an unforgettable experience through the website.

A good website is like a good meal– it should have all the right elements in the right proportions. And just as you can’t present your customer with a well-prepared meal on a dirty plate, you can’t expect to attract customers to your restaurant with an ugly, outdated website.

These days, diners are hungry for information– they want to know what’s on the menu, and they want to be able to see how it looks before they decide to come in.

Because we care about you so much, we want to make sure your website is as mouthwatering as your menu items. So, be ready to dive into the key elements you’ll want to consider in order to achieve your dream restaurant website!

Is video more your thing? Check this out:

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What are the Main Functions of a Restaurant Website?

The internet has become a pervasive part of the way we do business. And if you’re in the food industry, you’ve probably noticed the steady increase in customers who find restaurants through online searches.

Come on, we all know and experience that ever since the pandemic happened, the internet has become the hangout of all people, and thankfully, the situation has become better and better.  

Nevertheless, as the internet has landed an enormous influence on our lives, we can’t live without it now, and online shopping is now a primary thing.  And when I say online shopping, it includes ordering food or even looking for restaurants beforehand to ensure they’re going to a good one and to avoid the inconvenience of traveling from place to place to find a restaurant that fits their taste and have them dine in.

You Can Post Your Operating Hours

Visiting a much-anticipated restaurant only to discover it’s closed is a common occurrence. Especially nowadays, there is a greater chance of this happening now that COVID-19 has disrupted the regularity of restaurant schedules.

You don’t want to disappoint your customers who are already stressed out. That is the last thing you want to happen. That is why an online presence is the best way to keep current information about your business hours and your services in a single place.

Online Ordering

The best way to keep your business afloat, whatever phenomenon the earth faces, is to ensure that people can easily order takeout and delivery through your website.

Visitors Can See Your Mouth-watering Images of your Food

Our sense of taste isn’t the only way we experience food. While you can’t use your website to make people drool with the aromas of your food, you can show them how appetizing they look. Show off your best-looking entrees and appetizers using the visual medium of the internet.

Once a person sees what the food actually looks like, it can become downright irresistible. It’s also good to include original images of your food on your website. People will remember your brand better, and you’ll have more opportunities to improve your website’s search engine optimization.

The Opportunity to Show What You Offer

Prior to making a final decision, people want to know exactly what they’ll be getting into before they make a decision. How will you satisfy their cravings? Online menus give potential customers an easy way to view their options and decide what appeals to them.

Any potential customers who have food allergies or are picky eaters will greatly benefit from having your menu online. For example, if a customer is gluten intolerant, they can review your menu whether or not they have an option for the food they want and can eat.

Website Makes Your Restaurant Exposed to Any Potential Customers Around the Town

When someone walks up hungry and searches for restaurants near them, because that’s what I always do whenever I go to an unfamiliar place, they’re only going to see those restaurants that have an online presence. 

With the exception of the Google business listings that are not necessitated to show up in an online search, having a website still plays an important role in the ease with which customers can find you.

Website Shows Legitimacy

Having a website is seen by many consumers as a sign that a business is well-established and trustworthy. If you don’t have one, it can make you appear unprofessional or sketchy. Prospective customers can see right away whether or not your restaurant is well-known by visiting a well-designed website that contains accurate information.

And I would like to highlight food poisoning, which is a real problem, so it’s critical to show your customers that you take your restaurant’s operation seriously.

Times are changing, and restaurant owners are catching on to the importance of having a website for their business. Every day, more people are spending more of their time online than offline. A website makes it easy to communicate with others, regardless of where they might be. So, whether you’re looking to find a restaurant in your hometown or an entirely new cuisine while traveling abroad, a good website helps you find food at the touch of a button.

7 Ingredients For The Most Delicious Restaurant Website

HEADER MENU

Having a header menu is one of the most important elements of a restaurant’s website. A header menu allows a user to navigate the site easily, bypassing all of the other information featured on the front page. If a user wants to see the menu or get into contact with the restaurant, he or she should be able to do so without having to scroll through an entire website to find these pages. This is especially important for mobile users who are looking for specific information quickly and don’t have time to scroll through an entire website.

The navigation menu represents the style of your restaurant. This is also used as means of your queries where social media and contact numbers should be shown.

VIDEO HERO SECTION 

One of the most important parts of your website is your hero section, which is the first thing visitors will see and ideally should give a strong impression of what your restaurant’s all about. You can accomplish this with a video, which is especially effective since it’s an instant way to show what it’s like to be in your restaurant. If you don’t have high-quality footage on hand, hire a professional videographer for a day or two to create a short clip that captures the heart of your place. 

In addition, you can use video in other ways throughout your site to showcase daily specials and special events. You can also add a call to action (CTA) button at the bottom of this.

SHOW THE SPECIALS & PRICING

Restaurants make their money by bringing in diners and selling them food. So why are so many restaurants hiding their daily specials and pricing on their websites?

The thing about restaurants is that they’re trying to get you in the door—they want you to stop thinking about cooking for yourself and come in for an easy meal. And the thing about websites is that it’s easy to forget about them once you’ve found something. What if you could find all the information you could ever need on a particular restaurant’s website, including the daily specials and pricing? You’d go there, right?

Consumers generally don’t like being left in the dark—and when a website lacks critical information like pricing or daily specials, it can be very frustrating. So do yourself a favor: don’t bother with a site that doesn’t include these details. And while we’re on the subject of pricing, make sure menu prices are up-to-date. If your site hasn’t been updated since last year and shows summer specials, those prices are probably off by now. It’s best not to surprise diners with increased costs when they arrive at the restaurant.

Let people know what the best dishes are along with the pricing and add another CTA for the “Order Now Button.”

CUSTOMER REVIEWS

I think have said this once or twice in my blogs, consumers’ decisions are influenced by reviews, but they can also help build a company’s reputation. Customers who read and respond to reviews are more likely to do business with the company in the future. Businesses benefit from increased profits as a result of better communication with their customers.

Showcase your best reviews from trusted sources like Google and Facebook!

HISTORY OF YOUR RESTAURANT

Personally, I enjoy reading about the history of every place I visit – hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, etc. When I get to know its history, I get this weird nostalgic feeling like I’m having a special connection to that place.

Am I the only one experiencing this? Does this apply to everyone?

I hope the same goes for everyone.

The point is that understanding the past helps us understand the present and the future.  In the foodservice industry, understanding our professional heritage helps us understand why we do what we do, how our cooking techniques have evolved and refined, as well as the opportunities that await us in the coming decades.

Tell people how you started. This will create a connection with your customer. You can add some old throwback pictures followed by another CTA for the “Order Now Button.”

Another CTA, huh? Of course, they might want to order this time, you know!!

CATERING AND OTHER SERVICES

Obviously, this is also a form of marketing where you want to inform your customer that aside from offering them food for dining, you also have catering services for parties and any other events and offer them special orders if applicable.

By doing so, if in case someone bumps into your restaurant’s website and looking for such services in the future aside from having a place to dine, they can inquire with you, especially after having a great experience when they dined in.

SIMPLE FOOTER

Make it easy for visitors to explore your site without having to scroll back up by including navigation links in the footer. They give you access to critical information that isn’t necessarily the most important, but it’s important nonetheless.

Make sure that it shows all the relevant links and your copyright info, privacy statements, and legal disclaimer, and see to it that it’s easy to read.

Build Your Restaurant Website Today

Building a great website isn’t the be-all, end-all of restaurant success. But it’s an important first step. Luckily,  with a little thought and design-savvy, you can build a site that will showcase your food and reinforce your brand. You can even give customers an easy way to order online direct from you. If you really want to succeed in this economy, it’s now or never to get going news is, the tools available and easier than ever.

Truly getting a bang for your Web design buck means making sure you’ve got a great website, not just a pretty one. Use the elements of the five site types we’ve described to ensure you are providing clients with all the information they need to make an informed decision about dining in your restaurant. In short, focus on ways to support the success of both your business and your site design by helping people make good decisions. And that will get you many more table turns in the long run.

This guide is by no means comprehensive, but hopefully, it will give you a place to start if you need one. Again, what’s listed here should help you with the absolute basics of setting up an internet presence for your restaurant.

Let your best website for your restaurant be born!