Website design for restaurants: one calm page for each next step
A restaurant's website is read on a small screen, in short visits, and each visit has a single errand: the street address, the menu page, the reservation link or the ordering link, a way to ask about a private room or a catering request. Website design for restaurants is the job of making each of those errands obvious, and of moving everything that is not an errand out of the way.
A restaurant site is a host stand with a screen on it
Think of what a good host stand does. It does not argue, decorate or recite. It shows the visitor where to go and keeps the path clear. A site designed for a dining room should behave the same way: one idea on each screen, plain type, a generous margin and a single route to a returned call or a request form, sitting where the thumb expects it on each page.
That sounds modest, and it is meant to. The pages we plan for a restaurant are few: a home page, one location page for each address, a menu page, a catering request page, a private room page and the contact route. Each has one job, and that job is stated in a line above the draft before any other sentence is written.
None of this is separate from search. The same pages that make a visit simple are the pages that restaurant SEO asks search engines to read, and the details on each location page have to match the Maps listing for the restaurant word for word. Good website design for restaurants and good search work are one job seen from two sides.
Six parts of a restaurant site we design with the owner
- Layout
A calm layout at the dining room door
Wide margins, one column on a phone, plain headings and a single accent color chosen to match the sign out front. Nothing moves unless the visitor moves it.
- Contact
A single contact route that follows the visitor through the restaurant's site
A visitor should not have to search for the way to reach the restaurant. It stays put, looks the same and ends in the same place from every page.
- Location
A location page for each address the restaurant runs
One page per address, carrying its own street, town and phone. Any day-and-time detail on the Maps listing is for the owner to keep right, and the page simply links to that listing.
- Menu
The menu page set as ordinary page text
The owner supplies the menu text and approves it. We set it as headings and paragraphs, not as a PDF, and we never add, change or comment on a line of it.
- Links
Ordering link and reservation link that the owner picks
Where those links go is the owner's decision. We place them where a visitor looks first and test that each one opens what it says it opens.
- Pictures
Pictures from the owner, described in text for readers who cannot see them
We prefer the owner's own pictures to stock photography that could belong to any restaurant in any town. Each gets a short written description, so a screen reader has something to say.
Each page of a restaurant site and the one job it carries
| Page of the dining room's site | Its single job | Next stop on the site |
|---|---|---|
| Home page of the restaurant | Name the restaurant, the town and the one next step | A location page, the menu page or the contact route |
| Location page for an address | State the street, town, phone and the owner's chosen links | The ordering link, the reservation link or the contact route |
| Menu page of the dining room | Show the owner's own menu text as readable page copy | The reservation link or the ordering link |
| Catering request page | Explain what a request needs and where to send it | The contact route, without guest details |
| Private room page | Describe the room in plain words and invite a request | The contact route, which stops at contact details and a short note |
How a restaurant website moves from sketch to hand-over
Sketch the pages beside the owner
We list every address and every request type the restaurant takes, then draw one page for each. The owner removes anything that does not belong.
Gather the owner's own text and pictures
The menu text, the descriptions and the pictures come from the restaurant. We organize them and write only the connecting copy, which the owner reads and approves.
Build it, then follow every link on a handset and on a wide monitor
Each link is followed, each form is submitted as a test, and each page is read at small and large sizes. Pages are kept light, with small images, so they load without drama.
Pass the upkeep to the desk
When a plan carries a managed website, a text change, a new address or a swapped link goes through the desk, so the owner never has to learn an editing tool.
Three ideas about restaurant website design that complicate the site
Said at the host standThe website should look as much like the dining room as it can.
What the rail showsThe look of the room is the owner's to keep. A site's work is to make the next step plain, and a calm page that echoes the sign out front does that without imitating a room.
Said at the host standThe menu belongs in a PDF so it stays exactly as printed.
What the rail showsA PDF tends to be awkward on a phone and hard to read aloud with a screen reader. As page text, the owner's menu stays the owner's, and the page can be corrected by editing a line.
Said at the host standMore pages, more motion and more pictures make a site look serious.
What the rail showsEach extra element is another thing between the visitor and the contact route. We add a page only when it has a job that no other page covers.
What gets checked on a restaurant site before the owner signs off
- Type is sized for a small screen and set with strong contrast against its background.
- Every picture carries a written description.
- Tap targets are sized for a thumb, with space between them.
- Headings follow a logical order from the top of each page to the bottom.
- The ordering link and the reservation link each lead where the owner chose.
- Each form stops at contact details and a short note, and asks nothing about a guest.
These are our own working checks and carry no formal stamp.
Which restaurant plans include a managed website
Website design for a restaurant is built into the two upper search plans. Gold, at $2,495 a month, includes a managed website; Platinum, at $3,495, includes the managed website as well. Silver, at $1,495, is priced without one, for a restaurant with a site it intends to keep. The price sheet lays the plans out in columns, and ad spend is separate on any plan that includes advertising.
The managed website also covers hosting and edits, which means the restaurant does not carry the upkeep of the site, and the desk is the place a change request goes. Text that a restaurant owner wants changed, such as a corrected phone or a new location page, is drafted for approval before it is published.
A finished site is also the landing place for everything else the desk does. Written pages for the restaurant fill it, local mentions point to it and tracking of calls and requests reports on how visitors used it, while leaving a caller's own words unrecorded.
Questions restaurant owners ask about website design
Does website design for a restaurant include writing the menu page?
No. The owner provides the menu text and signs off on it, and we set it as ordinary page text. Not one line of it is written, changed or commented on by us.
Can the restaurant keep the ordering link and reservation link it already uses?
Yes. Whatever sits behind those links is the owner's choice; our part is to place them clearly and confirm each one opens what it claims.
Which plans give a restaurant a managed website?
Gold and Platinum include one, while Silver is quoted with no site at all. The full list of plans sits on the pricing page.
Send the desk a note about the site the restaurant has now
Say how many addresses the restaurant has and which links it uses, and keep guest details out of the form.
Which location belongs on the first ticket?
Name the locations you want found more often, the towns your regulars come from and the partners who send people your way. Leave out every guest name and every detail of anyone's booking.
Pull the first ticket with us
Choose a call time, or leave a few lines about the restaurant, the town around it and the services you want booked. Every note is read by our CEO.
The tickets above are decoration, not a forecast of anything