What Every Restaurant Website Needs: Menus, Hours, Ordering and Reservations

People rarely browse a restaurant website for fun. They arrive with a question: what’s on the menu, are you open, can I order, can I get a table. The faster your site answers, the more likely they are to eat with you tonight.

This post covers the four things every restaurant site needs to do well, and a few common mistakes that cost you covers.

1. A menu people can read on a phone

The menu is usually the most visited page on a restaurant site. It’s also where many sites let people down.

Put the menu on the page as text, not as a PDF. A PDF has to download, often opens in another app, and makes people pinch and zoom to read a line. Text on the page loads fast, reads well on any screen, and can be found by search engines, so someone searching for “calzone near me” can find yours.

A few other things help:

• Show prices. People like to know before they come. A menu without prices makes some people assume the worst.
• Keep it current. If a dish is gone, take it off. Nothing sours a visit like ordering something you saw online and hearing it’s no longer made.
• Mark dietary options clearly. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free labels save people from calling to ask.
• Split long menus into sections people can jump between: starters, mains, desserts, drinks.

2. Hours and location, easy to find

Your hours and address should be visible without hunting, ideally on every page, and certainly on the home page.

• List holiday hours ahead of time, and remove them when they pass.
• Make the address tappable, so it opens directions on the visitor’s phone.
• Make the phone number tappable, so it starts a call.
• Match your Google listing. If your website says you close at 10 and Google says 9, someone will be disappointed. Check both whenever your hours change.

If you have more than one location, give each its own clear section or page with its own hours, address and phone number.

3. Ordering that takes as few taps as possible

If you offer takeout or delivery, the path from your home page to placing an order should be short and obvious. Put an “Order online” button near the top of the home page and on the menu page.

Most restaurants use one of two approaches:

• Delivery apps such as DoorDash, Uber Eats or Grubhub. They bring you new customers, but they charge you a commission on each order, and the customer relationship belongs partly to the app.
• Your own online ordering, through a service that lets customers order straight from you. You usually pay a monthly or per-order fee instead of a large commission, and the customer orders from you directly.

Many restaurants use both: the apps for reach, and their own ordering for regulars. If you do, send the people who already found your website to your own ordering first. They’ve already chosen you.

Whichever you use, test it on your phone regularly. An ordering link that’s broken or points to an old menu loses orders without anyone telling you.

4. Reservations without a phone call

If you take reservations, let people book online. Many would rather tap a time than call, and they often decide late in the evening, after you’ve closed for the night.

Services such as OpenTable, Resy and Tock handle bookings, reminders and cancellations. Put a clear “Book a table” button on your home page, and make sure it goes straight to your booking page, not to a general search for restaurants nearby.

If you don’t take reservations, say so. “We don’t take reservations, just come by” saves people from searching for a booking button that isn’t there.

Mistakes that cost you customers

• A slow, heavy home page. Large videos and photo slideshows look nice on a fast laptop and crawl on a phone in a busy street.
• Music or video that plays on its own. Most people close the tab.
• Out-of-date information. Old hours, old menus and last year’s specials make people wonder if you’re still open.
• Photos that don’t match the food. Use real photos of your own dishes and your own room. People notice when the plate that arrives looks nothing like the picture.
• No way to reach you. A phone number, an email address and a contact form should never be more than one tap away.

A short checklist

Open your site on your phone and try these in under a minute:

1. Find today’s hours.
2. Read three dishes and their prices.
3. Tap to get directions.
4. Start an order or book a table.

If any of those took longer than it should, that’s where to start.

If you’d like help

We build restaurant websites around those four jobs: a readable menu on the page, clear hours and location, and your ordering and booking links where people look for them. A site is $2,000, with every page you need, words included, ready in 1 week. If you want someone to keep the menu and hours current for you, maintenance is $125 a month. See our pricing, or tell us about your restaurant.