Building a Restaurant Website: A Comprehensive Guide

Few things can bolster customers’ perception of your brand like a slick, easy-to-use website. When people are looking for a new place to eat out, naturally they go to Google and start searching. If they find your website and it stands out above the rest, chances are they are coming to dine with you. Thankfully, building and publishing an effective restaurant website is easier than most people think. In this article I will provide key information about the makeup and structure of an effective restaurant website, as well as practical steps to follow to get yours up and running with minimal effort (and without breaking the bank).

What Makes a Restaurant Website Effective

Put simply, an effective restaurant website is one that portrays the brand in a professional, appealing manner while simultaneously making it easy for people to find key information such as location, menu and contact details. Ultimately we want our restaurant website to achieve the following:

• Provide a strong first impression that immediately communicates relevance to what the customer is looking for as well as professionalism and quality.

• Provide information to visitors in a structure and order that is intuitive and not overwhelming.

• Display your food/drinks menu in an intuitive, easy-to-follow manner

• Make it easy for potential diners to navigate the website and find the information they are looking for.

• Make it easy for visitors to take key actions on your site, for example calling you or making a reservation directly on the site.

While this is a simplified list, I can assure you than any restaurant website that ticks these boxes is one that will draw customers and bring in more business.

Designing & Publishing a Restaurant Website

Now that we have established the goals of our website from a user experience perspective, its time to start setting it up.

1. Choose & Purchase a Domain

You want to be using a custom domain for your website that includes your restaurant’s name. It super easy to purchase domains from sites like GoDaddy and linking it to your site is hassle free on pretty much every website platform.

When picking your domain, try and keep it as close to your actual restaurant name as you can. Let’s say your restaurant is called “TasteHub”. Start off by checking if www.tastehub.com is available. If its not, or if its crazy expensive, try go for one with a country code eg. www.tastehub.co.uk or www.tastehub.us depending on your location. If those are taken too, you will probably be able to get a descriptive top level domain like www.tastehub.kitchen or www.tastehub.food.

Notice how the common denominator here is that we don’t ever modify the name of the restaurant “tastehub”. This keeps your domain easy to read and more recognizable.

2. Pick a Platform & Hosting

Now that you have your domain, its time to decide which platform you will use to build your website. There are so many no-code options out there today, all of which make it pretty simple and efficient to get a high quality site up and running quickly. These are my three favorites:

• Framer

• Webflow

• Squarespace

Having tested all of the big players in the market, these are the three that I would happily recommend to a client or friend. Which one would I choose for designing a restaurant website? Framer, for these reasons:

1. Absolutely no code knowledge required to make edits to your website

2. Hugely flexible, allowing for any layout you can imagine

3. The cheapest of the three

4. An incredible and quickly growing selection of templates available on the Framer marketplace, all designed by world-class web designers.

You can absolutely use Webflow or Squarespace and create an incredible restaurant website, I personally believe however that Framer is the fastest, most cost-effective avenue to get you up and running quickly while providing top-notch quality.

3. Picking a Template

Ok, so we have got the admin of purchasing a domain and a website platform out of the way. Now its time for the fun part. Unless you are an experienced web designer, I highly recommend starting from a template instead of trying to design from scratch. At the end of the day, template creators are experienced professionals with well-developed web design skillsets. We want to leverage that experience to create the best restaurant website possible, instead of struggling to learn a new skill on the fly.

So what are we looking for in a template? Well, lets go back to our list on “What Makes a Restaurant Website Effective?”, that will serve as our guide when making a decision on what template to pick. Here it is again:

• Provide a strong first impression that immediately communicates relevance to what the customer is looking for as well as professionalism and quality.

• Provide information to visitors in a structure and order that is intuitive and not overwhelming.

• Display your food/drinks menu in an intuitive, easy-to-follow manner

• Make it easy for potential diners to navigate the website and find the information they are looking for.

• Make it easy for visitors to take key actions on your site, for example calling you or making a reservation directly on the site.

We want a template that ticks all of these boxes.

TasteHub Restaurant Template - Breakdown

You may recall the name “TasteHub” from the section on picking a domain. Well, that is actually the name of an existing restaurant website template for Framer created by me. In the following section I break the section down to show how it adheres to our above goals. This will help you know what to look for in the template selection process.

Preview or Purchase the TasteHub Template.

A Strong First Impression

The hero section of your home page will usually be what visitors see first when they land on your site. The TasteHub hero section makes use of a simple layout, with introductory text and calls to action on the left, and high quality images on the right. The text used is simple and direct, allowing visitors to understand what the restaurant has to offer at a high level with minimal effort. Images are of high quality and are centered around food, the key selling point of your restaurant.

In addition to making a strong, clear first impression, this section also makes it easy for visitors to take the next step in their journey. ‘Reservation’ and ‘Browse Menu’ calls to action are easily accessible below the main value proposition. The navigation is uncluttered, containing only the most important links making it easy for visitors to find where they want to go.

Well Structured Content Layout

This template doesn’t try and reinvent the wheel when it comes to content layouts and structure. TasteHub makes use of familiar ‘left right’ grid layouts with imagery on one side and information on the other. Structuring content in this fashion is familiar to users and makes it very easy to digest information with minimal effort.

This layout is used frequently throughout the site, wherever it is necessary to communicate new information and strengthen the message with an image of either food, or the restaurant experience. The nice thing about a template with simple elements like this is they can be reused whenever you add new content somewhere on your site. Simply copy and paste it where it needs to go and update the content accordingly.

A Visually Appealing, Intuitive Food/Drinks Menu

The way you display your food/drinks menu on your site is extremely important. You want it to be visually appealing, easy-to-navigate and ultimately, to display your food and drinks in a way that makes customers want to eat at your restaurant!

The TasteHub menu pages makes use of a simple layout, featuring the name, a brief description and price of each item. Items are also clearly categorized on the page so people can easily find the section they are interested in. The sidebar on the left is a nice touch as it allows visitors to quick jump between categories. It also displays some social proof in the form of reviews and includes the primary ‘Reservation’ call to action.

Easy, Uncluttered Navigation

We want people to be able to find their way around the site with little to no effort. In order to achieve this we want a navigation that looks familiar to visitors, contains clearly labelled links and is uncluttered.

TasteHub makes use of a super simple navigation system including the logo of the brand, the most important links (nothing unnecessary here, only links of primary important to the visitor) as well as the main call to action, being ‘Make a Reservation”. We also include an active state on the current page by highlighting it in the brand color. This way visitors will immediately be reminded of the page that they are currently on when they land.

I always recommend choosing a template that includes a footer navigation at the bottom of the page. Visitors will often want to jump to another page once they have finished taking in the content of the page they are on. A well structured footer makes this easy. It is also a great place to feature your social media links!

Making Key Actions Easily Accessible

At the end of the day, we want someone to actually take the next step and visit our restaurant. All of the above steps are important to create enough interest and desire to actually do that. Once we have that interest and desire, we want someone to take the next step and book a reservation. The primary call to action for your restaurant website should be easily accessible and available in close proximity to important content. In the case of TasteHub, we have the reservation call to action in the following areas:

• The top navigation

• At the bottom of every informational page

• The hero section of informational pages

• Alongside the menu

Scattering the use of the main call to action across the site like this means that whenever the visitor decides they want to take the next step, they are never too far away from a reservation button. You can have a look at the screenshots above for examples of how this action has been positioned on the site.

Once someone has arrived on the reservation page, we want them to have a user-friendly experience. That will always give the best possible chance of securing the booking. TasteHub makes use of Framer’s OpenTable integration, allowing customers to make a booking directly on your site, provided you have an OpenTable account set up. Using an integration like this is a much better experience than having your customers contact you and wait for a response. They get their confirmation instantly, this is rewarding for the visitor and seals the deal quickly!

Notice how we include images of the restaurant experience, as well as reviews on the reservation page. This can often give visitors the final boost they need to go ahead and book.

In addition to having a good reservation experience on your restaurant website, you also want to have a simple contact page. This is important in case someone has questions they want to clear up before making a booking. All you need here is a simple contact form, as well as you contact details and address.

4. Adding Your Content

Ok, so at this stage we know how to get everything in order for the framework and base of your restaurant website. We know how to:

1. Pick a domain

2. Pick a platform

3. Pick a template

Now its time to populate your website with copy (text) and images to communicate your offering.

Adding Copy & Images

This is without a doubt the most important part of the final product. What you communicate through your website copywriting and how you back those messages up with imagery is crucial for building perceived value in the mind of your visitors. Let’s start with copywriting:

Writing Good Copy For Your Restaurant Website

Good website copy is copy that is clear, direct and concise. We want our copy to communicate the value of the restaurant without requiring too much reading or effort in general from the visitor’s side. Here are a few simple guidelines to follow as well as things to avoid:

• Use direct, to-the-point language, avoid sentences that require any form of abstract interpretation from the user.

• Focus language on the value you can add to your customer, its all about them.

• Keep it short, people will avoid reading long paragraphs. Short, snappy text always works best.

• No Typos, any form of spelling or grammar mistakes will always come across as unprofessional.

To better illustrate the above, let’s go ahead and create some copy for a couple sections from the TasteHub template we broke down earlier. We will do this for a fictitious restaurant named ‘La Piazza’ in New York.

Sometimes coming up with website copy on the fly is tricky, it can be difficult to know where to start. For that reason I am a big advocate for using AI tools like ChatGPT to help generate some ideas. Let’s start by creating a headline and subtitle for the website, we will use the TasteHub template as a base here.

In this case we are wanting to replace ‘The Best Gourmet Food In Town’ (Headline) and ‘A cozy little gourmet spot with a menu to fulfil all your taste buds could possibly desire.’ (Subtitle) with copy relevant to our fictitious restaurant, ‘La Piazza’. We will go ahead and prompt ChatGPT with some basic information to start generating ideas.

Prompt used:

‘I am creating copy for the hero section of a restaurant website. It is a pizza restaurant in New York. Please provide some options for a short headline and subtitle.’

And just like that we have some interesting headline and subtitle combinations. In this case I like the headline from option 1 and the subtitle from option 2. Let’s combine them.

Headline: Slice Into New York’s Finest

Subtitle: Savor Handcrafted Pizzas Made with Love, using Fresh Ingredients and Traditional Family Recipes Passed Down for Generations

The headline is great because it is concise, mentions the location of the restaurant and uses language commonly associated with pizza. The subtitle elaborates upon the headline and provides enough information for the visitor to have a solid understanding of what this restaurant offers, and its unique value. Notice how we don’t include the restaurant’s name in the hero section. The name will be readily available at the top right of the navigation as well as the domain. We want to reserve this section for language that builds perceived value in what the brand offers, rather than language around the brand itself.

Let’s do the same for the welcome section of the home page, which immediately follows the hero section.

Now that we have established some initial interest through a catchy hero section, we want to introduce the brand and the experience it provides.

Again we will use ChatGPT to generate some ideas.

Prompt used:

‘I want to create a headline and subtext for the welcome section of the website, which immediately follows the hero section, the restaurant's name is La Piazza, please provide slightly more detailed copy in this case.’

Ok in this case its given us a ton of copy, but we can work with it to create something impactful and concise. The headline is solid, and we can use the first part of the subtext it provided as the subtext for the section. We will leave the brand mention in the subtext out as it is already mentioned in the headline. That leaves us with the following:

Headline: Welcome to La Piazza: Where Pizza Perfection Meets New York Charm

Subtext: An authentic pizza haven nestled in the heart of New York City. With a rich heritage spanning decades, we take pride in crafting the perfect slice that captures the essence of true Italian flavors fused with the vibrant spirit of the Big Apple.

And there we go, we have some copy for our welcome section. It does a good job of elaborating upon the initial introduction we made in the hero section and should resonate with people looking for an authentic Italian pizza restaurant with a New York flare.

As mentioned previously, you certainly don’t need to use ChatGPT to assist with your website copywriting but it can go a long way in giving you a good starting point and speeding up the process. Simply repeat the steps above for each section of your restaurant website and you can have all of your website copy in an hour or less. Whether you opt for the assistance of AI or not, these guidelines will help you create impactful copy for your restaurant website.

Contact, Reservation & Social Media Details

We have already discussed the importance of picking a website template that makes these details easily accessible. Now its just a case of updating the relevant pages and elements to make sure that all necessary information is accurate and up-to-date

Populating Your Restaurant Website With Images

Now that we have our website copy ready, its time to make it shine with some beautiful images of your restaurant and its food! Using high quality images is incredibly important, even the best web designs can be completely ruined by poor quality images. Here is a set of guidelines to follow when populating your website with images:

• Use professional quality images. It may take a bit of time and money to get professional images taken for your restaurant website but trust me, its worth it. A beautiful, well crafted website can quickly be ruined by low quality imagery. That same design can be elevated to a whole new level with crisp, high quality imagery. You don’t need to hire an award winning food photographer, but its definitely worth paying someone who knows there way around a camera to provide you with some images of your food and your restaurant experience.

• Focus on the food. At the end of the day, your food does the majority of the heavy lifting when it comes to selling customers on visiting your restaurant. For that reason, you want to be using imagery of different meals frequently throughout your website.

• Don’t forget about the experience. While food should be the primary focus, you don’t want to neglect the ‘experience’ aspect of your restaurant. Make sure that you include some imagery of the restaurant itself, showing off its interior, views, special features and anything else that can portray the experience the restaurant offers to diners in a positive light.

5. Styling Your Website To Your Brand

So you are just about ready to go, your template is setup, your pages are populated with copy and images and the site is taking shape. To polish it all off, we want to make sure that the template fits your brand identity like a glove. To do this we need to upload the restaurant logo, update the template color scheme and if necessary, change fonts.

Uploading Your Logo

Uploading your logo is important so that visitors log the name of your brand in their memory. You want visitors to visit your site, see your logo and be able to recall the name of your brand, even if they leave the site before booking a reservation. The majority of website templates will include placeholders for your logo in the top navigation, as well as in the footer. Ensure that your logo is included in these sections as well as any other sections of the template that include logo placeholders.

Updating the Color Scheme

If your brand identity is established and makes use of a particular color scheme, you want to make sure that your website reflects this. Most templates will come with a pre-existing, placeholder color scheme that can be easily updated regardless of the platform you are using. In the case of the TasteHub template referenced before, we have a simple color palette, consisting of neutrals (shades of black and white) with one primary (red) color.

Now let’s say TasteHub was a real restaurant brand and had a color scheme consisting of neutral colors and a specific shade of green. We would want the contact page above to reflect that. I created this Framer template in a way that it is super easy to update the color scheme of the entire site in a matter of clicks. All we would need to do is navigate to color styles and change the ‘primary’ color setting to the green of our choice.

Just like that, any component that was previously red, will now be our ‘on-brand’ green. This will reflect across the entire website.

Now the color scheme of the website matches the color scheme of our brand. Most well structured templates on any website platform make it pretty easy to do this.

Changing Fonts (If Necessary)

If your brand identity includes use of a specific font, you would want to update your website template accordingly. Most website builders, Framer included make it very easy to update your font styling. In most cases, its best to keep things simple and use one font across all of your website copy. In some cases you may want to use a display font (for headings and titles) and a body font (for general body copy). In this case, you would simply want to update the heading styles of your template to use your desired display font and your body copy styles to use your desired body font. Try and keep your font combinations simple. I don’t recommend ever using more than two fonts on your site, doing so usually creates a disconnect between content and makes things feel inconsistent.

Again, the TasteHub Framer template makes it easy to do this. All font styles are saved in neat, concise list. Changes made to these styles will display sitewide wherever these styles are used.

6. Time to Publish

And with those final adjustments made, you are ready to link your custom domain to your new website and publish. Just about all website platforms make it super easy to link your domain to your website. Information will be readily available in your platform’s support documentation.

Wrapping Up

I hope this article gives you a solid process to follow when designing and publishing your restaurant website. We have covered quite a few points here, lets wrap it all up into a concise action list:

1. Pick a domain that includes your brand name, if the .com is not available use a location code like .co.uk or a descriptive top level like .kitchen or .food.

2. Choose the right website platform for your needs, I recommend Framer because its easy to use, offers full design control and has a fantastic template marketplace.

3. Choose a template that ticks the boxes we outlined in the article. Taking the time to pick a template that suits your specific needs will make your life far easier and prevent the need for serious modifications.

4. Add high quality copywriting and imagery to your website. Copy should be clear, direct and value focused. It's worth getting professional imagery take, even if it comes at a bit of a cost.

5. Adapt your template to your brand identity by updating color scheme, uploading your logo where necessary and updating fonts.