Website design and SEO for restaurants and cafés
A menu that loads before they get hungrier. And opening hours that are right.
People choose where to eat on their phones, often while standing outside somewhere else. We build websites for restaurants and cafés that show the menu as text rather than a blurry PDF, get the hours and directions right, and make booking or finding you a single tap.
What customers want from a restaurant’s website — Speed, Evidence, Openness
Nobody reads the About page of a café. They want the menu, the hours, whether they can get a table and how far away you are — in roughly that order.
Then, if the photos are good, they fall a little bit in love. The website should make that part easy too.
The pages a restaurant’s website needs — Structure, Essentials, Order
The menu, as real text
A menu on the page, not a PDF or a photo of a chalkboard: it loads quickly on a phone, search engines can read it, and you can change a dish without redesigning a file. Seasonal and set menus get their own sections.
Hours, location, getting there
Opening hours that match your Google profile exactly, a map, the nearest station or parking, and whether you’re step-free. Wrong hours send people to a locked door.
Booking, or walk-ins
If you take bookings, one obvious button to your booking system. If you don’t, say so proudly: “walk-ins only” is useful information too.
Dietary and allergen information
Mark the dishes that are vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free, and say how customers can get full allergen information from your team. People who plan ahead can choose you with confidence.
Photos that make people hungry
Real photos of real plates, the room and the people. We can also make illustrations for menus and pages where photography doesn’t fit.
What people type when they need restaurants and cafés — Search Engine Obsessions
Real searches, in customers’ own words. Each one deserves a page, or a profile, that answers it.
“brunch near me”
Answered mostly by your Google profile, backed up by a proper menu page on your site.
“vegan cafe [your area]”
Dishes labelled clearly, and words on the page that say what you’re known for.
“restaurants open now”
Correct hours in your profile, bank holidays included.
“private dining [your area]”
A page for private hire and events, if you offer them, with capacity and how to enquire.
“[your name] menu”
People search your name plus “menu” all the time. Make sure what they find is yours, and current.
“dog friendly cafe near me”
Dogs, high chairs, laptops, step-free access: small details are exactly what people search for. Say them on the page.
Google Business Profile for restaurants and cafés — Stars, Entries, Opening-hours
For restaurants and cafés, the Google Business Profile is the window people look through first.
- Choose the most specific category that fits, such as Italian restaurant or Coffee shop, rather than a general one
- Keep hours exact, and add special hours for bank holidays and closures before they happen
- Add your menu, or link to the menu page on your website
- Post new photos often: dishes, drinks, the room, the terrace in summer
- Reply to reviews: thank the good ones, and answer the bad ones calmly and briefly
We look after this as part of local SEO.
A worked example: the top of a restaurant’s homepage — Sourdough, Espresso, Omelettes
Breakfast from eight, lunch until three, and the window seat if you’re quick. Walk-ins welcome.
An example of the tone, not a template. Every site we build is written with the business behind it, in its own words.
Website and SEO questions for restaurants and cafés — Speaking Entirely Openly
Is a PDF menu really that bad?
On a phone, usually yes: slow to open, hard to read, and harder for search engines to understand. A menu written as text on the page does all three jobs better, and it’s easier for you to update.
Do we need a website if we’re on Instagram and Google?
Those are where people discover you. A website is where they check the details, and where search engines confirm what your profiles say. The three work best together.
Can the website take table bookings?
It can link to the booking system you already use, or we can talk through the options. What matters most is that the booking button is impossible to miss on a phone.
How do we keep the menu up to date?
You can edit it yourself in the CMS whenever a dish changes. If you’d rather not, menu changes are the kind of small edit the care plan covers.
How much does a restaurant’s website cost?
Like any website we build: from £1,995, with the words and pictures included and a quote in writing before anything starts. See pricing.