A café or restaurant website: what to put on it
Someone choosing where to eat or have a coffee checks the place on their phone on the way. They look for the menu, the address and the opening hours. If those are not on the site, they open the next one. Below are six blocks worth putting on the page, the order to place them in, and the mistakes to avoid.
What a guest looks for in the first minute
A guest arrives from search or from a map with one of three questions: what do they serve and what does it cost, where is it and is it open, and is there a table. Anything that does not answer those goes further down. A page that opens with the history of the place makes people scroll, and someone on the go will not.
1. The menu with prices
A dish and its price on one line, sections by type: breakfast, mains, desserts, drinks. Do not publish the menu as a photo or a PDF: it is hard to read on a phone, and a search engine cannot see that text. Write the menu as text.
Next to a dish, give the ingredients in one short phrase and mark what guests look for most often: vegetarian, gluten-free, spicy. State the weight or volume where the choice depends on it: a "pizza" with no diameter or a "steak" with no weight makes people ask.
Put seasonal items in a section of their own so they are easy to update. If a dish has run out, remove it from the menu rather than leave it: a guest who came for it will not forgive that.
2. Address, map and opening hours
The exact address, a map, a phone number and the schedule for every day of the week. If you work differently on holidays, say so separately. An out-of-date closing time turns into a bad review.
Add a landmark that makes the entrance easy to find: "the door in the archway", "second floor", "opposite the market". For a place in the city centre, say where to park too. Check the hours on Google Maps as well: if they differ from the site, a guest will believe the map.
3. Photos of the place and the dishes
A few shots of the dining room, the bar and the most popular dishes. A guest wants to see where they are going and what they will get. Stock photos hurt: they are spotted at once. Shoot by a window in daylight, and shoot the dishes without filters, in a real portion.
The room at different times: empty by day, full in the evening.
Three or four dishes that are ordered most often.
The bar or the coffee machine, if it is the centre of the place.
The summer terrace or a children's corner, if you have one.
4. Table booking
A phone number and a "Book a table" button. For a restaurant it is the main action on the page. For a café a phone number and a map are enough. State how many hours ahead to book, from how many guests you take a booking, and how long you hold a table. That removes half of the calls asking for details.
5. Delivery or pickup
If you deliver, give the zone, the minimum order, the price and the time. If you do not, do not leave the question unanswered: "No delivery" is useful information too. For pickup, say how long an order takes to prepare and where to collect it.
6. Reviews and social networks
Two or three real reviews with names, and links to Instagram or Telegram. Social networks show that the place is alive, and the site remains the place with everything a guest needs. Do not copy reviews from maps without the author's permission: just link to the place's page on Google Maps.
Common mistakes
A menu as a picture.
Prices that changed long ago.
No opening hours, or hours that do not match Google Maps.
Music or video that starts by itself.
A site that is slow to open on a mobile connection.
A "Book" button that leads to a form with ten fields.
How not to overload the page
One screen, one answer: the menu, where we are, when we work, how to book. Put promotions and news lower down so they do not get in the way of the main thing. If a promotion runs for a week, do not give it a permanent section on the home page.
What to check once a month
Whether the prices on the site match the prices in the room.
Whether the opening hours are current, especially before holidays.
Whether the site opens on a phone with a slow connection.
Whether the phone and the booking button work.
Where to get a ready base
FastSite has templates for a coffee shop and for a restaurant with all of these blocks. You only add your menu, photos and address. The preview is free, and you pay once, when you publish the site. What it costs is covered in a separate article, the packages and prices are on the pricing page, and how to gather the material quickly is in the short checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Does a café need a booking button?
Usually not: a phone number and a map are enough. A “Book a table” button matters mostly for a restaurant, where it is the main action on the page.
Can I put the menu up as a photo or a PDF?
Better not to: it is hard to read on a phone, and a search engine does not see such text. Write the menu as text, one “dish — price” line each.
What if the opening hours differ between the site and Google Maps?
Fix them so that they match: the guest will believe the map. How to set up and maintain the listing is covered in “How to add your business to Google Maps”.
How often should I update the site?
Once a month, check the prices, the opening hours, how it opens on slow mobile internet and whether the phone and the booking button work. The templates for a café and a restaurant can be viewed for free.