Zdjęcie: Pixabay (Pexels)
Before a guest decides whether to come to your restaurant, they'll probably check it on Google. They'll see photos, menu, opening hours and — if something doesn't appeal to them or the site doesn't load — they'll move on to the next search result. A restaurant website isn't an "add-on for later", it's the first contact with a potential customer, often more important than the sign above the entrance.
The problem is that many establishments still use websites built years ago, static, without the ability to order or make reservations, or — worse — rely solely on social media profiles. That simply isn't enough anymore.
What a guest is looking for when visiting a restaurant website
Before you start thinking about design, it's worth looking at it from the customer's perspective. A typical user on a restaurant website wants to find in seconds:
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current menu with prices,
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information about whether the restaurant is open now,
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address and directions,
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ability to order online or reserve a table,
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photos of dishes and the interior.
If they can't find any of this information in roughly a dozen seconds, statistically a large portion of visitors simply go back to search results. So your website needs to be fast, clear and work well on a phone — because the majority of traffic comes from mobile.
Menu — heart of the site, not a PDF
One of the most common mistakes is uploading the menu as a downloadable PDF file. Such a file doesn't display well on small screens, it needs to be zoomed, and sometimes simply won't open. The menu should be part of the website — responsive, divided into categories, with descriptions and photos of dishes that really help customers make a decision.
A good solution is a , which guests can scan at their table, but which is at the same time the same menu visible on the website. This way you don't need to update two different versions — a price change or adding a seasonal dish happens in one place. If a restaurant frequently changes its menu depending on the day of the week or product availability, an is also useful, which automatically switches, for example, breakfast menu to lunch menu at a specific time.
