Restaurant Website Design: 5 Steps To Create Your Own Site

A new marketing trend has started among dining establishments. It involves promoting their restaurants on social media platforms. They advertise their restaurants using such channels and have become so reliant on these methods. Due to their obsession with social media marketing, they have forgotten the impact of a powerful restaurant website design. Many business owners prefer not to create one. This is a poor marketing tactic, and here are some statistics to support this claim.

1. 77% of customers visit a restaurant’s website before dining in, ordering takeout, or calling for delivery.
2. 45% of customers prefer to look at food photos on a restaurant’s website.
3. 40% of customers prefer to order from a restaurant’s website.
4. 68% of customers don’t visit eateries due to outdated restaurant website designs.

If you are one of these restaurant owners, you are cutting off roughly 57% of your clients. So, if you don’t want to be on a losing streak, prepare a well-functioning and up-to-date restaurant website design.

This article is for those who want information on various restaurant website designs. Moreover, this guide will also provide an overview of the research work needed to create a restaurant website template. But before diving into this, let’s look at why having a beautiful layout is necessary for your business.

Is a Restaurant Website Design Necessary?

Having an attractive website paves the way to creating an effective digital restaurant. It will increase sales, increase average profit margins, and attract more customers. The above statistics prove the percentage of customers lost when they don’t find a restaurant’s website. Here are a few more reasons why a restaurant website design is necessary.

1. A well-designed website allows you to showcase your menu, type of food, and promotions in a visually appealing way.
2. A professional design establishes credibility, builds trust, and drives up the number of loyal customers. They are more likely to choose your restaurant for their dining needs.
3. Having email forms on your website allows customers to make reservations effortlessly. Approximately 89% of diners make an online reservation if the website design is user-friendly and offers a seamless booking experience.
4. A website can provide important information such as operating hours, location, and contact details. This makes it convenient for customers to find and connect with your restaurant.
5. Appear at the top of search results by optimizing your site for local SEO.
6. Out-of-date restaurant website designs will turn away 30% of potential customers.
7. Statistics show that a well-designed digital restaurant will receive 60% more orders if they have a mobile-friendly website.
8. You can create a contactless menu and share it on your website via QR code or a high-quality image.

No matter how popular your business is on social media, you need a website. It is not for you. It is for your business’s success and because it helps your customers get to know your business better.

Creating a simple design is easy. You can hire a designer or do it yourself if you are up for the challenge. But before you open your laptop and begin searching for restaurant website templates, it is essential to do some research.

5 Steps on How to Design a Restaurant Website?

To learn how to design a restaurant website, check out the websites of restaurants with excellent star ratings. This will show you what successful restaurant website designs look like. You can get creative ideas for what features and elements to incorporate into your restaurant website design.

Here are a few things you must investigate before proceeding:

1. Pay attention to the layout and navigation of these websites to ensure a user-friendly experience for your customers.
2. Study their restaurant website template; examine their high-quality images, email forms, energetic typography, etc.
3. Read about the content of their digital restaurant and how they have designed their menu.

These points may seem impossible to do if you are a business owner, but not to worry. We will cover all these and more points in detail. Once you are through with this guide, you will get an overview of different restaurant website designs. You may even be able to create a simple design yourself using a restaurant website template as a starting point.

So, it is time to learn how to design a restaurant website from the very beginning.

Step #1: Get Top Restaurant Website Design Inspiration Ideas

Start by researching successful restaurant websites. Visit their sites and look at the layout through the eyes of the customer.

• Is it easy to navigate?
• Is the restaurant website template using high-quality images?
• What is the image source? Did they take the pictures themselves, purchase them, or are these downloaded for free?
• Do you understand the type of food the restaurant is serving?
• Is their online ordering system easy to use?
• Do they offer promotions for loyal customers?
• Does their home page display a video or an attractive hero image?
• Does the website have a simple design, or is it interactive?

These are important questions to consider when researching successful restaurant website designs. If a competitor has all these points checked off, they have a well-designed website likely to attract customers. You shouldn’t copy the design of the competitor’s website. It is only for reference. Study how your rival has presented their digital restaurant and what you must do or include to win. Here are some additional restaurants to get creative ideas from:

• Urban Belly

The great thing about Urban Belly is its focus on high-quality images, video, and the use of bold typography. The navigation shows the important parts of a website, which are:

• Menu
• Locations
• Online order page

Their menu is available in PDF and on the online order page.

• Bon Bouquet Cafe

Bon Bouquet Cafe has a simple design. It begins with a striking hero image, focusing on high-quality images and an easy-to-read menu.

• Back Door Donuts

Back Door Donuts stands out with its colorful design, featuring images of their delicious donuts. It includes a user-friendly ordering system, making it convenient for customers to place their orders.

Gather ideas to create a unique and captivating website by studying these restaurant website design examples.

Step #2: Understand the Three Main Parts of a Restaurant Website Design

After going through the ideas to spark inspiration, it is advisable to write down the features you like. You will remember what components you want to include in your restaurant website template. But before you begin the design, it is crucial to understand the three main parts of a restaurant website design. This will help you create a website that effectively showcases your restaurant and attracts customers.

There are several components to a site, but the three main parts are the homepage, menu page, and contact page.

• Home Page

The homepage is where you can display a hero image and high-quality images of your restaurant. This section should convey the type of food you are serving before the customer sees the menu. It should also display any special promotions, whether seasonal or targeted at loyal customers. Also, remember to add a call to action, which can be a button or link. It should encourage visitors to make a reservation, explore the menu, or place an online order.

• Menu Page

The menu page should showcase your delicious dishes, divided into various categories for easy browsing. Include mouthwatering descriptions and high-quality images. Consider including special dietary options or allergen information to cater to a wider range of customers. Implement an online ordering system if you want to make your digital restaurant more interactive and enhance the guest experience. This is an essential feature if you are providing pickup and home delivery.

• Contact Page

The contact page should display the restaurant’s essential information, such as:

• Location
• Operational hours
• Email form
• Contact information
• Reservation form

While these three pages are the main components, there are additional features you can include. However, a simple restaurant website design is enough to attract customers.

Step #3: Get a Restaurant Website Design Template

You don’t need to design a website template from scratch. You can purchase one or get one for free. However, a free restaurant website template is not a wise choice, as it may come with speed and performance issues.

If you are wondering, “How can I get a restaurant website template?” here are four restaurant website builders you should consider.

1. Canva restaurant website templates offer free and paid designs that you can customize and publish right away. It is suitable for restaurant owners who are looking for a simple design with minimum functionality.
2. Astra offers a range of restaurant website designs and templates. Some are free, but the best themes are in the premium version. The Astra page builder and its templates are for WordPress. Creating a WordPress restaurant website design will provide a wide range of customizable options.
3. Wix is another popular option for restaurant website templates. They offer a wide selection of customizable themes that let you create a professional-looking website without any coding knowledge.
4. Oracle Gloria Foods is a powerful platform that specializes in restaurant website design and online ordering systems. You can effortlessly create a visually appealing website using its user-friendly interface and extensive features. They also offer responsive templates that ensure your website looks great on any device, providing a seamless guest experience.

Step #4: How Can I Design a Restaurant Menu?

There are various ways to showcase your menu, and here are some tips and tricks to help you.

1. Organize Your Menu. Make sure your menu consists of multiple categories based on the type of food you are serving. The sections could be, for example, appetizers, main courses, desserts, etc.
2. Make It Readable. Your menu should be easy to read. This means the typography and colors should be pleasing to the eyes. Use appropriate font sizes, headings, subheadings, and bullet points, and avoid overcrowding.
3. Mention Prices. Be sure to mention prices and specify if they are with or without taxes. It is usually located on the right side of the type of food or below it.
4. Use High-Quality Images. This is optional. If you add images to your menu, make sure they are mouth-watering.

After you have designed your menu, you need to figure out how you want your website to look. Do you want a simple design or an interactive website?
If your restaurant website design is dynamic, there are various menu builders you can use, depending on the CMS.

If you are going with a simple design, you can upload a high-quality image of your menu to your website. Using Canva’s free restaurant menu maker, you can easily create a visually appealing menu with customizable templates and energetic typography. You can download it as a PDF and publish it on your site.

Step #5: DIY or Hire a Restaurant Website Design Company

If you have the skills and time, you can choose to create your restaurant website design using website builders. These builders offer various restaurant website templates, high-quality images, energetic, and bold typography. Using these tools, you can create an interactive or simple design site.

However, if you want a professional and customized website, go with a restaurant website design company. These agencies specialize in creating sites guaranteed to bring in more customers and skyrocket your physical and digital restaurant sales.

According to Statista, a high number of loyal customers placed orders online during the pandemic. This digital restaurant ordering movement continues to grow at an alarming pace. Analysts have predicted that restaurant-to-consumer online delivery may reach 1.47 billion users by 2027. Therefore, a restaurant website design is critical for your business’s customer outreach program.

Here are some benefits of hiring a restaurant website design company:

1. They are experts in the industry.
2. They understand the basic components of restaurant website designs.
3. The up-to-date website design integrates well with an online ordering system.
4. They focus on mobile-first design, which accounts for 70–80% of online traffic.

If you have contracted a restaurant website design company, you need someone to handle the marketing side of your business. Social media isn’t the only form of marketing eateries should focus on. There are other aspects as well. For the best marketing results, hire a professional firm that specializes in various marketing strategies. They can obtain information about your loyal customers and suggest various approaches to maximize your earning potential. Start growing your restaurant business with Beambox and try their 30-day free trial today.

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