How To Create Di Blog Homepage Restaurant

Building the best restaurant website doesn't have to be a time-consuming or difficult task. In many cases, there are simple things you can build into your website to share the most important information with your frequent and potential guests, especially as a way to direct customer traffic to online ordering.

A great restaurant website supports all of your restaurant marketing activities: it can attract new customers, maintain loyal ones, and raise the overall profile of the establishment outside of the physical location. It's a crucial aspect of running a successful business.

As you work to create a restaurant website, keep customer data in mind. Gathering, and using, customer data in the right way can maximize your ability to attract, retain, and deepen the connection with your guests.

For example, with an easy online ordering system featured prominently on your site, a guest decides to order right from you, instead of using a third party site. During this process, they sign up for your newsletter, and create an account to become a part of your loyalty program. Now you can use that email data to re-target that guest with an email marketing campaign encouraging them to purchase a gift card, or a small welcome gift with your loyalty program. The guest can then use that gift card or coupon code to come back and order delivery for date night at home, being rewarded as a regular by accruing loyalty points. Then, they'll tell their friends, or bring them along to the restaurant, and the guest experience flow begins again.

An important piece of creating this guest experience flywheel is website optimization, and having the options and capabilities available and prominent on your website to build a strong guest relationship.

The best restaurant websites include:

The basics: contact info, hours, location
An up to date menu
Online ordering
A way to make reservations
The restaurant's social media accounts
Gift card purchasing
An email collection form

Use our restaurant website checklist below can help you make sure your restaurant's website ticks off all the boxes.

How to make a restaurant website

Building a restaurant website isn't difficult. To create a restaurant website, you'll need to use a website platform like Squarespace, Wix, or depending on the skill level of your website builder, the more advanced WordPress or HubSpot. The best restaurant website builders will walk you through purchasing and setting up your domain name, and you'll easily be able to add the key parts of a restaurant website to your site.

Create an account with a website creation platform like Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress.
Purchase and set up your domain name (URL).
Design and add content to your website.
Promote your website.

How much does a restaurant website cost?

Simple platforms like Squarespace begin at $18 per month for businesses and have additional costs for adding ecommerce or sales to the website. Many of these sites offer free restaurant website templates or very low-cost options. Squarespace is user-friendly and doesn't require much design or development skill to create a customized, easy-to-navigate website. More in-depth platforms like HubSpot include more marketing features and start at $270 per month, but offer more features for advanced website creators and marketers.

How to Design a Restaurant Website

Check out 12 of our favorite restaurant website examples, each paired with a pro tip that explains what makes them stand out.

12 of the Best Restaurant Websites:

Yang's Kitchen - Los Angeles, CA
Sweet Cheeks - Boston, MA
Mei Mei Street Kitchen - Boston, MA
Upper Crust Pizzeria - Multiple Cities
Old Lady Gang - Atlanta, GA
Costa Vida - Multiple Cities
Olympia Oyster Bar - Portland, OR
Lucha Libre Taco Shop - San Diego, CA
Dutch's - Portland, ME
SusieCakes - Multiple Cities
Smith & Wollensky - Multiple Cities
Marlowe - San Francisco, CA

Don't Forget the Basics: Address, Hours, and Contact Info

Example: Yang's Kitchen (Los Angeles, CA)

Usually, when your guests head to your website, it's to grab the most basic information: the address, the hours, and a way to contact you. Don't make it difficult! With this being the #1 thing people are looking for, put it front and center - like Yang's Kitchen does on their website. Their basic information is displayed clearly on the page.

Showcase Your Menu

Example: Sweet Cheeks (Boston, MA)

If the #1 thing people are looking for on your website is when and where to find your restaurant, #2 is what they'll eat when they get there! That means you should be making it very easy to find and browse your menu(s). Ideally, this will be in a webpage format so that it's easy to click around and search your menu items. Keep in mind that if your menu is in PDF format, it can't be crawled by search engines - so you may be missing out on potential guests.

Enable and Encourage Online Ordering

Example: Upper Crust Pizzeria (Multiple Cities)

Online ordering is already widespread and continues to increase in volume across the industry. If you don't optimize your restaurant website with online ordering - for takeout and/or delivery - you may be missing out on a huge additional revenue stream. And if you do offer online ordering, make it easy for customers to find it on your website and how you'd prefer they order food from you. While third-party delivery sites provide reach, they can also come with big fees. If you can encourage your guests to order from your online ordering service — like the one offered through Toast — you get greater control of your costs and keep more of the profits.

If you've already got a customer on your website, take advantage of that and let them order online, straight from you. Upper Crust Pizzeria, like many pizzerias, does a lot of business via online orders. They prominently display a button at the top of their website to let visitors easily place an order. Alternately, some restaurants choose to provide links to whichever online ordering sites they use to dispatch food to customers' homes.

Make it Easy to Make Reservations

Example: Old Lady Gang (Atlanta, GA)

If you take reservations, make it easy to do on your website instead of sending your customers to the phone. Old Lady Gang in Atlanta, GA puts a reservations form right at the center of their homepage. This way, their guests can easily see what times are available without having to talk to a host that's trying to hear them over the din of the restaurant.

Offer Quick Access to Your Loyalty Program

Example: Costa Vida (Multiple Cities)

Loyalty programs were created to help restaurants reward their best customers and to encourage repeat visits, creating new regulars. If you have a loyalty program, don't just rely on punch cards - make it easy for customers to check their status online, like Costa Vida does through the "Rewards" section of their website.

Loyalty programs are also a way to gather customer data, and then use that customer data to drive repeat visits. With Toast Loyalty, guests automatically accrue points whether they dine in-store or place an order online. Loyalty accounts linked to a guest's credit card makes this easy.

Plus, you can combine loyalty and email, and use the insights available from your customers' loyalty analytics to send targeted email campaigns to those who are close to reaching rewards or are close to being considered loyal.

Highlight Events to Get Customers Coming Back

Example: Olympia Oyster Bar (Portland, OR)

Many restaurants will run events throughout the week - like Trivia Tuesdays or afternoon Happy Hours - to keep customers coming back at specific, perhaps low traffic, times. This is great content to add to your website to make sure new guests know about the unique things happening at your establishment. Olympia Oyster Bar in Portland, OR has an Upcoming Events section up top, and if you scroll down, you'll find their Weekly Happenings section, as well as more info about their events.

Let Customers Buy Gift Cards and Merchandise Online

Example: Lucha Libre Taco Shop (San Diego, CA)

If you sell merchandise and/or gift cards in-store, why not also sell them on your website? Lucha Libre Taco Shop in San Diego, CA has a bright-blue button for "Lucha Gear" on their homepage, and if you scroll down, you find a button for e-gift cards. If you make it easy for your customers to buy gift cards or merchandise, they'll be more likely to think of you next time they need to buy a present! Also, offering merchandise creates awareness around your restaurant; your customers will be vouching for your brand in everyday life.

Link Your Social Accounts and Posts

Example: Dutch's (Portland, ME)

Social media is one of the best ways to engage with your customers and share great photos and updates from your restaurant. Be sure to link to your social accounts right from your website (and vice versa), and even include a feed of your recent updates and photos - it's a great way to add more interesting content to your website! Dutch's in Portland, ME, for example, has a big section of their homepage dedicated to their Instagram account, and they also link to a bigger gallery of photos they've taken.

Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

Example: SusieCakes (Multiple Cities)

Many of your visitors will be checking out your website from their smartphones - whether it's to grab your address while on their way, or to place an online order while sitting on the couch. Make sure your website is easy to navigate and looks good from a phone; otherwise, you risk missing out on a lot of great customers.

Collect Email Addresses for Marketing

Example: Smith & Wollensky (Multiple Cities)

Turn your anonymous visitors into known guests you can email by collecting email addresses on your website. Some restaurants, like Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse, have an email signup link, while others use pop-ups when landing on the website. In all cases, make sure you have a good reason for someone to give you their email address - such as notifications about upcoming events, exclusive promotions, menu specials, or even fun updates from the staff. Make the sign-up link front and center on your website, to make it as easy as possible for guests to stay engaged.

Incorporate Press and Reviews

Example: Marlowe (San Francisco, CA)

Hopefully, you already have people saying wonderful things about your restaurant. Make sure to highlight press quotes and customer reviews right on your website to make it even more appealing to someone trying to decide where to eat. The website for Marlowe, in San Francisco, shows off their many accolades on their homepage, while other restaurant websites choose to create a separate page for the recent press.

Related Restaurant Marketing Resources

Restaurant Promotion Ideas
Restaurant Themes and Ideas
Restaurant Branding

Here's a slideshow of 50 Examples of Great Restaurant Websitesfrom Toast to help you get even more inspired to update your own. And if you're wondering "what is restaurant marketing and how can it help my business?" get yourself a copy of our free restaurant marketing plan.