How to Make A Good Restaurant Website

Chow recently wrote a good post pointing out the most annoying restaurant website design flaws. And we agree. Restaurant websites are notoriously terrible for a variety of reasons. Chow points out a few:

• Flash intro pages
• No prices listed
• Automatic music played

Rather than just pointing out what sucks though, menuvore wants to help restaurants understand what they could and should be doing.


1) Make Relevant - Think about why people are coming to your restaurant site. In most cases, all they want to know is what food you offer and where your restaurant is. This means pictures, prices, descriptions, hours and a map of where the restaurant is located (at least the address and phone number). That's pretty much it.

2) Keep it simple - No crazy elaborate flash introductions. You're not a theme park, you're a restaurant (If you're the Rain Forest Cafe, go nuts). These intros waste people's time and take away from the point of your restaurant... the food. And no music! If you can't convey the feel of the restaurant in pictures and a little bit of copy, then you're not doing it right.

3) Keep the navigation idiot proof - Make it incredibly easy for people to find what they're looking for. Have few tabs and the ones you do have, make them go somewhere relevant. The less clicking around someone has to do, the longer they'll stay on your site.

4) Update your website - I know this can be difficult, but it goes a long way. Updating shows you care about the information you give to the customer. It also makes your restaurant look fresh. Good restaurants are always trying new things and this is a good way to show that you are always trying to make the experience/food better.

5) Add incentive - Throw a coupon up there or promote a special/happy hour. People love deals and most restaurants have them but do a poor job of letting anyone know. Use your awesome site, not only to be helpful but as a sales tool as well.

These 5 rules should help restaurants easily improve their websites. Take ownership of your site, it's an important piece of your brand. If it sucks, there's a good chance the people won't come.