Guests decide on their phone: your restaurant site

Last updated: September 18, 2026

What does a restaurant website need to do on a phone?

Four things, and not much else. The menu reads without zooming into a pdf, the hours are correct, directions are one tap away, and booking or ordering works without a phone call. Getting a restaurant website to do that doesn't take months or thousands of euros.

The moment a guest decides

Saturday afternoon, someone's on the couch typing your restaurant's name into their phone. What they want to know within ten seconds: are you open tonight, what's on the menu, and can I get a table. If that's not obvious, the next restaurant is one tap away in the same search results.

That moment happens on a phone almost every time. Someone researching a restaurant on a laptop at home is the exception. Yet plenty of restaurant sites get built and signed off on a big screen, by someone who never opened the mobile version.

The pdf menu is your biggest leak

You know the motion: thumb and finger on the screen, zoom into a scanned menu, swipe right to see the prices, lose your place. Nobody wants to read a menu that way, and the menu is exactly what people came for.

The fix is simple and unglamorous: your menu as plain text on the page, dish plus price, grouped into categories. That reads on any screen, and it does more than that. Google can read text, not a pdf image, so someone searching for a dish you serve can actually find you.

A menu that changes often is all the more reason to keep it as text. Editing a line on a page is less work than making a new pdf, uploading it, and hoping the old one isn't still floating around somewhere.

Hours, directions, and phone number: the boring work

Nobody gets excited about a block of opening hours. Until they're standing at a locked door because your site still showed winter hours. Accurate basic information is the least glamorous, most-read part of your entire site.

Opening hours on the homepage, not three taps deep under Contact
Address as a link that opens the map directly
Holidays and closures updated before the day itself, on your Google profile too
Kitchen hours listed separately if they close earlier than the venue

Booking or ordering in one tap

Every step between "I want to eat here" and "done" costs you guests. A reservation button at the top that goes straight to your booking system, or to a short form that lands in your inbox, catches the people browsing late at night who won't pick up the phone to call.

If you do delivery or takeout, the math matters as much as the button. Orders through your own site don't cost you a commission; orders through a platform do, and the percentages vary by contract. You can see how that adds up in what a delivery platform costs a restaurant. Your own order page usually won't replace the platform, but every order that comes through your site is an order you keep the full margin on.

What photos need to be, and don't

Three or four good photos do the job: a dish, the inside of the place, maybe the storefront. Daylight and a recent phone camera get you surprisingly far. What to avoid is stock photos of someone else's food; guests spot that faster than you'd think, and it sets exactly the wrong expectation.

Watch the file size, though. Photos straight off a camera can run several megabytes each, and ten of those on your homepage slow the site down on the exact device guests are using: a phone on a patio with mediocre signal. Resizing before upload takes two minutes.

What does a restaurant website cost to build?

Prices range from nearly free DIY to agencies charging thousands of euros. What you actually need from the list above isn't custom work: a text menu, correct hours, directions, a booking button, and a handful of photos. That doesn't justify an agency rate. For the full comparison, including what to expect at each price point, see what a website costs.

With me it's EUR 1,200 flat, excl. VAT, hosting included, ready in 2 to 3 weeks. The domain goes in your own name, which runs about 15 euros a year and stays yours even if we part ways. And you see it before you pay: if you don't like the site, you owe nothing.

I won't promise a top spot on Google. Nobody can guarantee that, and whoever claims otherwise wants to sell you something else entirely.

Check your current site in five minutes

Grab your phone, turn off wifi, and search for your own restaurant the way a guest would. Then run through this list:

Can you read the menu without zooming?
Are this week's hours listed, including any exceptions?
Does the address open the map in one tap?
Can you book or order without calling?
Does the site load within a few seconds on mobile data?

Frequently asked questions

Can't I just put my menu on the site as a pdf?

You can, but you're making it harder for your guests. On a small screen, someone has to zoom and swipe to find prices, and search engines can't read that file. Put the menu on a page as plain text instead; updates go faster too.

Do I need a separate reservation system?

For a small restaurant, usually not. A short form that lands in your inbox, or a button to whatever system you already use, covers most of it. What matters more is that the button sits at the top and works on a phone.

I'm already listed on delivery apps and Google Maps. Why do I need my own site?

Those profiles aren't yours, and they show what the platform wants to show. On your own site, you control the story, and bookings or orders that come through it don't cost you a commission. The profiles and your own site do different jobs, so keep both.

How often do I need to update the site after that?

Less often than you'd think. Prices and menu changes as they happen, holidays or closures well ahead of time. If the menu is plain text on the page, a change is a quick edit, no designer or new pdf involved.

What if I don't do delivery or takeout?

Yes. Then it's all about the table: menu readable, hours correct, directions one tap away, booking without a phone call. You can always add delivery later.

Your restaurant site, handled, no hassle upfront

With the [[PAKKET-LINK]] I'll build your restaurant site for EUR 1,200 flat, excl. VAT: menu as readable text, opening hours, directions, and a booking button that works on a phone. Hosting included, domain in your own name (about 15 euros a year), ready in 2 to 3 weeks. And you see it before you pay: the invoice only goes out once you like the site. A top spot on Google isn't part of that, because nobody can deliver on that promise. This site is for the guest who types your name in on a Saturday afternoon and wants a table booked within ten seconds.

See the Get Found package