A visitor to a café site wants three things: the menu, the address/directions, and whether it is open now. The fourth is booking or ordering. If those four are not on the first screen on a phone, the site is not doing its job — however pretty it is. When searching “restaurant website examples”, those four questions are what to look for.
Page structure (keep it small)
- Homepage: name, one sentence (what we eat, which district), “Menu”, “Directions”, “Book/Order” buttons on the first screen; today’s hours; a few real photos.
- Menu: its own page, updatable, not a PDF. Make it the same page as the QR menu; the table QR lands here too. Design rules in menu design.
- Location and hours: embedded map, written address, “Get directions” button, weekly hours, holiday exceptions.
- Booking / ordering: phone and WhatsApp first; a booking system embedded if you have one; for takeaway, the setup in online ordering.
- About / gallery: short; venue and food photos. Not stock.
- Events / offers (optional): if you cannot keep it current, do not add it; “last year’s breakfast offer” loses trust.
The menu: the most-skipped thing
A PDF menu is unreadable on a phone, must be re-uploaded on every price change, and Google cannot read it. As a web page every item is text: a search for “vegan breakfast Kadıköy” lands on your menu item. Price changes take seconds from the panel; “sold out today” is one tap.
The Google match
Name, address, phone and hours on the site must match the Google Business Profile exactly. For “café near me” the map card brings more visits than the site; the site supports the card. For reviews, see Google reviews.
Speed and photos
Restaurant sites are slow from heavy galleries. Shrink photos (a food photo should not be 5 MB), aim for under three seconds on a phone. Phone-shooting rules for consistent photos are in creating product photos; for food the “show it as it is” rule applies especially.
When looking at example sites
- Is the menu on the first screen, or a PDF?
- Load time on a phone?
- Do the hours show today?
- Does the booking button work, where does it go?
- Do the photos belong to that venue?
A site that gets “yes” to those five is a good example; design comes second.
Common mistakes
- Sending the menu to Instagram.
- Writing hours as “every day 09–23” and not updating for holidays.
- Auto-playing music/video on the homepage.
- A phone number on the site that is not tappable.
- The domain registered in the agency’s name (the ownership questions in website pricing).
Sufitware’s website and QR menu services are built in one identity for cafés and restaurants; the café and restaurant sector page explains the approach. Send your current menu and venue photos through the brief form and we will draft the page structure.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a restaurant website menu be a PDF?
- It should not: unreadable on phones, re-uploaded on every price change, and Google cannot read it. The menu should be an updatable web page; the table QR should land on the same page.
- Is the website or the Google profile more important for a café?
- For “café near me” the map card brings more visits; the site supports the card and is needed for menu, booking and ordering. Both work together with identical information.
- Which pages should a restaurant site have?
- Homepage (menu, directions, booking buttons on the first screen), an updatable menu, location and hours, booking/ordering, a short about page and real photos.