The restaurant industry has seen a drastic shift over the years in how customers view a menu, pick and order their food. People are no longer only driving down the street looking for or visiting a restaurant to try all the time.
Instead…
They’re going on their phones to find the best restaurants available in the area to order online. That puts them a few minutes away from picking a new restaurant to place an online order.
With such a huge change in customer behavior, your online website is extremely important.
While an offline customer deals with the restaurant manager, the waiters, or the cashier, online customers get their first impression from your website design.
- Is it visually appealing to reflect the identity of a professional restaurant?
- Can I browse around different site sections easily with no confusion, bugs, or errors?
- Will I be able to find the information I’m looking for as quickly as possible?
These are all questions that occur inside a website visitor’s mind before forming an impression of your restaurant.
And the answer to all that is determined by one thing…
The user-experience.
To get there, you need to design your website in a modern fashion to keep up with your competition.
For starters:
You must use a professional logo and brand identity to represent your restaurant.
Color is the first thing the human eye catches when perceiving the outside world. Thus, using the wrong colors can push many customers away within seconds of them visiting your site.
Be sure to choose an eye-catching color combination that stands out. That’s how you’ll make a lasting impression on anyone that comes across your restaurant website.
You should also think about typography and which fonts to use. Although that often comes to your taste and personal preferences, it’s better to be consistent with your choice.
Next:
Food photography. An effective website features professional pictures or videos of your food and delicious meals, physical space, staff, or even your chef to highlight company culture and style.
As you’ll see in the modern design examples below, this step is key to creating a unique website for your business.
Top-notch restaurants use high-quality photography to promote their style and atmosphere. That’s a great way to connect with your clients before they visit their physical space.
More importantly:
Apply the right design principles to develop a well-structured message for your brand. That will allow you to communicate with your clients more efficiently.
Important Restaurant Website Design Principles Include:
- Establishing a clear hierarchy between your web elements that is easy to navigate
- Creating enough contrast between your texts, images, and objects
- Balancing out all objects on your web pages
- Have a well thought out food menu and online ordering system
Our Top 25 Creative Restaurant Website Designs Examples
Getting Started on a Website for a Restaurant
How to create a restaurant website
To set up a restaurant website, you’ll need to utilize a website platform such as Squarespace, Duda, Wix, WordPress, or even HubSpot, depending on the proficiency of your website designer or developer. These platforms guide you through domain purchase and website setup, making it straightforward to incorporate essential restaurant website elements.
Here are the steps you should follow:
- Register an account with a website platform like Squarespace, Wix, or WordPress.
- Acquire and configure your domain name (URL).
- Design your website and add content.
- Set up your website email accounts.
- Promote your website.
How much does a restaurant web design typically cost?
- Simple platforms or website builders like Squarespace typically start at $23 per month for a business plan, with additional charges for incorporating e-commerce features. Many of these platforms provide free or low-cost restaurant website templates. Squarespace is user-friendly and doesn’t demand extensive design or development skills, enabling you to create a customized and easy-to-navigate website.
- More comprehensive platforms like HubSpot have starter plans that begin at $270 per month and offer advanced marketing features. These are suitable for experienced website creators and marketers looking for additional functionality.
If all of this is new to you and you help building the best restaurant website in your area, we recommend getting help from an affordable website designer. An early small investment in a professional design for your website will yield amazing results and help your business thrive by the end. Hope you enjoyed our restaurant website designs to inspire your next project.
About the Author: Brad Fogel
