Quick Summary
Having a good restaurant works great for a business. But, having a wide reach for your restaurant is an additional help to increase revenue. Taking your restaurant online through a website is a first step to introduce your business to the internet world. It gives a boost to your marketing efforts. Let’s see why your restaurant business needs a website and how to develop a website for your restaurant of café business.
Building a website for restaurants and cafes becomes a must to continue functioning. Building a website that provides important information to people is quite necessary for a growing contemporary enterprise. This is also applicable to restaurants, cafes, bars, etc. Considering the current situation of the pandemic, when every business is moving online due to restrictions.
In this blog, we will cover several aspects of how to create a restaurant website. Specifically, we’ll cover the restaurant website development, features, website design, functionality, and promotion.
You’ll also get to know which design elements can attract more visitors.
The Restaurant Industry has undergone enormous changes over the past few years. Emerging technologies such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence have played a major role and are transforming the operations of each industry.
Technological evolution and advancements are changing every operation of a restaurant business. Food apps are playing a huge role in the tech upgrade of restaurants. According to research:
- More than half of the American population, specifically 51%, now rely on delivery services to conveniently order meals from restaurants.
- According to a study, 56% of 1,000 Americans reported dining out in a restaurant at least 2 to 3 times per week on average.
- An overwhelming 90% of individuals who plan to visit a restaurant take the time to research and gather information about it online beforehand.
- When it comes to restaurant reviews, a significant majority of 77% of consumers express a preference for reading feedback from fellow customers rather than relying on the opinions of professional critics.
- When it comes to raA remarkable 56% of Generation Z diners in the United States actively seek out new dining experiences, visiting a new restaurant on a monthly basis or even more frequently.estaurant reviews, a significant majority of 77% of consumers express a preference for reading feedback from fellow customers rather than relying on the opinions of professional critics.
In this new era, it has become a must to have some sort of online presence for a business. Nowadays, most people surf the internet as a source of information due to advancements in technology.
So, having a website for your business available to fulfill their information searches and requirements is immensely beneficial for the business industry.
A website gives you a platform to showcase the brand image of your business, giving your customers an idea of the services and offerings before even stepping out of the house.
There are several benefits of having a website for your restaurant business. Following are some reasons to build a website for your restaurant:
- With a website, you can display ads at a lower cost.
- A website gives you a platform to provide basic information to your customers about your restaurant including hours of operation, location, special offers, payment methods, and more.
- It helps to increase awareness of your business.
- By investing time into search engine optimization (SEO) you can improve your search rankings for your business.
- You can easily add online booking features to your website providing your customers a quick way to make reservations on the go.
- A website can help your business to build a solid brand image.
In this new era, it has become a must to have some sort of online presence for a business. Nowadays, most people surf the internet as a source of information due to advancements in technology.
So, having a website for your business available to fulfill their information searches and requirements is immensely beneficial for the business industry.
A website gives you a platform to showcase the brand image of your business, giving your customers an idea of the services and offerings before even stepping out of the house.
There are several benefits of having a website for your restaurant business. Following are some reasons to build a website for your restaurant:
If we compare mobile apps and mobile websites then they appear somewhere similar, but they are different from each other in terms of a target audience, budget, and features.
Expenses for creating a mobile app for restaurant are higher as compared to a mobile restaurant website. A responsive website for restaurant works on every platform whereas you need to create different mobile apps for various platforms.
Websites have a static and navigational user interface, whereas mobile apps offer an interactive user interface. Using a restaurant mobile app you can access different phone features like phone contacts, location service, camera which is not possible with a website.
Mobile apps are faster as compared to websites but we need to install those apps first. If we talk about reach then mobile websites do provide a broader reach to us.
If you want to start with affiliate or referral marketing, the website is a better option.
The domain name and web hosting are two different things. We need both domain names and web hosting to set up a website.
A domain name is an address for your website on the internet where people can access your website. Internet users type your domain name in the browser’s URL bar to visit your site.
A storage location where your website content files are placed is web hosting. You can choose a domain name and get it registered with Domain Company. Also, you can register a domain name with most domain companies for a minimum of 1 year.
You are also require to renew your domain name before it expires so that you can continue using it further. The next step is to buy a hosting plan and link it with your domain name.
If you are willing to market your business then you should check whether your business name (yourbusiness.com) is available. Write down at least five words that best describe the key topic of your website and then mix and match them to create possible domain names.
Then choose the one among them that is sounding good and is memorable. Most of websites use the “.com” domain as their preferred extension because they are the easiest to remember.
Once you’ve selected your top choices for your site name, make sure you are not violating anyone’s trademarks.
Once you have confirmed that the selected domain name is available, you can purchase it from a domain registrar or web hosting company.
Some of the web hosts will register a domain name for you for free (usually for one year) when you buy a web hosting service from them, while you will have to cover the registrar fees (an annual fee of $10 – $15 for the “.com” domain).
Hosting is one of the essential requirements while developing a restaurant website. Hosting has a major impact on your website ranking, quality, and maintenance.
Well, various factors are considered while selecting the right hosting plan. You need to understand the purpose of your website for finding the right web hosting plan.
You also need to keep in mind that the size of your website determines the disk space required in your hosting so you have to choose a web hosting plan accordingly.
If you opt for shared hosting if you have a small or moderate-level blog. To avoid some issues faced by a website VPS, a Dedicated, or Cloud hosting plan is suggested.
For a medium and large business marketing plan, robust hosting plans i.e.VPS server, dedicated server, and cloud are needed.
One of the most common reasons for someone to visit your restaurant’s website is to check out the menu. Having a good online menu is extremely essential. You should avoid uploading the photo of your menu because it becomes difficult for users to scroll through and is difficult for search engines to read.
Ensure to add essential information on a separate page of your restaurant website if you provide services like catering or allow your restaurant to be rented out for parties, weddings, or any other events.
Delivering all the required information on your café or restaurant website page with a quicker reach can boost your business to a larger scale.
If you do not implement this feature on your restaurant business’ website, then your website visitors may be tempted to look on some other platforms.
Reviews and feedback feature is extremely important. Various methods are available for collecting feedback.
You can select any review and feedback collection technique ranging from oral feedback collection to using technology based on your cost establishment.
There is high importance of customer reviews and feedbacks in restaurants because it not only enriches the customer experience but also works like a report card for restaurants
Social media platforms have changed the face of restaurant website marketing. We no longer need to rely on word-of-mouth marketing and can use social media platforms for raising your brand awareness, display ads, and in turn, increase their revenues.
So if you are into the restaurant business and you have not thought about a well-planned social media marketing strategy then you are missing out on so much!
You can drive your customers crazy by adding this feature to your restaurant’s website.
You can provide free shipping offers on certain food items, you can offer a certain percent off on food items, reward points to your loyal customers, you can give them quantity discounts i.e. the more you buy the more you save, and much more.
Each online shopper wants to know if they are getting the desired item at the best possible price when making their purchase.
Customers desire to be able to pay as per their choice. Since so much digital online payment software is available today,
It has become quite important to integrate an online payment feature while building a restaurant website.
The perks of having this feature are many such as it is more convenient for users, cost and time saving, increased sales, and is more secure.
It will make no sense if you have delicious food at your restaurant but you are unable to drive traffic on your website.
This is the reason a restaurant should have its presence on the social media platform. Since your potential customers are spending a lot of time on a social media platform.
So, creating content for social media has become quite important to implement social media in your restaurant’s digital marketing strategy.
The majority of people search for restaurants online. Even after having a well-designed website, it’s of no use if customers can’t discover it online. This is where the business industry needs Search Engine Optimization.
A business needs to have a well-optimized website. Implementing this feature will help you rank well in Google.
This way you can drive a huge amount of traffic to your website and increase your sales. This will enhance the user experience.
In today’s era where you can find pizza hut and many other global brands, it has become extremely difficult to gain loyal customers.
As we know that media and street advertising are expensive so we can opt for email marketing in such a situation.
Being a restaurant owner your ultimate goal is going to be that you stand out in this competing environment and global brands.
This type of marketing helps you to build a long-term relationship with your customers that will enable you to increase restaurant sales.
Running restaurant campaigns will help you to attract new customers, show appreciation to existing customers, and keep the customer returning.
The first and foremost thing you need to do is focus on your customer needs. You need to figure out what they are looking for and move further accordingly.
Customer-focused businesses build strong customer relationships which are beneficial for the longer term.
A customer-focused business places the customer experience as its priority.
After understanding the needs of your customer, the next step would be to design a layout for your website. You can choose a suitable theme for your restaurant as per your requirements.
Going for the niche themes would be the best choice as its layout would include several features that you desire and it is easier for you to set up.
Your goal should be a user-friendly design for your website because providing your users what they are looking for is essential to stick them to your website.
You must ensure your users get an excellent experience. For that, you need to design a great UX for your application or website.
A good UX design is vital to attract more users and make them stick to your website. Creating a lasting impression and providing your users a great experience is the best way to ensure your loyal customers. To make your website look different and unique, you can get a custom website design.
Implementing the Popup feature can be a game-changing point in your business. Based on your analysis, you will be able to answer user questions with a pop-up feature.
This way users get a great experience and would like to stick to your website. Having a pop-up feature that lets your users sign up will leave your customers feeling an amazing sense of welcome at your website.
This feature can initiate your customers throughout the shopping journey. It will increase your instant sales.
Representing your business on multiple social networks will increase your sales and also help you drive organic traffic on your website and rank higher on Google search results.
You should ensure your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other platforms are all branded and represent the same high-quality content that your website does.
You need to be consistent in posting content on social media to attract more users to your website. Additionally, make sure to link all social sites back to your website.
High-quality images will help your restaurant’s website succeed, as they can pull customers to your restaurant. With advances in technology, photography is more important than ever.
A professional photographer won’t be cheap but it’s worth the money. You need to hire a professional photographer to get great food shots.
Adding high-quality images to your restaurant website will drive huge traffic by attracting more customers. This will increase your sales and will give your business a boost.
Sending survey questions to users increases response rates by reaching your target audience fast.
Using online survey questionnaires reduces your research cost. It gives more accurate information with online surveys. The results of the online survey are quick to be analyzed.
Gramercy Tavern is a New American restaurant which is located in the Flatiron District in Manhattan, New York City. The opening image that greets website visitors is just outstanding.
The picture makes you want to visit their beautiful restaurant to see their gorgeous bar in person.
This restaurant is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Schlotzsky’s has more than 350 franchised and company-owned locations worldwide.
The presentation of your website affects the overall message your restaurant and website conveys to your potential customers. Schlotzsky’s website uses two colors i.e. hues of red and green to stimulate appetite and motivate visitors.
Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958. It provides pizza and other Italian-American dishes including pasta and desserts.
International chain Pizza Hut has a nice history to tell their visitors how they got started and the reason behind their business is called Pizza Hut. Having a compelling origin story draws customers in.
SusieCakes is an American bakery offering classic desserts like cakes, cookies, cupcakes, pies, and puddings that are made entirely from scratch using simple and natural ingredients.
As people love to get stuff for free, so most restaurants offer rewards programs.
This way restaurants can increase their customer loyalty. Susie Cakes bakery did a great job of highlighting their rewards program and making it easy to sign up.
The cost of developing a restaurant website or web would lie somewhere in between $20, 000- $40,000 approximately depending on numerous factors. Hiring a developer for your restaurant website development would cost you $10-$35 per hour.
The cost to develop a restaurant website may vary depending on various factors like the platform you choose, the technology being used, custom features you desire to add, developer’s cost, location of the company you select for café web development, testing and publication, and much more.
If you are looking forward to developing a restaurant website or web app, this is the right time.
Creating a restaurant website needs a thoughtful designing and developing functionalities that attracts a user to the food. Hence, to implement the same, hiring a professional website development company becomes inevitable. The web developers in such a company can suggest designs and integrate advanced features seamlessly while they create a website for your restaurant.
Echoinnovate IT has developed 500+ food industry websites for clients all over the world and can provide you with top full-stack offshore developers for hire.
Our SEO service team has the right expertise to bring your targeted audience to the website and also make it rank on the top in Google. They will work attentively on your restaurant website to deliver the best experience to your users and make revenue from maximum visits.
How Much Time Will It Take Echoinnovate IT To Develop A Restaurant Website Or WebApp?
The time required to develop a restaurant web app would lie somewhere between 4-5 months depending on the complexity of an application and your requirements.
And, building a website for a restaurant might take 14 weeks at a minimum. The time may vary depending on several factors such as features, the platform you choose, the design and development process, etc.
At Echoinnovate IT, a leading app development company in Toronto, we offer the top-notch services of web app and website development. We have a huge team of highly skilled professionals who deliver your project without compromising the quality of an application or website. If you want to develop a website or web app, contact us today!
How Can I Contact Technology Experts To Develop My Restaurant Website?
You can contact our technical experts via the contact form, phone number, and email id provided on our website for your restaurant web app or website development. Our team will get back to you within 24 hours. Feel free to contact us!
