What to put on a restaurant website

Most people who open a restaurant's website are on a phone, often outside or on the way, and want one answer: what's on the menu, what it costs, are you open, where are you, can I order. A restaurant site works when it answers those in the first screen and makes the next step one tap.

Below: the eight things to put on it, in the order a diner looks for them, what to leave off, and a checklist you can use on your own site today.

1. The menu, as text, with prices

The menu is the reason most visitors come. Put it on the page as text, not as a photo or a PDF:

• Text reads on any phone. A PDF opens in another app, needs zooming, and is often an old version.
• Text can be found. Someone searching for a dish and your town can land on your menu page, and a phone can copy or translate it.
• Text is easy to keep current. Change a price or mark a dish sold out from your phone, instead of re-exporting a file.

The free ways to do it are in how to create a restaurant menu online for free, and if the prices need a fresh look first, how to price a menu item has the formula and worked numbers.

Show every price. "Market price" is fine for the dish that really changes; a menu with no prices makes people call to ask, or go elsewhere. Group dishes the way your kitchen does (tacos, plates, drinks), and put sizes and choices next to the dish ("small $4.50, large $5.75", "choose your meat").

2. Open now, and your hours

Put today's hours near the top, and say "Open now" or "Closed, opens at 11" if you can. Then the full week. Holiday hours belong on the site the day you decide them, and on your Google Business Profile, which lets you set special hours for holidays and events [1]. Wrong hours are the fastest way to lose a regular.

3. Address, with a directions link

Write the street address as text (so a phone can copy it) and add a link that opens directions in the visitor's maps app. If parking or the entrance is tricky ("enter from the back lot"), say so in one line.

4. A phone number you can tap

Make the number a tap-to-call link. Many diners still call for big orders, allergies or catering. If you'd rather they order online, the button below the number does that job.

5. One clear way to order

If you take orders, one button that says what happens: "Order for pickup" or "Order delivery". Decide where it goes:

• Your own ordering link keeps the customer and the full price. Pay-at-pickup ordering needs no card setup at all.
• A delivery app brings new diners, but takes a commission on each order.

Many small restaurants use both: their own link on the website and Google, the apps for delivery. Google's "Order online" button on your Business Profile can point to your own link: Google calls these custom ordering links [2].

6. Reservations, if you take them

One "Reserve a table" button, linked to the booking tool you already use. If you don't take bookings, say "Walk-ins only" so nobody hunts for a button.

7. A few real photos

Three to six photos you took yourself beat a gallery of stock images: the dish people order most, the counter or room, the outside so they recognise it. Real photos set the right expectation. Keep them light so the page loads fast on a phone.

8. Who you are, in two lines

What you cook and since when: "Family taqueria in Middleton since 2009, tortillas made every morning." That line does more than a long About page.

Running a truck? Today's location goes above everything else: see what a food truck website needs.

What to write in those lines, with a template and samples for different places, is in restaurant website About Us page.

What to leave off

• A menu only as a PDF or a photo. Keep the PDF as a download if you like, but put the text on the page.
• Pop-ups before the menu. Email sign-ups and app prompts that cover the first screen send visitors back to the search results.
• Autoplay video and music. Slow on a phone, embarrassing in a quiet office.
• Out-of-date specials. A "Summer menu" in December tells diners nobody looks after the site.
• Hidden prices. If the visitor has to call to find out what a large costs, many won't.

Help search engines read it

Search engines understand a menu better when the page says what's what. The schema.org vocabulary has types for a restaurant, its menu, menu sections and menu items with prices [3]; a site builder or a developer can add them. The basics matter more: a page title with your name and town ("Rosa's Taqueria, Middleton WI"), the menu as text, and the same name, address and phone on your site and your Google Business Profile.

A checklist for your own site

1. Open your site on your phone, on mobile data, not Wi-Fi.
2. Can you see what you sell and whether you're open, without scrolling?
3. Is every dish on the menu, with its price, as text?
4. Does the phone number call when tapped? Does the address open directions?
5. Is there one obvious button to order or reserve, and does it work?
6. Are this week's hours and holiday hours right?
7. Do your Google Business Profile, Facebook page and website show the same hours and phone?

Fix whatever fails, in that order. The menu and the hours carry most of the weight.

What it costs

A plain site on a general builder runs about $17–29 a month (Wix, Squarespace list prices, read Oct 22, 2026). Menu tools for restaurants run about $96–204 a year (Menubly, iMenuPro, Menuthere). Full restaurant platforms with ordering and marketing run $179–499 a month (Popmenu, Owner.com). More in our guide to what a restaurant website costs.

Full Room builds all of the above from your menu: snap a photo, or paste your old site, and see your restaurant website in about a minute, with pickup ordering that rings your phone. Go live free, no card, with up to 50 orders a month free for good. Your own .com, unlimited orders and no Full Room line are Full Room Pro, $149 a year, only if you choose it. Build yours free.

The same menu goes on your tables: a free QR code menu opens the menu page diners already know from your website, so you keep one menu, not a website menu and a separate PDF for the QR.

Sources

1. Google Business Profile Help, "How to set Special hours" (support.google.com/business/answer/6303076), read Oct 23, 2026.
2. Google Business Profile Help, "Manage online ordering options" (support.google.com/business/answer/10842217), read Oct 23, 2026.
3. schema.org: Restaurant, Menu, MenuSection, MenuItem (schema.org/Menu).