By Spectrum Business
A restaurant’s website is an important part of its relationship with existing and potential customers — as important as a warm greeting, the food, service and the restaurant’s design.
Most people who come to your website are interested in your restaurant — they’ve either heard about the restaurant from someone, found it through social media or via an online search. Your website’s job is to persuade new and existing customers to come to your place of business. These tips can help:
To make your restaurant easy to find, consider highlighting basic contact info on each page of your site, such as your restaurant's phone number, address (including details about parking), hours and payment options. Be sure your phone number is clickable, which makes it easy to call from a mobile device without typing any numbers. Other important basics include an app like OpenTable that allows customers to make a reservation or order online. Customers who prefer online ordering will return again and again for the convenience.
Your food is your business, so let it help you draw customers to your restaurant. Consider investing in professional photographs of your food or setting. A rotating slide show of four or five of your most popular or newest selections can hold center stage. You can use these same pictures as promotions on social media including Facebook, X and Pinterest.
Many potential customers will make a decision about your restaurant based on your online menu. With this in mind, be sure your online menu is as complete as your print version. This means including descriptions and prices for all items. If possible, update your restaurant’s website with daily specials or at least indicate that daily specials are a part of your dining experience.
Consider featuring pictures of your restaurant setting, focusing on the dining experience and type of diner who is most likely to enjoy your restaurant. If your restaurant is a destination for romantic celebrations, provide snapshots of happy couples. Likewise, if you are a family restaurant, a photo of a family with child in a booster seat will immediately get the idea across that you’re a child-friendly establishment. A picture of a large group seated at a table shows you can accommodate large gatherings.
Chef personalities and credentials can bring customers into restaurants, so spotlight your chef and showcase the reasons you trust your business to this person. Your chef does not have to be a TV personality or superstar for this approach to work. Years of focus on a particular type of food preparation, creative flair, specialized training, experience or passion for a particular cuisine or regional food can help to craft a compelling story about why delicious dishes come out of your kitchen.
Whether your restaurant is home to a star chef or a family-owned, neighborhood diner, a section of your website that details your backstory will help create an emotional connection with your customer base. You can also go into detail about your philosophy or approach to cooking, suppliers, recipes and other aspects that make your restaurant unique.
Make sure your restaurant’s website is viewable on mobile devices and remember to check multiple mobile phones and tablets to ensure the customer experience is optimal. This is especially important if you enable an online-ordering system, as most customers will be seeing your site on their hand-held devices.
While your restaurant’s success may not hinge on the website alone, a strong web presence will give your business the extra boost it needs to convince browsing customers to come pay you a visit.
