Last updated July 2026
The short version
- Menu, hours, location, phone, order. Five things. Most restaurant websites make at least two of them hard to find on a phone.
- Your menu must be real text, not a PDF or an image. A PDF menu is invisible to search engines, unreadable on a phone, and unusable with a screen reader.
- Put direct ordering above the fold. Every order that goes through your own site instead of a marketplace keeps roughly 27 more cents on the dollar.
- Speed is revenue. Google’s mobile threshold for Largest Contentful Paint is 2.5 seconds; most restaurant sites miss it because of oversized food photography.
A restaurant website has a narrower job than almost any other kind of site. Somebody is hungry, on a phone, deciding in the next ninety seconds. Everything below is ordered by how much it affects that decision.
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15–30%
commission on marketplace delivery orders, versus roughly 3% plus a flat fee on your own site.
Platform pricing pages, July 2026
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~5%
typical pre-tax restaurant profit margin — which a 30% commission dwarfs.
National Restaurant Association, July 2026
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58%
of customers say they prefer ordering from a restaurant’s own app or website.
NCR Voyix, January 2025
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The five that decide everything
| 1 | A text menu with prices. Not a PDF. Not a photo of a chalkboard. Real HTML text, so Google can read it, a phone can zoom it, and a screen reader can speak it. This is the single most-visited page on any restaurant site and it is the one most often broken. |
| 2 | Hours, including today’s hours. If you close early on Mondays, say so where someone will see it. Match these to your Google Business Profile exactly. |
| 3 | Address with a one-tap map link and, if it’s relevant, a sentence about parking. |
| 4 | A tap-to-call phone number in the header, on mobile. Plenty of people still call. |
| 5 | Direct online ordering, above the fold. If a customer has to scroll or hunt, they will reopen the delivery app — and that order now costs you 15–30%. |
The next seven
| # | What | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Real photography of your actual food | Stock imagery of someone else’s burger is recognisable and it undermines trust |
| 7 | Reservations, if you take them | Integrated on your own page rather than bouncing to a third-party site |
| 8 | Speed — under 2.5s LCP on mobile | Usually one oversized hero image. Compress before upload |
| 9 | Google Business Profile, claimed and complete | For local searches this is frequently more visible than the website |
| 10 | Dietary and allergen information | Removes a real barrier, and it is increasingly expected |
| 11 | An email or SMS capture at checkout | The customer list is the most durable asset you will build |
| 12 | Accessibility basics | Text contrast, keyboard navigation, alt text. Also the single easiest legal exposure to close |
The PDF menu problem, specifically
A PDF menu fails four ways at once: search engines index it poorly or not at all, phones render it as an unreadable wall requiring pinch-zoom, screen readers usually cannot parse it, and you cannot update a price without regenerating the file. If you change one thing on your website this month, make it this.
What to skip
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✓Worth the money
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✗Skip for now
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The ten-minute audit
On your phone, on cellular data, not office wifi:
| 1 | Can you see today’s hours without scrolling? |
| 2 | Can you get to the menu in one tap, and is it text rather than a PDF? |
| 3 | Can you place an order on your own site in under thirty seconds? |
| 4 | Does the phone number dial when you tap it? |
| 5 | Does the address open in Maps when you tap it? |
| 6 | Does the homepage finish loading in under three seconds? |
| 7 | Do your hours on Google match your hours on the site? |
Every “no” on that list is costing you orders tonight.
Frequently asked questions
Should a restaurant menu be a PDF?
No. PDFs are poorly indexed by search engines, hard to read on a phone, and often inaccessible to screen readers. Publish the menu as real text on a page.
Do I still need a website if I’m on DoorDash and Uber Eats?
Yes — and more so. Marketplace orders cost 15–30% in commission. Your own site is where repeat customers can order at roughly 3%. Use the apps for discovery, your site for regulars.
How fast should a restaurant website be?
Google’s “good” threshold for Largest Contentful Paint is 2.5 seconds on mobile. Most restaurant sites fail it because of uncompressed food photography.
Is online ordering worth it for a small restaurant?
Against a 30% commission, a $499/month flat-fee platform breaks even at roughly $1,660/month in orders. Below that, a simple ordering page or even phone orders may serve you better.
What’s the most common mistake you see?
A beautiful homepage with a PDF menu and the ordering button below the fold. The site looks good and converts badly.
Want a restaurant site that actually takes orders?
We build them mobile-first, with a text menu, direct ordering above the fold, and the integrations you already use in the kitchen.