A restaurant website needs five things above all: a readable HTML menu with prices, current hours, a clear way to book or order, visit details (address, parking, entrance access) and a way to contact you. Beyond that, it should load quickly on a phone, work with assistive technology, match your Google Business Profile and carry any notices your state or chain size requires.
Start with the guest's questions
A guest choosing where to eat is trying to answer a few questions quickly. What do you serve? Is it within my budget? Are you open when I want to come? Can I get a table, or order for pickup? How do I find you? A website that answers those questions in the first screen on a phone is already ahead of one with beautiful photos and a buried menu.
The checklist below is ordered by that logic. The first group covers the essentials, the second covers the things that make the essentials work well, and the third covers rules that may apply depending on where and how you operate.
The essentials
| Item | What good looks like |
|---|---|
| Menu | Real text, organized by service, with prices and dietary marks, updated when the menu changes |
| Hours | Hours for each service (lunch, dinner, brunch, bar), with holiday changes posted early |
| Booking or ordering | A visible button on the home page, the menu and the visit page, set to the right location |
| Visit details | Address, map link, parking, transit, entrance access, and whether you take walk-ins |
| Contact | An email address and a short form; a phone number if you answer it |
| About | Who runs the place and what kind of food and room to expect |
Menu
The menu answers the questions that decide a visit, so it deserves the most care. Make it HTML text rather than a PDF or a photo. Keep descriptions short, line up prices, and explain dietary marks once. Our guide to HTML menus and PDFs covers the details.
Hours
Show hours for each service, not just "open daily." If your kitchen closes before the bar, say so. When holiday hours change, update the website and your Google Business Profile at the same time.
Booking or ordering
Put the booking or ordering button where guests look: the top of the home page, the menu page and the visit page. On phones, keep it in the header. Our reservations and ordering service explains the options.
What makes the essentials work
Speed on a phone
Restaurant pages carry a lot of photography, which can make them slow. Google's Core Web Vitals turn that into numbers you can check: the biggest element on screen within 2.5 seconds, responses to taps in 200 ms or less, and a layout shift score of 0.1 or less, each judged at the 75th percentile of page loads, with mobile and desktop measured separately [1]. If your site misses those targets, start with image sizes and third-party widgets.
Accessibility
The Department of Justice says Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination by businesses open to the public and that its requirements apply to goods and services offered on the web; its guidance lists food and drink establishments among businesses open to the public [2]. The guidance names WCAG as helpful technical guidance [2]. A practical starting point is WCAG 2.2 level AA [3]: text menus, descriptive alt text, readable contrast, keyboard access and forms with labels. Our ADA guide explains more.
Consistency with Google
Your Google Business Profile should match your website on name, address, phone, hours and menu. Google's guidelines say menus should be "representative of the items and services that are available" and that menu links cannot point directly to third-party ordering or delivery services [4]. See our Google Business Profile guide.
Structured data
Structured data tells search engines the facts behind the page. Google's local business documentation requires a name and an address and includes properties for the menu URL and the cuisine served [5].
Rules that may apply to you
None of this is legal advice. These are the rules that come up most when planning restaurant websites, with links to where they are published.
| Situation | What to check |
|---|---|
| Part of a chain with 20 or more locations under one name, selling substantially the same menu items | The FDA menu labeling rule covers menus on the Internet, including calorie declarations and set statements [6] |
| You operate in Massachusetts | A required food allergy notice on menus, which applies to online menus too [7] |
| You charge mandatory service fees | State rules in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Colorado on how fees are shown [8] [9] [10] |
| You show reviews or testimonials | The FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials [11] |
| You send marketing texts | FCC rules on consent for autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing messages [12] |
Our guides on allergen and nutrition information, service fees and review rules cover each of these in more depth.
Pages worth adding
Once the essentials are in place, some restaurants benefit from a few more pages:
- Private dining and events. Capacity, minimums, sample menus and how to inquire.
- Gift cards. A clear link to buy and check balances.
- Catering. A separate menu and lead time.
- Careers. Open roles and how to apply, which keeps job inquiries out of the reservations inbox.
- Location pages. One per real address for multi-location groups, as covered in our multi-location guide.
Things to leave out
Some features add weight without helping guests: autoplaying video with sound, pop-ups that cover the menu, music, splash pages and long animations before the content appears. Each one slows the guest down on the way to the answers they came for.
A quick self-check
Open your site on a phone and time yourself. Can you find the menu, the hours and the booking button in under ten seconds? Can you read the menu without zooming? Does the address open in a map app? If any answer is no, that is where to start.
Frequently asked questions
Does a small café need a full website?
A café can do well with a single page that covers menu, hours, location and contact, as long as it is easy to update and matches the Google profile.
Should we have a blog?
Only if someone will keep it current. A specials or news section that is updated monthly is more useful than a blog that stops after three posts.
Is a social media page enough instead of a website?
A social page is useful, but a website gives you a menu page you control, a stable address for your Google profile and booking links that do not depend on one platform.
How often should we review the website?
Check menus and hours whenever they change, and review the whole site at least once a year.
Sources
Checked on October 29, 2026.
- web.dev, Web Vitals. Primary source
- U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA. Published March 18, 2022. Primary source
- W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2. Primary source
- Google Business Profile Help, Guidelines for representing your business on Google. Primary source
- Google Search Central, Local Business (LocalBusiness) Structured Data. Primary source
- Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, 21 CFR 101.11, Nutrition labeling of standard menu items in covered establishments. Primary source
- Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Food Protection Program, Q&As for MDPH Allergen Awareness Regulation. Dated August 19, 2010, hosted by the Town of Hamilton. Primary source
- California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, SB 478 - Hidden Fees. Primary source
- Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, Junk Fees Regulations Tips for Restaurants. Regulations at 940 CMR 38, in effect from September 2, 2025. Primary source
- Minnesota Attorney General's Office, Frequently Asked Questions About Minnesota's New Price Transparency Law. Revised April 2025. Primary source
- eCFR, 16 CFR Part 465, Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials. Primary source
- Federal Communications Commission, Report and Order FCC 12-21 (TCPA rules, 2012). Primary source
