What do diners look for on a café or restaurant website?
Diners check a café or restaurant website to answer practical questions before they leave the house: are you open now, what is on the menu, what does it cost roughly, where are you, and can I book. They also want a feel for the place, which comes from photos of your actual food and room.
Most hospitality visits to a website are quick and happen on a phone, often while someone is already out or deciding with friends. If the answers are easy to find, they come in. If they have to pinch and zoom through a PDF menu or hunt for your hours, many will pick somewhere else.
Which details matter most?
The details that matter most are the ones that decide whether someone visits today. Put them where people can find them in seconds, ideally on the homepage and in the footer of every page.
| What diners want | What to show | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Opening hours | Hours for each day in plain text, plus public holiday changes | Hours only in an image, or out of date |
| Menu | The current menu as a normal web page with prices | An old PDF that is hard to read on a phone |
| Location | Street address, suburb, nearby landmark, parking or transport tips | Only an embedded map with no written address |
| Bookings | A clear booking button or phone number, and your walk-in policy | Booking link hidden several pages deep |
| Dietary options | Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and allergy notes on the menu | "Ask staff" with no detail |
| Atmosphere | Real photos of dishes, coffee, the room and the team | Stock photos or only a logo |
| Contact | Tap-to-call phone, email for functions | Contact form only |
Should my menu be a PDF or a web page?
A web page is better for almost every café and restaurant. Text on a page is readable on a phone without zooming, loads quickly, and can be read by search engines and AI assistants. A PDF is often slow to open on mobile and its contents are harder for search tools to understand.
If you change your menu often, that is a reason to make updating easy, not a reason to use a PDF. Many owners keep a simple core menu on the site and add a short "this week's specials" section they can edit in a minute. If you do want a printable version for functions or catering, offer the PDF as an extra link beside the web page version.
When writing the menu, include:
- Dish names with a short, plain description of what is in them.
- Prices, so people know what to expect.
- Dietary labels such as V, VG and GF, with a key explaining them.
- A note about allergies and how to tell staff.
- Separate sections for breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks and kids if relevant.
How important are photos for a café or restaurant website?
Very important. Food and atmosphere are what people are choosing, and photos are the closest they can get before walking in. Real photos of your dishes, your coffee, your room at a busy time and your staff tell people what to expect and set the mood in a way words cannot.
Stock images of generic lattes or plated food can backfire, because diners notice when the food on the plate does not match the website. Shoot your own, in natural light, of the dishes you actually serve. A few strong, honest images beat a large gallery of average ones. Our guide on why your own photos beat stock photos includes a simple way to shoot food on your phone.
How do cafés and restaurants show up in Google and AI search?
Showing up starts with a complete, accurate Google Business Profile, backed up by a website that states the same details clearly. When someone searches "brunch near me" or "Thai restaurant in Newtown", Google draws on your profile, your reviews and your website to decide whether you are relevant. Nothing here is certain, but getting it right makes it much more likely.
Practical steps that help:
- Keep your Google Business Profile current: hours, holiday hours, menu link, booking link, photos and category. See our guide on how Google Business Profile and your website work together.
- Match your details exactly. Your business name, address and phone number should be the same on your website, profile and any directories.
- Describe yourself in plain words. Say what kind of food you serve, your suburb, and what you are known for, for example "Neighbourhood café in Fremantle serving all-day breakfast and specialty coffee".
- Add structured data. schema.org markup for restaurants and local businesses helps search engines read your hours, address, cuisine and menu link reliably.
- Encourage reviews. A steady flow of genuine Google reviews helps both people and search engines trust you.
AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity often answer questions like "where's good for a quiet dinner in Brunswick" by drawing on websites, reviews and listings. Clear, consistent, text-based information on your site makes it more likely you are understood and mentioned. Our guide on getting recommended by AI assistants explains this in more detail.
Should I take bookings on my website?
If you take bookings, yes, make it obvious. A booking button near the top of the homepage and on the menu page saves people a phone call during your busiest hours. Most online booking systems give you a link or widget you can add to your site.
If you are walk-in only, say so clearly. "No bookings, walk-ins welcome" is useful information and stops people ringing to ask. If you take bookings only for larger groups, state the group size and how to book.
What about functions, catering and gift vouchers?
If these bring in meaningful revenue, give each one its own page. Someone planning a birthday dinner or an office breakfast is searching for exactly that, and a dedicated page with capacity, sample menus, photos of the space and an enquiry form answers their questions directly.
Keep the enquiry form short: name, contact, date, number of guests and a message. Say how quickly you reply. Function enquiries are often worth more than a regular table, so they deserve a clear path.
Café and restaurant website checklist
Open your website on your phone and check each of these:
- Opening hours visible on the homepage in plain text and correct this week
- Public holiday hours updated before each holiday
- Menu as a readable web page with prices and dietary labels
- Street address, suburb and parking or transport notes
- Booking button or a clear "walk-ins only" note
- Tap-to-call phone number
- Real photos of your food, drinks, room and team
- A short description of your style of food and your suburb
- Same name, address and phone number as your Google Business Profile
- Links to your Instagram, if you post there regularly
- Pages load quickly on mobile data
Do I need a website if I already have Instagram?
Instagram is great for showing what is new, but it is a poor place to find the basics. Hours, menu, address and booking links get buried under posts, and not everyone has the app or wants to log in. Search engines and AI assistants also rely more on websites and listings than on social posts when answering questions.
The best setup for most venues is a simple, fast website that holds the facts and a social account that shows the day-to-day. Link each to the other. This is how we approach hospitality sites at Websidyn: built around the venue's own photos, real menu and reviews, so the website feels like the place itself.
What should I keep updated?
Out-of-date information is one of the fastest ways to lose a diner's trust. Someone who turns up to a closed café because your website said you were open is unlikely to try again.
A good rule of thumb is to check your website and Google Business Profile together whenever anything changes: hours, menu, prices, staff photos, or a renovation. Set a reminder before each public holiday and at the start of each season. Five minutes of updating saves a lot of disappointed customers.