How to create a website for a restaurant

What a hungry customer checks first

• The menu with prices — a photo of a printed menu is acceptable but a typed list is easier to read on a small screen
• Whether you are open right now, including load-shedding or Sunday hours
• Whether you deliver, to which areas, and whether there is a delivery charge
• Seating, if people are choosing you for eating in rather than takeaway
• How to pay — cash, EcoCash, swipe

Food photos that make people order

Photograph dishes as they are actually served, on the plates you actually use, in daylight near a window. Avoid heavy filters — food that looks unnaturally bright often reads as fake and puts people off rather than drawing them in.

You do not need every dish photographed. Six or eight of your best-selling and most photogenic items, kept current, beat a long list where half the photos are missing.

Proof that builds trust

• How long you have been operating
• Any specialities — a particular cuisine, halal options, vegetarian dishes
• A short line about ingredients or sourcing if that is part of your appeal
• A few genuine customer comments about the food or service

Ordering: make it one message

Put a WhatsApp button next to the menu so a customer can send their order and delivery address in one message rather than phoning during a busy service. State your minimum order for delivery and roughly how long orders take, so expectations are set before the message is sent.

Objections to answer on the page

• 'Do they deliver to my area?' — list suburbs or a rough delivery radius plainly
• 'Is it open right now?' — keep hours accurate, especially holidays
• 'How long will delivery take?' — an honest estimate beats no estimate
• 'Is the food actually like the photos?' — real, unedited photos answer this on their own

Pitfalls specific to restaurants

• A menu with no prices, which pushes people to a competitor who shows theirs
• Photos borrowed from the internet rather than your own kitchen
• Hours left as 'open daily' when you are actually closed on Mondays
• No mention of delivery charges, leading to disputes at the door

Before you start building, prepare

• A typed menu with current prices, grouped by starters, mains, drinks and so on
• Six to ten dish photos taken in daylight
• Your real opening hours and delivery area
• The WhatsApp number orders should go to

Putting it together

The seven guided steps in MatSiteBuilder are built for this — you add your menu sections and photos as you go and see the finished page in the live preview before it goes live.