There’s nothing that sells better than food. And if you’re looking to go into the food industry, that’s great. If your food’s great, the odds are you’ll be a terrific hit with your customers. But let’s say you want to take it a notch higher and try something different, like say an online website that takes orders and manages payments and delivery, etc. Now that’s a whole different way of running a food business. You’re going online, and it’s not just the way your food tastes that comes into play. There are a lot of other things you’ll need to take care of while building your Online Restaurant Website.
That’s why we decided to create a simple guide on what your restaurant should have to be successful.
Golden Rule for a restaurant website: If you have a physical restaurant where people can dine, you need to give as much information about the ambiance, the food, the location, and whether it is better suited for family dining, casual dining, or a youngster’s hangout. People expect this information to build default on your Online Restaurant website. And throw in some quality photos to impress.
Table of Contents
Creating the Perfect Menu
Your delectable menu is what is going to attract your customers. Now you’ll know best what food items you think your target audience love. But creating a food menu online isn’t just about putting down a fancy list of dishes. It’s about displaying the right information your customer is looking for concerning each dish.
No, it’s not enough to display just the price of the dish. Here’s what must be there on your food product page.
- Prices
- Clear beautiful photographs of the dish
- Food description, with the main contents
- Calorie information
A special feature: Your home page layouts can show off, the day’s specials, or what dish has the most fans.
Creating a Food Gallery
Since you’re looking to acquire an audience online, you’ll have to visually engage your audience. If they’re looking at your restaurant website, they’ll want to see something appetizing. So if you’ve got to invest in hiring a photographer to take good quality snaps of your menu, then don’t stint on it.
You also need to display images of the ambiance at your restaurant. Customers like to plan occasions at places they know will be a right fit for them. So the ambiance of your place is a big factor, that attracts your customers.
Displaying Restaurant Information
Needless to say, you need a clear contact page, for people to contact you. Phone numbers, mail Ids, fax, and addresses are a must. Display your restaurant’s operational timings. Include a map with the help of plugins to display your restaurant and help people find you easily.
Give your Restaurant a Little Background
Your ‘About us’ or ‘How it all started’ page should feature an interesting background story. Like, say how you came up with the idea of this special theme for your restaurant. What your goals are when it comes to the food you serve, and what’s unique about your food or the way you serve your customers?
These little things go a long way in helping your customers connect with you.
Taking your Restaurant a Notch Higher
Whatever we’ve outlined above are elements any restaurant website should have. But let’s say you want to turn your restaurant into full-fledged restaurant e-commerce, where people can place orders, pay for them, book a table at your diner, or order takeout, then stay tuned. We’ve got some valuable tips you can apply.
Placing Food Orders
Your customers might want to place an order on your website. Naturally, you’ll want to make it simple for them. All they need to do is go through your menu, (see why we said a good informative menu is important?) choose what they want, click ‘order’ and make a payment.
Now since complex processes like transactions and orders are to take place, you need to choose templates, that come integrated with shopping cart extensions, that can take care of them for you. Your site needs to be able to give options to your customers. Let’s say options, for takeout, or catering. Or options for what kind of toppings a customer wants on his pizza.
So make sure your website is integrated with extensions that can handle complex ordering facilities.
Giving your Customers a Voice
The best way to attract more customers is to let other customers talk about you. So set up a special review section for each dish you’re selling on your menu. Let customers review your dishes, and comment on what’s great about them. Again you’ll need a plugin to help you set up a comments section for your online restaurant.
Making Attractive Announcements
Placing a special sign-up box on your website, where customers can sign up to get special updates about your restaurant is a great idea too. You can send your customers special offers, discount coupons, and the latest news about your business. In no time at all, you’ll have a fan following for your online restaurant.
These ideas will work well for any kind of restaurant website you want to set up.
If you’re looking for an easy way to set up an attractive, feature-rich website on Joomla for your restaurant, try these templates.
These templates are beautifully designed to suit a restaurant’s needs. You have tons of styling options and beautiful layouts coupled with great functionality. They are also integrated with the j2Store shopping cart, so you can add eCommerce capabilities to your site. You can receive orders, manage them, receive payments smoothly, manage your stock, and keep your customers posted on new developments.
So download these templates and build your Online Restaurant Website!
Tip: Offer A Virtual Tour of your Restaurant
One way you can get ahead of your competitors is by using new and interactive content on your website.
You can use your smartphone to create a virtual tour using WPVR and allow your guest to have good look around your restaurant.
Even, check the menu inside the virtual tour and decide to book a table for you.
