The menu is a PDF
It downloads instead of opening, it is unreadable on a phone, and search engines cannot use anything in it. Every dish name in that file is a search you are not appearing for.
Website for restaurants
The menu on your website is from two price rises ago
It is the most common problem in the trade and the most damaging, because the one thing every visitor came to check is the thing least likely to be current.
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Neighborhood Kitchen
Post to Anyone
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Post
menu-2023-final-v2.pdf
Downloaded, pinched to zoom, abandoned
yourwebsite.com/menu.pdf
Tonight's special, posted at 4pm
Current, findable, on the page
/houston/heights/friday-special
Posted at 4pm
Live before service started
People are checking three things and leaving
Are you open, what is on tonight, and does the food look good. That is the entire visit. Most restaurant websites answer the first with a hours block nobody updated for the holidays, the second with a PDF, and the third with photos from the launch shoot.
Start your 14-day trialEvery special is a page you are not using
You photograph plates constantly and post them to a feed where they vanish by tomorrow. Each one could be a page. Drag the slider to how many times you post a week.
240 examples
of your work, ready for the next customer who looks you up
One page per post
Month 1
Month 3
Month 6
Month 12
A normal website
nothing new after launch
0
0
0
0
A normal website
nothing new after launch
Month 1
0
Month 3
0
Month 6
0
Month 12
0
Growth potential FOR Your Forxample site
1 page per postNew pages added since launch
240
pages / year
M1
20
M3
60
M6
120
M12
240
Three things restaurants get wrong online
The failures here are unusually consistent, and all three cost covers on a nightly basis.
Start your 14-day trialHours are wrong when it matters most
Public holidays, private events, a kitchen closing early. The days your hours differ are exactly the days people check, and a wrong answer costs a table and sometimes a customer permanently.
The photos are from the launch
Professionally shot, beautifully lit, and three years old. A phone photo of what actually came out of the pass tonight does more for a booking than any of them.
Posting what is on tonight
The kitchen already photographs plates. This is the same habit pointed at a site you own rather than only at a feed.
Photograph the special
Whatever came out of the pass looking best.
Say what it is
“Tonight: braised short rib, Heights.”
It becomes a page
Findable by people searching for somewhere to eat nearby.
What restaurant owners ask
Three that come up most, including whether a website matters at all when the platforms dominate.
Google and the delivery apps send us everything
They send a lot, and they take a cut and own the relationship. Your own site is where you keep the customers who found you through them, and it is the only place your hours, your menu and your booking are not mediated by somebody else's algorithm.
Our menu barely changes
Then post the specials, the events, the seasonal produce, a supplier you use, a new hire behind the bar. The point is signalling an open, active restaurant rather than documenting a changing menu.
Nobody has time during service
One photo at 4pm before doors open, or one at the end of prep. Thirty seconds, once a day, from the kitchen. Anything more than that will not survive a busy week and should not be the plan.
Tell people what is on tonight
The restaurants filling tables are not the ones with the best websites. They are the ones whose website is current.
Start your 14-day trialFrequently asked questions
Should the menu be a page rather than a PDF?
Yes, and it is probably the single highest-impact change available to most restaurants. A menu as a page is readable on a phone, and every dish on it becomes something you can be found for.
How do we handle changing hours?
Post them when they change rather than maintaining a permanent block nobody trusts. A dated post saying you are closing early on Monday is more credible than an hours table and it also updates your Google listing.
Do we still need a website with Google and delivery apps?
The platforms are where people find you and your site is where they decide. It is also the only channel that does not charge a commission or change its rules, which matters more the longer you trade.
Should we post food photos taken on a phone?
Yes. Diners have become sceptical of professionally shot food because it never matches the plate. A good phone photo of what actually left the kitchen tonight converts better than a styled image from a launch shoot.
What about bookings?
Whatever booking system you use can sit on the site, and the important part is that it is reachable from every page. Someone who has just seen tonight's special should not have to navigate anywhere to book a table.
Get your next job found.
Post the work. Forxample turns it into a website customers can find.
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