Every restaurant needs a Website, your restaurant website is as important as its actual store. Based on MGH research, 77% of customers visit the restaurant website before going there or ordering. So, if you haven’t created a website yet, you lose many clients to competitors who do. A website can help you a lot to keep your existing clients and offer an excellent experience to potential new clients.
With WordPress, you can easily build your restaurant website to reach out to customers searching for places and food just like yours, even if you’re not tech-savvy.
To build a Restaurant Website you need to follow these steps.
Step 1: Choose a Web Hosting Plan and Domain Name
Step 2: Set Up WordPress
Step 3: Select WordPress Restaurant Theme and Update Content
Step 4: Create Contact Us Page
Step 5: Write Articles About Restaurant and Food
Step 1: Choose a Web Hosting Plan and Domain Name
Web hosting is required for all websites, which is an essential service that allows your website to be accessible on the internet.
There are many web hosting providers you can use to host your website, here are some features you should focus on when selecting a web hosting provider: speed, security, support, and affordability.
To assist you, Here are some of the best web hosting providers for restaurant websites that provide these features: Bluehost, HostGator, WP Engine.
Bluehost has been recommended by WordPress since 2005 because they know how to optimize WordPress websites better than most providers. In this guide we will use Bluehost as an example and if you want to use another web hosting you can use HostGator or WP Engine. Almost the same steps.
On average, you need $10.99 per year for a domain name and nearly $9.99 per month for web hosting. In reality, these costs can be high for a restaurant that has many expenses to cover.
We have recommended using Bluehost before, and that’s the reason why. They offer a free domain name, and for our readers, you will get a 70% discount on web hosting, along with a free SSL certificate that ensures the security of your customers’ credit and debit card information.
To get started, click the button below. Their prices start at $1.99 per month.
[Click Here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost Offer]
You need to go to Bluehost, then click the button “Get Started Now”. Next, you will be directed to a page where you can select a hosting plan for your website.
We recommend using the Basic or Plus plan as they are the most popular plans and sufficient for your restaurant website.
After selecting a plan you will be directed to a new page to choose your domain name.
Your domain name should be unique, easy to spell, and reflect your restaurant’s name and what customers expect from your website. Also, you must avoid using numbers, hyphens, and complicated names.
For your restaurant website, the best name to use is your restaurant name, but if you find that this name is already taken by another website, try to add keywords related to your restaurant specialty, the type of food you offer, or your restaurant’s location.
After choosing your domain name click the “Search For Domain” button.
We suggest keeping all these additional features. However, if you choose to remove them, you can easily add them back at any time.
Then, click the “Continue To Checkout” button.
After that, you need to provide your payment details to complete your purchase and then, click “Submit Payment”.
Once you complete that, you will receive an email with details on how to log in to your control panel (cPanel). This is your hosting dashboard for your restaurant website, where you can manage everything like emails, support, security, and also where we will use WordPress software.
Step 2: Set Up WordPress
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) used by over 40% of websites in the world.
WordPress will help you build and manage your restaurant website without needing advanced technical skills.
Setting up WordPress with Bluehost is extremely fast and simple. When using our links to sign up, Bluehost knows you want to use WordPress for your website, so they will automatically install WordPress on your domain name. You just need to do a few things to make it ready.
Now you need to log in to the Bluehost control panel account and navigate to the “Websites” tab. From there, click on the “Add Site” button.
Next, choose “Install WordPress” and click the “Continue” button.
Then, you can choose a “Site Title” or skip it for now and add it later.
Next, enter the domain name you just registered, then click the “Continue” button.
After that, Bluehost will begin installing WordPress for you, which should take just a few seconds.
Once you’ve done that, you will receive an email containing all the information about your website. Now you can open your WordPress dashboard by going to “yourdomainname.com/wp-admin”.
Now that your WordPress setup is complete, you are just a few steps away from building your restaurant website and sharing it with the world.
Step 3: Select WordPress Restaurant Theme and Update Content
WordPress themes are made by experts to help you build your website easily without having any coding knowledge.
There are a lot of premium and free WordPress restaurant themes to choose from. We suggest using a premium theme because they provide constant updates to improve the theme by adding features and removing bugs, and you can also benefit from their support team if you need help.
We recommend using one of these three themes, they are the most used and trusted themes for restaurant websites: PatioTime, Tastyc, Restaurt
In this guide we will use PatioTime theme as an example and if you want to use another restaurant theme you can use Tastyc or Restaurt. Almost the same steps.
PatioTime is a great WordPress restaurant theme, specifically created for restaurants and other food-related businesses.
This restaurant theme is compatible with many important plugins, including Elementor, WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, and more. It provides options for online reservations and food menus. The good thing is that you will get lifetime updates with no additional cost and 6 months customer support to answer your questions. They also offer detailed documentation to assist you in building your restaurant’s website. Click here to read the documentation for this theme.
When you purchase the theme, you’ll need to download the zip file. Just go to the “Downloads” section in your ThemeForest account, click the “Download” button, and select “Installable WordPress file only.”
After downloading the theme zip file, open your website’s admin panel and navigate to “Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme”. Then, select the theme zip file you just downloaded and click on “Install Now”.
After that, click on “Activate”.
Next, you need to install the recommended plugins. Simply click on “Begin installing plugins”.
Select all the plugins and choose “Install”, then click “Apply”.
Next, click on “Return to Required Plugins Installer”. Select all the plugins again and choose “Activate”, then click “Apply”.
Now you’ll need to import a demo to your website, allowing you to take advantage of pre-designed layouts and styles, which you can then replace with your own content to make your restaurant website unique and professional.
You can check how to import the theme demo from here.
This theme is compatible with Elementor plugin, which will give you the ability to change the look and content of your website without writing any code.
Elementor plugin is so easy to use. You can read how to use it for this theme by clicking here.
The food menu page is one of the most important things in your restaurant website. Your customers may want to see your menu if there’s something new, which can also help you convince new customers to visit your restaurant.
To create your food menu, you will use Elementor plugin. You can read how to create it for this theme by clicking here.
WooCommerce plugin It is usually used to simplify creating and managing online shops. With this theme, you can create a shop page using WooCommerce that can help you increase sales and also bring in new customers.
You can read how to create the shop page for this theme by clicking here.
PatioTime WordPress restaurant theme still has many features you can explore on the theme page and in the documentation. Also, if you find difficulty at some point, contact their customer support, and they will help you solve any issue.
Step 4: Create Contact Us Page
Any website on the internet must have a contact page, which lets visitors send their questions.
The contact page for your restaurant website will let you build a connection with your customers and also allow them to contact you without leaving your website.
Most of the premium restaurant themes come with a contact us page ready to use, you just need to change some settings.
Also, you can create a contact form using the WPForms plugin and add it to your existing contact page.
WPForms plugin provides a drag-and-drop form builder that allows you to create contact forms and payment forms in just a few minutes.
The first thing to do is install the WPForms plugin and activate it.
You can use the free WPForms version, which is WPForm Lite, or you can upgrade to the paid version, which is WPForms Pro, to unlock more features.
To create a new form, go to your WordPress dashboard and click the “WPForms > Add New” button.
Then, name your form and click the “Use Template” button in the “Simple Contact Form” template.
Next, the drag-and-drop form builder will open. On the left, you will see the available fields you can use, and on the right, you will see that the contact form template is ready to use. Then click the “save” button and close the WPForms builder.
From your WordPress dashboard, open “Pages” and click the “Edit with Elementor” button in the contact page line.
Then, search for “wpforms” in the search bar, grab the “WPForms” widget and put it in the section you want, and select the form that you already created in the WPForms builder. And click the “Update” button at the bottom.
Your contact page is ready to receive messages from your customers. Try to use it, and if there’s any issue, I recommend you contact the customer support for your restaurant theme, and they will fix it for you.
Step 5: Write Articles About Restaurant and Food
There are several reasons why you should write articles for your restaurant website. Articles allow you to share your insights and tips about food and cooking techniques. This helps you build trust among your customers and differentiate your restaurant from competitors.
There are many ways to choose from to write your restaurant articles.
The first one is to write the articles by yourself. It’s difficult in the beginning, but when you start writing, your skills will improve over time.
The second is to hire a writer who can write the articles for you. Here are some websites to find good writers: Upwork, Fiverr.
The last one is to use an AI tool called Jasper that can help you write articles on any topic you want in less than 10 minutes. They also provide video guides on how to write articles easily.
Final Thoughts on Building a Restaurant WordPress Website
In this article, we have provided a detailed guide on how to build your own restaurant website, even if you have no coding knowledge.
These are the steps we have already covered in this guide.
Step 1: Choose a Web Hosting Plan and Domain Name
Step 2: Set Up WordPress
Step 3: Select WordPress Restaurant Theme and Update Content
Step 4: Create Contact Us Page
Step 5: Write Articles About Restaurant and Food
When your restaurant website is ready, remember to include it in your restaurant menus, business cards, and all your social media accounts.
If you have read the article and still need assistance, feel free to send us a message via our contact page, and we will do our best to help you with building your website.
