- It's a hard year to run a restaurant. The National Restaurant Association says 42% of operators weren't profitable last year and 60% saw softer traffic.
- Your website is one of the few levers that costs little and works every day: it decides whether a hungry person picks you in the 30 seconds they spend looking.
- Third-party delivery apps charge 15% to 30% per delivery order. A site that takes direct orders keeps more of that.
- Below: the five things your site needs to answer instantly, the menu mistake most restaurants make, and the math on direct ordering.
Nobody browses a restaurant website for fun. They arrive hungry, usually on a phone, often in a car or on a couch with someone asking "so where are we going?" They want four or five facts, fast. If your site makes them work for it, the next restaurant is one tap away.
That makes restaurant websites different from almost any other local business site. The job isn't to persuade with long copy. It's to answer questions quickly and get out of the way.
01 · THE BACKDROPWhy this matters more in 2026
The National Restaurant Association's 2026 State of the Restaurant Industry report describes strong demand and thin margins at the same time.
Read those together. People want to eat out, they're being choosier about where, and every dollar of margin counts. In that environment, losing a table because your hours were wrong on Google, or giving up a quarter of a delivery order to an app, hurts more than it used to.
02 · THE FIRST SCREENFive questions your site must answer in ten seconds
What kind of food is it?
Say it in plain words at the top: "Wood-fired pizza and handmade pasta in downtown Fullerton." A beautiful photo with no words makes people guess.
Are you open right now?
Today's hours, visible without scrolling, and matching your Google Business Profile exactly. Include holiday hours. Wrong hours are the fastest way to earn a one-star review from someone standing at a locked door.
What's on the menu, and what does it cost?
One tap to a menu that loads instantly and reads well on a phone, with prices. More on this below, because it's where most restaurant sites fall down.
How do I order or book?
"Order online" and "Reserve a table" as the two most obvious buttons on the page, plus a phone number that dials when tapped.
Where are you, and where do I park?
Address linked to maps, plus one line about parking. It's a small detail that removes a real reason people choose somewhere else.
03 · THE MENUThe PDF problem
Plenty of independent restaurants still post their menu as a PDF or a photo of the printed menu. It's the easiest thing to upload and the worst thing to use.
- Loads fast and reads well on a phone.
- Google and AI assistants can read every dish, so you can show up for "birria tacos near me."
- Easy to update when prices or specials change.
- Works with screen readers, which matters for accessibility.
- Slow to open, then requires pinching and zooming.
- Search engines get little or nothing from an image of text.
- Tends to go stale because updating it is a chore.
- Often opens in a new app and the customer never comes back.
Claude Hopkins wrote that specifics sell. A menu is nothing but specifics, which makes it the most persuasive page on your site. Put it where both people and search engines can read it, and add it to your Google Business Profile too.
Your menu is your best sales page. Don't lock it inside a PDF.
04 · THE MATHWhat third-party delivery really costs
Delivery apps are useful. They bring you customers who'd never have found you. The cost is worth knowing precisely. DoorDash publishes its commission rates:
Commission on each delivery order. Smallest delivery area and least visibility in the app.
Commission on each delivery order, with a wider delivery area and more exposure.
Commission on each delivery order. Pickup orders are 6% on all three plans.
Here's a made-up example, so swap in your own numbers. A restaurant does 300 app delivery orders a month at a $40 average, on the 25% plan.
| All 300 through the app | 100 moved to direct ordering | |
|---|---|---|
| Commission per $40 order | $10 | $10 on 200 orders |
| Monthly commission | $3,000 | $2,000 |
| Kept in the business | About $1,000 a month |
Direct ordering isn't free. You'll pay card processing and usually a fee for the ordering tool, and delivery still has to be handled somehow. But regulars who already know and like you don't need an app to find you. Hormozi's advice fits: use the marketplaces to get new customers, then give them a reason to come back through your own door.
05 · THE PLANHow to shift regulars to ordering direct
Put "Order direct" front and center
On your homepage, your Google Business Profile, and your Instagram bio. Make your own ordering link the first option people see.
Give people a reason
Direct-only perks work well: a free side, loyalty points, or simply the same menu prices when app prices are marked up.
Tell app customers in the bag
A small card: "Next time, order at ourname.com and get a free dessert." Check each platform's current rules on inserts first.
Collect emails and phone numbers
Direct orders give you the customer's contact details. App orders don't. That list lets you fill a slow Tuesday with one message.
Keep reviews fresh
BrightLocal's 2026 survey found 74% of consumers look for reviews from the last three months. For restaurants, last month's reviews matter more than last year's.
06 · THE CHECKA two-minute audit
Pull out your phone, search for your restaurant's name on Google, and tap through to your site. Time yourself.
| Can you find this in under 10 seconds? | If not |
|---|---|
| Today's hours, and they match Google | Fix both today. This one loses real customers. |
| The full menu with prices, readable without zooming | Rebuild the menu as a web page. |
| A way to order or book in one tap | Move the buttons to the top of the homepage. |
| Address, map link, and parking info | Add to the header or the first screen. |
| Recent photos of the food and the room | Replace stock or dated photos with your own. |
Frequently asked questions
At the top: what kind of food you serve, today's hours, a one-tap menu with prices, order and reserve buttons, a tap-to-call phone number, and your address with parking details. Everything else is secondary.
No. A menu built as a real web page loads faster, reads better on phones, is easier to update, and lets Google and AI assistants see your dishes so you can appear in searches for them.
DoorDash's published marketplace plans charge 15%, 25%, or 30% commission on delivery orders depending on the plan, and 6% on pickup orders. Other platforms have similar tiered pricing.
Often, yes, especially for regulars. You keep more of each order and you get the customer's contact details. You'll still pay card processing and usually a fee for the ordering software, so compare the numbers for your own order volume.
Ask at a happy moment, with a QR code on the check presenter or receipt, and reply to every review. Don't offer discounts or freebies in exchange for reviews, since that breaks Google's policy.
Want a site that answers all five in ten seconds?
We build restaurant sites with a real web menu, direct ordering, and hours that stay in sync with Google.