Google Business Profile for restaurants: the complete UK setup guide

Short answer: A Google Business Profile is your free listing on Google Search and Maps. For restaurants, it's often the first thing a hungry customer sees. To set one up, claim or create your profile at business.google.com, verify it, pick the right category, add your hours, menu, photos and your own order link, and then keep it fresh with posts and review replies.

This guide covers every part of the profile that matters for a UK restaurant, café, pub or takeaway, in 10 steps. It ends with a monthly routine and fixes for common problems.

Written for UK food businesses. Updated October 2026. Google renames buttons often, so labels may differ slightly on your screen.

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Step 1: Claim or create your profile

1. Go to business.google.com and sign in with a Google account you'll keep. Use a business account, not a staff member's personal one.
2. Search for your restaurant's name. If it's already on Google (customers often add places), claim it. If not, create it.
3. Add a second owner or manager you trust, so you never get locked out.

Tip: if someone else already manages your listing, such as a former owner, Google has a request-access process. Don't create a second listing for the same place. Google allows one profile per business location.

Step 2: Verify your business

Google needs to check that you run the business before your profile goes fully live. It chooses which methods to offer you. These can include:

• Video recording: a short, unedited video made on your phone, showing your signage, your location and proof you manage it (for example, the kitchen or the till).
• Phone call or text to your business number.
• Email, a live video call, or a postcard, in some cases.

For a video, show your shop sign with the same name as your profile. Then show something only staff can access, like opening the till or the kitchen.

Step 3: Get your name and category right

• Name: use your real-world name, exactly as it appears on your shop sign. Don't add "Best Curry in Bristol" or "Free Delivery". Google bans extra keywords in names, and it can suspend your profile.
• Main category: be as specific as you can. "Indian restaurant" beats "Restaurant". Start typing your main dish (such as "fish and chips" or "pizza") into the category box and pick the most specific match Google offers.
• Secondary categories: add only a few that describe what you are, such as "Caterer" if you genuinely cater. Google advises using as few categories as possible.

Step 4: Address or service area

• If customers visit you (dine-in or collection), show your address.
• If you only deliver and customers never visit, Google's guidelines say delivery-only brands must hide the address and add service areas. A delivery-only brand also needs distinct branded packaging and its own website to be eligible. Show the address only if you offer collection to all customers.
• Get the pin on the map exactly on your door. Customers following directions will thank you.

Step 5: Hours, special hours and "more hours"

Wrong hours lose sales and attract one-star reviews.

• Regular hours: the hours customers can actually come in or order.
• Special hours: set these for bank holidays, Christmas and New Year a few weeks ahead. Google shows them on the day.
• More hours: use these for different service times, such as delivery, takeaway, breakfast or happy hour. They should fit inside your main hours.

For Christmas 2026, set special hours for 24 December to 4 January (Scotland has a substitute bank holiday on Monday 4 January 2027). Our Christmas marketing ideas has the full date list.

Step 6: Add your menu

Google can show your menu in a few ways:

• Menu editor: type sections, dishes, descriptions and prices into your profile.
• Menu link: a link to the menu on your website.
• Menu photos: photos of your printed menu.

Text is best. It's easy to read on a phone, and dishes can appear when people search for them. If you use Menuthere on Lite (US$17 a month) or above, you can push your menu to Google from your dashboard, with your categories, dishes and photos. Each push replaces the menu on your profile, and you can push once a day, so push again when your menu changes and check the result on your listing.

If Google shows an old menu from another site, see how to fix an old menu on Google.

Step 7: Send orders to your own link

Your profile can show ways to order collection or delivery. Delivery apps you work with may appear automatically. You can also add your own ordering link and choose it as the preferred option where Google offers it. Button labels change from time to time, so look for the food ordering or order online section.

Why it matters: if the main button goes to a delivery app, you pay commission on orders from people who were already looking for you. Uber Eats, for example, charges 13% to 30% + VAT.

• Add your own order link.
• Set it as preferred where Google lets you.
• Check it from a customer's view on a phone.

Step-by-step guide: add an order online button.

Also add a reservations link if you take bookings.

Step 8: Photos that make people hungry

Photos help people choose you. Add:

Add new photos every month. Use real photos only. Stock images make people trust you less.

Step 9: Attributes and description

• Attributes: tick everything that's true, such as dine-in, takeaway, delivery, outdoor seating, wheelchair-accessible entrance, vegetarian options and Wi-Fi. Options vary by category.
• Description: up to 750 characters. Say what you serve, what makes you different and where you are. Don't stuff it with keywords, and don't put links or offers in it.

Step 10: Posts, reviews and questions

Posts. Share updates, offers and events. A weekly post about tonight's special, a new dish or bank holiday hours keeps your profile fresh. See how to post an offer on Google.

Reviews. Ask every customer, reply to every review, and never offer a reward for a review. A Google review QR code on tables and bags makes asking easy. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews has scripts and reply templates.

Questions. Google has been changing how customer questions work on profiles, and more answers now come from your profile, reviews and photos. Either way, the fix is the same: keep your profile complete, so the answers are right.

Your monthly Google Business Profile routine

That's about 40 minutes a month.

Common problems and fixes

For the wider picture (website, directories and local links), read our local SEO for restaurants guide.

How Menuthere works with your Google profile

• An ordering page to link from Google: collection, delivery and dine-in, with 0% commission.
• Push your menu to Google from the Menuthere dashboard, on Lite and above.
• Your own domain for the order link, on Lite and above.
• QR codes for tables and bags on the Free plan.

Put a commission-free order link on your Google profile.

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