How to build a restaurant website, step by step
Updated October 20, 2026
To build a restaurant website, buy a domain, choose a builder or restaurant platform, make five core pages (home, menu, order, about, and location with hours), put the menu on the page as text rather than a PDF, add an ordering link, check it on a phone, and connect it to your Google Business Profile. A simple site can go live in a day. Most of what makes it work is detail: a menu Google can read, hours that match Google, a page that loads fast on mobile, and buttons and text everyone can use.
In short
- Cost: from a domain (about $11 a year for a .com) plus a $0–$49 a month builder, to $249+ a month for a managed restaurant platform.
- Pages: home, menu, order online, about, location and hours; add catering, events or gift ideas only if you offer them.
- Menu as text: searchable, readable on phones and easy to update. A PDF is a fallback, not the menu.
- Speed targets (Google): largest content in 2.5 seconds, a response to taps in under 200 ms, layout shift under 0.1.
- Accessibility: the DOJ says the ADA applies to businesses' websites but has no detailed technical rule for them; WCAG is the usual guide.
How to build a restaurant website in 10 steps
- Buy your domain: your restaurant's name, .com if you can get it. A .com costs from about $11 a year; check the renewal price, not just the first year (what a .com costs).
- Choose how you'll build it: a general website builder, a restaurant platform with ordering built in, or a developer. The table below compares costs.
- Plan five core pages: home, menu, order online, about, and location with hours. Add catering, private events or careers only if they're real.
- Put the menu on the page as text: dishes, short descriptions, prices and dietary marks, by section. See PDF or typed menu? and how to make a restaurant menu.
- Add online ordering: a clear Order online button on every page, going to your own ordering page rather than a delivery app.
- Add real photos: the room, the front door, the team and your best-selling dishes, with alt text that says what's in each photo.
- Make it fast on a phone: compress photos, avoid autoplay video, and test the page on mobile data.
- Make it usable by everyone: readable contrast, alt text, keyboard-friendly menus and forms, captions on video.
- Set the basics for search: a page title with your name, cuisine and neighborhood, your address and hours in text, and the same details as on Google.
- Launch and connect it: connect the domain, add the site to your Google Business Profile, link it from Instagram and TikTok, and put the address on menus and bags.
How much does a restaurant website cost?
From each company's own pricing page, on the date shown. Card processing for online orders comes on top in every case.
| Build route | Example | Monthly price | Online ordering | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General website builder | Wix | Light $17 (no payments); Core $29, Business $39, Business Elite $159, billed yearly | Restaurants Orders app, free to install; needs a plan that takes payments | 26 Sep 2026 |
| Store builder from a POS company | Square Online | Free $0; Plus $49; Premium $149 | Built in; card fees 3.3% + 30¢ (Free) or 2.9% + 30¢ | 26 Sep 2026 |
| Restaurant platform, managed | Owner.com | $249 + 5% an order, or $499 flat | Built in, with a branded app | 26 Sep 2026 |
| Restaurant platform, managed | Popmenu | From $159 (annual) | Paid add-on (price not published) + $1 an order | 26 Sep 2026 |
| Restaurant platform, managed | BentoBox | Quote only; for Clover POS customers | Built in, commission-free | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Restaurant ordering platform | Menuthere | Free $0 (50 orders a month); Lite $17 | Built in; 0% commission; Stripe 2.9% + 30¢ on your own account (Lite) | 20 Oct 2026 |
| Custom site | A developer or agency | Their quote, plus hosting | Usually a third-party ordering system | — |
Worked example: the first year
A new restaurant wants a site with a text menu, its own domain and online card payments. The domain is $11.08 a year (the .com price in our domain guide) in every case.
| Route | Working | First year (before card fees) |
|---|---|---|
| Menuthere Lite | $17 × 12 + $11.08 | $215.08 |
| Wix Business (billed yearly) | $39 × 12 + $11.08 | $479.08 |
| Square Online Plus | $49 × 12 + $11.08 | $599.08 |
| Popmenu Starter (annual) | $159 × 12 + $11.08 + ordering add-on | $1,919.08 + add-on |
| Owner.com Flat Rate | $499 × 12 + $11.08 | $5,999.08 |
Builders may include a domain for the first year on some plans; check before you buy one separately. Managed platforms cost more because they include setup, marketing tools and support. Menuthere is our product; see the best website builders for restaurants for a wider comparison and website builder or ordering system? for the trade-off.
What pages does a restaurant website need?
| Page | Must include | Common miss |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Name, cuisine, neighborhood, Order online and Reserve buttons, hours today | A slideshow and no buttons |
| Menu | Every dish with price and dietary marks, as text, by section | A PDF that's six months old |
| Order online | Pickup and delivery from your own ordering page | A link to a delivery app with its commission |
| About | Who you are and why the food is the way it is, with a photo | Stock photos |
| Location and hours | Address in text, a map, parking or transit, hours that match Google, phone | Hours only in an image |
| Optional: catering, events, careers | Only if you offer them, with a way to enquire | Pages that say "coming soon" |
| Legal | Privacy policy and terms if you take orders or collect data | None at all |
Chains with 20 or more locations have extra US rules for menus, including online menus: calories and a statement on daily calorie needs. See FDA menu labeling requirements.
How fast should a restaurant website be?
Google's Core Web Vitals give three targets, and Google says it "highly" recommends good scores "for success with Search":
| Measure | What it means for a diner | Good |
|---|---|---|
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | The main photo or heading appears | Within 2.5 seconds |
| Interaction to Next Paint (INP) | Tapping "Menu" or "Add" responds | Under 200 milliseconds |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | Buttons don't jump as the page loads | Under 0.1 |
The usual culprits on restaurant sites are huge hero photos, autoplay video and pop-ups. Read does page speed matter for an ordering website?, and run the free restaurant health check for a phone-speed score with your Google listing.
What does the ADA mean for a restaurant website?
The Department of Justice's web guidance (March 18, 2022) says the ADA's requirements apply to everything a business open to the public offers, "including those offered on the web". It also says the DOJ "does not have a regulation setting out detailed standards" for businesses' websites, so businesses can choose how to make their sites accessible, and it points to existing standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as "helpful guidance". The DOJ's 2024 rule with a specific WCAG standard covers state and local governments, not private restaurants.
The barriers the DOJ lists are the ones restaurant sites often have:
- Poor color contrast, such as light gray text on a photo (WCAG 2.2 asks for at least 4.5:1 for normal text);
- Color alone to carry information, such as "red dishes are spicy";
- No alt text on images, including a menu posted as a picture;
- No captions on videos;
- Inaccessible online forms, such as a booking or ordering form that a screen reader can't use;
- Mouse-only navigation, where menus and buttons don't work with a keyboard.
A text menu, real alt text and a standard ordering checkout fix most of these. This is an explanation, not legal advice, and no website tool can certify that a site meets the ADA.
How Menuthere helps
Menuthere gives a restaurant its ordering website with 0% commission:
- Free plan: your ordering page with the full menu as text, QR codes and table ordering, 50 orders a month, an "Ordering by Menuthere" badge, and six legal pages (About, Contact, Terms, Privacy, Refunds, Shipping and Delivery) written from your store details.
- Lite, $17 a month: your own domain (how to connect it), all menu designs, online card payments through Stripe on your own account, the badge removed, and a landing page built from sections (hero, story, menu, dish cards, gallery, visit, footer) with themes. Import from Google can fill the landing page's photos, reviews, address and hours from your Google listing.
- For search: search engines get a plain version of your store with your name, categories and every dish with its price; on Lite, the SEO and tracking tab sets your titles and connects Google Analytics or a Meta Pixel.
- Like an app: customers can add your store to their phone's home screen, with your name and logo.
For the product page, see the free restaurant website builder; for inspiration, restaurant website examples. Before launch, go through the restaurant website checklist, then set up your Google Business Profile and read the restaurant SEO guide. For the ordering side, see online ordering for restaurants.
Your menu, ordering and website in one place, with 0% commission.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to build a restaurant website?
From about $11 a year for a .com domain plus $0 to $49 a month for a builder or store platform, to $159 to $499 a month for a managed restaurant platform. In our first-year example, a site with a domain and card payments costs from $215 to about $6,000 before card fees, depending on the route.
Can I build a restaurant website for free?
Yes, with limits. Some platforms have free plans, such as Square Online's Free plan or Menuthere's Free plan with 50 orders a month, but they show the platform's branding, use its address instead of your domain, or charge higher card fees. A domain of your own costs extra.
What should a restaurant website include?
A home page with Order online and Reserve buttons, the full menu as text with prices, an ordering page, an about page, and your address, map, phone and hours that match Google. Add catering or events pages only if you offer them, and a privacy policy if you take orders.
Should my restaurant menu be a PDF?
Not as the only menu. A PDF is hard to read on a phone, hard to update and harder for search engines and screen readers to use. Put the menu on the page as text, and offer a PDF only as a printable extra.
Does the ADA apply to a restaurant website?
The Department of Justice says the ADA applies to the goods and services a business offers on the web, but it has no regulation with detailed technical standards for businesses' websites and points to WCAG as helpful guidance. Fix the common barriers: contrast, alt text, captions, forms and keyboard use. Ask a lawyer about your own risk.
How long does it take to build a restaurant website?
A simple site on a builder or ordering platform can go live in a day if your menu, photos and hours are ready. A custom site takes as long as your developer's schedule. Most of the time goes into the menu text and photos, not the website itself.
Do I need a website if I have a Google Business Profile?
Usually yes. Your Google profile shows hours, photos and reviews, but a website gives you a full menu, your own ordering link without commission and a place you control. Google's website field should point to a site that represents your location.
Sources (7)
- U.S. Department of Justice, "Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA", 18 March 2022: https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-guidance/ (read 20 Oct 2026): ADA applies to public accommodations' goods and services "including those offered on the web"; "The Department of Justice does not have a regulation setting out detailed standards"; WCAG as "helpful guidance"; barriers list (poor color contrast, color alone, no alt text, no captions, inaccessible forms, mouse-only navigation); the page doesn't reflect the state/local government rule published 24 April 2024.
- W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, W3C Recommendation, 12 December 2024: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/ (read 20 Oct 2026): 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) at least 4.5:1 (3:1 large text).
- Google Search Central, "Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google search results", last updated 10 Dec 2025: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/core-web-vitals (read 20 Oct 2026): LCP within 2.5 s, INP under 200 ms, CLS under 0.1; "We highly recommend site owners achieve good Core Web Vitals for success with Search."
- Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide, last updated 10 Dec 2025: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide (read 20 Oct 2026): alt text definition; place images near relevant text; business name in titles.
- Google Business Profile Help, "Guidelines for representing your business on Google": https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177 (read 20 Oct 2026): website should represent the individual location.
- Domain price $11.08 (.com at Porkbun): live guide
online-ordering/how-much-does-a-com-domain-cost-per-year(sourced to Porkbun). - FDA menu labeling (20+ locations; online menus): live page
/en/fda-menu-labeling-requirements.