As a business in the modern hospitality industry, you understand that hospitality now starts before a customer enters your front door. You need to be able to show off your restaurant’s unique experience to potential guests with your online presence. The focal point of your online presence needs to be your website. But how do you stand out from the competition?
We got some ideas for you.
Web Design comes in trends as different layout structures, styles and interactions become more commonly used to create exceptional online experiences. Here are some of the current trends in restaurant web design you can begin to utilize on your website.
Call to Action: Making it Clear
Unlike other websites where most people are just browsing around; restaurant websites are visited by users who have clear intentions. They are looking to make a reservation or looking at your menu. Understand this as absolute fact and make adjustments accordingly. Have CTAs for reservations clear and your menu and contact details quickly accessible from the home page.
The easier you make it for your audience to find the information they want, the better the chances of gaining new customers.
Simple & Clean Menu
One of the most vital pages of your restaurant website is of course the menu page. Most people are coming to your website simply to see what you have on the menu. When creating this page, you need to deliver this important information effectively. Styling the menu is also crucial but don’t go overboard, simply provide the menu in a well structured, readable layout.
Adding additional information about a menu item can convince your audience to come and eat. Here’s some ideas of what extra details you could include to your menu:
- Menu item description
- Portion size
- Spicy level
- Vegetarian Friendly
- Gluten Free
The objective of this page is to provide clear information to your audience so they can make the best decision about whether to spend their money at your restaurant.
Photo Focused Design
Showing your audience what your restaurant has to offer with high quality images is essential for success. The purpose of a restaurant website is to provide your audience with an idea of what the dining experience will be like. Show off everything, from the stunning dishes you serve to the interior design of your restaurant. We want to see it all. Since high quality images on website are everywhere now, it really hurt a website when they have images with poor quality.
Do your website a favor and hire a professional photographer. Get as many photos as possible, you can never have too many photos.
Playful Illustration
With the restaurant industry filling to the brim with competition, more creative solutions are needed to make an impression on your audience. Custom illustrations are being used more commonly to stand out. It’s a great way to insert the personality of the restaurant and bring a human touch to entire website experience. Using custom illustrations can also be effectively used to convey information to your audience without being boring and long winded.
Play with the idea of what illustration style most suits your restaurant and come up with clever ways to utilize them.
Interesting Storytelling
Every restaurant has a story waiting to be told. Connect with your audience by informing them on what brought about the creation of your restaurant. What drove you to develop the style you have? Why cook the food you do? What’s special about the food you prepare? This may not seem like it’s worth telling, but this can create a connect with people which can lead them to visiting your restaurant.
Be creative on how you apply the story to your website. Dynamic visuals and animations are great ways to achieve this. Tell your story in an engaging way and your audience will follow it till the end.
Don’t know where to start?
We previously created a list of 6 Free Tools for Web Designers which can be useful in the creation of your new restaurant website. Not a web designer? Not sure how to improve your restaurant website? We can definitely help you with that. Use the contact form below or connect with us on social media to get in touch. We can discuss what can be done to make your website really pop and stand out.
