A café website fills tables when it does five things well. It shows the menu as text on the page, answers "are you open, where are you, can I park, can I book" within one tap, takes bookings without a phone call, shows your real room in photos, and loads quickly on a phone. It also has to agree with your Google Business Profile, because that's what people see first on the map.
That works whether you've been open ten years or you open next month. A new café needs this more, because nobody knows you yet.
Why shouldn't my menu be a PDF?
Because a customer deciding where to eat wants the menu now. On a phone a PDF means a download, a pinch-zoom and a back button, and many people give up.
Put the menu on the page as text and keep it current. That means the site needs to be easy to edit, or you need someone who'll change it the same day, because a wrong menu is worse than no menu. Specials are worth listing too. Someone searching "shakshuka near me" is looking for a dish, and a page that names it gives search engines something to match.
What do customers need to find straight away?
Watch someone pick a café on their phone. They want four things.
- Are you open now. Hours at the top of the page, correct on bank holidays.
- Where exactly are you. The address linked to a map.
- Can they park. In plain words. In Guildford or Dorking this often decides it.
- Can they book. A button, not "call us".
Every extra tap between them and those answers loses some of them.
Does a café need online booking?
If you take bookings and the only way is to call during service, you'll lose tables to places with a Book button. People decide at 9pm on the sofa and won't remember to ring tomorrow.
It doesn't have to be expensive. For a lot of cafés, a simple booking form that emails you, or a booking tool linked from the site, is enough. Busier places may want deposits, which also cut no-shows. I've written more about when online booking is worth it.
What photos should a café website use?
Your own room, your own plates and your own counter, shot in daylight and recent enough that the decor matches. Stock photos of latte art tell people nothing about your place, and people choose a café partly as somewhere to sit. Show them the window table.
This is the cheapest big fix on the list. A half-day with a local photographer is worth more than any design change.
How fast does a café website need to be?
Fast, because food searches happen on the move. "Brunch Farnham" gets typed in the car park. Google's own research found 53% of mobile visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds to load.
Test yours on PageSpeed Insights. A mobile score under 50 means the site is slow enough to cost you visitors. Speed comes from how a site is built, not a setting you can switch on, and I build mine to load in about a second on a phone.
Why does my website need to match my Google profile?
When someone searches "breakfast near me", Google shows the map first, and your Google Business Profile is what appears there. Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local results. Your website and your profile should give the same hours, the same phone number and the same address.
The classic mistake is changing your hours in one place and forgetting the other. Someone turns up at 8am because the profile said so, finds the door shut, and leaves a one-star review. Make it a rule that anything that changes, changes in both places the same day. The full guide to the map side is in how to show up on Google Maps in Surrey.
What does a café website cost?
My website is £300 for up to four pages, or £750 if you want to edit the menu yourself. If you're opening soon, a logo and website together is £450. The domain is about £10 to £15 a year, paid by you so it's in your name. You can check how quickly that pays back in what a website should earn back.
If you already have a site, send it for a free website check and I'll record a short video of what I'd fix first. Or tell me about your café. I'm in Woking and happy to come to you anywhere in Surrey.
Questions
- Should my café menu be a PDF?
- No. Put it on the page as text. A PDF means a download and pinch-zooming on a phone, and it's harder to keep up to date. Text is easy to read, easy to change and easy for search engines to match to what people search for.
- Does a café need online booking?
- If you take bookings, yes. People decide where to eat in the evening, on their phones, and many won't ring during service. A simple booking form or a booking tool is enough to start.
- How much does a café website cost?
- My website is £300 for up to four pages, £750 if you want to edit the menu yourself, and £450 with a logo if you're just opening. The domain is about £10 to £15 a year on top.
Federica helps new businesses look established, get found and get enquiries, with branding and websites, from Woking, Surrey. She studied engineering at the University of Manchester and was a Lead UX Engineer at IBM before starting Made by Federica. More about her
Liked this? Get the next one.
New posts on website costs, builders and getting found on Google, when I write them. Plain English, no spam, unsubscribe whenever.
Get in touch
Tell me about your business.
A few lines is plenty. I'll reply within 24 hours with a couple of questions or a time to chat. There's no charge for that.
If a Facebook page or a simple builder is honestly enough for you, I'll tell you.