How to Create a Restaurant Website Using WordPress?

In this day and age, failing to establish an online presence means that your restaurant is missing out on revenue. Research conducted by UpMenu shows that more than 90% of restaurant visitors look for the establishment online before deciding to go there. Among those, over half check the website first. Your restaurant’s website serves as a critical point of contact between you and your customers.

However, it is important to note that not all websites are created equal. Your potential customers expect the site to be user-friendly with seamless navigation, visually appealing aesthetics, mobile responsiveness, and quick load speeds. A slow or outdated webpage will only push customers into the waiting arms of competitors. Staying up to date with the latest website design trends can help ensure your site attracts and retains visitors effectively.

The best part? You no longer need to spend a fortune on web agencies for maintenance and construction. With WordPress, building professionally looking restaurant websites has never been easier just as long as they meet industry standards, such as having menus, reservation options, location maps, and even placing orders online.

In this guide, I will walk you through each step required on how to create a restaurant website, so whether you are starting from scratch or have some prior knowledge, this blog will help streamline your processes. From small local cafés all the way to large aspiring food brands—this guide aims at helping everyone set up a compliant webpage that would optimize foot traffic in addition to setting in place systems for taking orders online efficiently.

Let’s get straight to the tools, plugins, and strategies that will set you apart in the highly competitive food industry.

Steps to Create a Restaurant Website Using WordPress

1. Pick a Platform – Choose WordPress for flexibility and ease.
2. Get Domain & Hosting – Register a domain and reliable web hosting.
3. Install WordPress – Set up WordPress on your hosting account.
4. Choose a Theme – Select a restaurant-friendly, responsive theme.
5. Add Plugins & Features – Install essential plugins for added functionality.
6. Create Core Pages – Build homepage, menu, contact, and about pages.
7. Optimize for Speed & SEO – Improve load times and search engine visibility.
8. Launch & Promote – Go live and start online marketing efforts.

To dive deeper into these steps and create your restaurant website, keep reading. We’ve listed each step in detail.

Why Every Restaurant Needs a Website in 2025

Your customers today want to access your menu, reviews, and location, and even book a table or place an order—all with a few taps. The industry has changed; having a digital presence is now mandatory.

Let the Numbers Speak

• As noted by Upserve, 90% of restaurant and hotel guests check their websites before attending a dine-in experience.
• In an analysis covered by Restaurant Dive, they reported that 77% of patrons visit a restaurant’s webpage prior to making an order or planning a visit.
• The NPD Group states that more than 60% of research regarding food is done online using smartphones.
• QSR Magazine also points out that the rate of online ordering has increased since 2014 at a pace three times faster than traditional dine-in orders.

A restaurant website assists with the following:

• Making online bookings
• Demonstrating the menus and ambiance of the restaurant
• Building trust through reviews and restaurant stories
• Driving local SEO traffic

This means that your restaurant’s website is now your most valuable marketing asset. It is where first impressions are created—and repeat business is earned.

And here’s how to create a restaurant website that puts you in control of the entire experience. There’s no need for a developer or a five-figure budget. A self-hosted restaurant website, WordPress gives flexibility and ownership. Zero third-party platform fees, zero design limits—only your brand exactly how you want it.

Common Challenges When Creating a Restaurant Website

Understanding why many restaurant owners struggle to get online is critical before discussing how to create a restaurant website. While the challenges are real, they can be solved.

1. Budget constraints

Let’s not beat around the bush: web development isn’t cheap if you go the traditional route. For many local restaurants, that’s not just unrealistic—it’s a dealbreaker. According to WebFX, the average cost of a small-business website ranges from $2,000 to $9,000. That amount does not include monthly maintenance or content updates.

Example:

Austin-based small bistro spent over a year postponing site launches due to quotes exceeding $5000 from agencies. They switched to a WordPress restaurant website and were able to create fully functional systems in under a week with a $79 theme and free plugins.

2. Time Pressures

Running a restaurant requires juggling countless tasks – being the manager, marketer, HR, and occasionally even the chef. Adding a web developer to that mix? Not probable. Toast’s 2023 Survey revealed that 52% of independent restaurant owners claimed “did not have time to handle tech upgrades,” yet are aware of its importance.

A Portland food truck owner reported losing out on pre-orders and event bookings because they lacked an online menu. However, after spending one weekend building a restaurant site with WordPress, their online orders surged by 35% in the first month.

3. Lack of Technical Skills

The lack of technical skills ranges from no IT departments in restaurants to expecting that every online restaurant requires coding and computer engineering skills, alongside advanced tech know-how. It is well known that WordPress runs approximately 43% of all websites in the world, which means an ecosystem exists for non-tech users.

There are Drag-and-drop builders like Elementor and pre-made themes for restaurants, enabling anyone to go live without any HTML skillset required. An example would be a family-owned diner in Florida that utilized beginner-friendly WordPress themes and added their menu, location, and even an online reservation system, bypassing hiring a developer altogether.

Step 1: Choose Your Website Platform

Why WordPress Is the Best Choice for Restaurants

According to W3Techs (2024), WordPress powers over 43% of websites worldwide. Its open-source nature makes it endlessly customizable and perfect for restaurants looking to build more than just a digital business card.

These are the highlights that set WordPress apart:

• You have Complete Control – Your site, data, and design are completely accessible, unlike on hosted platforms.
• Restaurant-Centric Plugins – Everything you need, from digital menus to reservation systems as plugins.
• Room for Growth – Begin with basic features and scale as your restaurant expands (i.e., add delivery or gift cards and multi-location support).
• Better Search Ranking – Because of its customizable metadata, clean code, and speed, the restaurant website WordPress ranks higher in search engines.

For serious players looking for branding and visibility that translates to long-term growth, the restaurant website WordPress setup is the best option out there.

Why Not Wix or Squarespace?

While platforms like Wix and Squarespace are easy for beginners to use and visually appealing, they have significant downsides:

Feature	WordPress	Wix / Squarespace
Customization	Unlimited	Limited
Plugin Ecosystem	60,000+ plugins	Very limited
SEO Capabilities	Advanced	Basic
Ownership	Full	Partial (hosted)
Scalability	High	Medium

Wix and Squarespace are helpful for very small businesses, but if you want to expand your features or add third-party services, you’ll hit a wall really quickly. Having WordPress means you don’t have to worry about that.

Gutenify – Build Visually, No Coding Required

Gutenify has specialized themes for restaurants. From pizzerias and cafés to fine dining restaurants and food trucks, pre-built templates specially designed for the food business are ready to go with digital menus, reservation systems, and contact forms.

If you’re launching a restaurant and need an attractive website quickly, Gutenify is excellent since it allows you to create a site using a site builder in WordPress without much technical know-how at the best price.

Step 2: Get a Domain Name and Hosting

What’s a Domain and Why It Matters

Your domain is like your online address, e.g., www.yourrestaurant.com. It should be:

• Aligned with your brand, short and easy to remember
• Preferably a .com or country-specific extension

Best Registrars and Hosting Providers

• Namecheap
• GoDaddy
• Google Domains

Top Hosting for Restaurants:

Bluehost – Easy for beginners; offers free domain and SSL

SiteGround – Faster performance and excellent customer support

Hostinger – Very affordable; good for small restaurants

What to Look for in Hosting:

Speed: Should reduce bounce rates

Support: 24/7 live chat is non-negotiable for help

SSL Certificate: Secures website (not having it penalizes by Google)

Step 3: Install WordPress

Once you’ve purchased your domain and hosting, the next step is to install WordPress. This part may sound technical, but most modern hosting providers have simplified it with one-click installs. Let’s use the popular Siteground hosting company as an example.

Head over to your SiteGround account and log in. Check out their plans to see which works best for you:

After picking your plan, type in the name of your website. You can choose to add your existing domain, or you can buy a new domain from here and then click continue.

After this, you have to click on the Pay now button.

On completing payment, Select WordPress among the platform options. Provide the admin email along with the username and password. Given this information, SiteGround will take care of installing WordPress automatically. When it’s done, you can sign in using yourdomain.com/wp-admin. In addition to that, SiteGround also provides Site Tools that are useful for managing things like caching, backups, SSL, and security, which are critical for restaurant websites.

Secure Your Login and Keep WordPress Updated

After installing WordPress, the first step is securing it. While most restaurant sites pose a low risk, even basic sites are susceptible to bot attacks.

1. Change Your Admin Username

Avoid using “admin” — it’s the default and most targeted by hackers. Make your username unique (for example, chefmarco_admin) during setup or later adjustments.

2. Use a Strong Password

Ensure your password contains letters, numbers, and symbols. For secure passwords, use the following:

• LastPass Password Generator
• 1Password Generator

3. Install a Security Plugin

• Wordfence Security – adds firewall protection with malware scanning and login restrictions.
• Limit Login Attempts Reloaded – helps prevent brute force logins.

4. Keep Everything Updated

• Always update themes and plugins alongside WordPress core when new versions are available.
• Turn on auto-updates or set a monthly calendar reminder.
• Outdated software is the leading cause of hacks on WordPress sites.

5. Set Up Automatic Backups

Schedule automatic backups with these plugins:

• UpdraftPlus – schedules automatic backups to Google Drive or Dropbox.
• Jetpack (paid) – includes security monitoring alongside automated backups.

Step 4: Select a Restaurant Theme

Importance of Choosing a Theme Designed for Restaurants

Once you’ve decided how to create a restaurant website, the next critical move is selecting the right theme. And no, not just any theme. Generic themes don’t work, but site-specific themes can drastically improve your website’s functionality and appeal.

Here’s what it does:

• Made For Food Businesses
• Specific restaurant themes come with useful built-in tools like:
• Menu Items With Associated Pricing
• Booking or reservation form integrations
• Display Business Hours
• Maps and contact details
• Photo Gallery for dishes and relevant customer remarks

Since these functions are already included within the template, you won’t need to waste time looking for plugins and coding them.

Recommended Themes:

• Gutenify: Custom block layouts built for restaurants, no code needed.
• Astra: Lightweight, highly customizable
• OceanWP: Great for visuals and restaurant plugins

Fast & Optimized

Restaurant themes are designed to be light and focused on performance. This matters because slow websites can cause up to 53% of mobile users to abandon the site. A specifically tailored restaurant theme not only retains visitors but keeps them engaged and hungry, increasing sales.

Easy Customization

If you are using Gutenify or any other WordPress-compatible theme, restaurant templates make it effortless to insert your brand, dishes, and operating hours, as customization is done via a simple point-and-click. That’s a big win for those lacking time as well as tech and design skills.

SEO Benefits

The menus, locations, reviews, and other important segments for restaurants are often hidden in plain sight in the web architecture. Structured layouts offer intuitive SEO-enhanced layouts to ease discoverability by search engines, which increases the chances of ranking higher locally. This is critical when people search phrases like “best sushi near me”.

Steps to Install and Customize Your Theme

• Go to your WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Themes.
• Click “Add New” and search for your theme.

Now search for your specific theme that you want to add. Here we are adding the Gutenify Restaurant theme.

Click on Install the theme.

Now click on Activate.

After activation, you can customize it as per your needs. You can use the theme customizer to tweak layout, colors, and fonts etc. Plus, you can use site builder to design the theme better.

Step 5: Add Essential Plugins and Features

Now that you have your theme set, the next step is adding functionality. When learning how to create a restaurant website, plugins are what transform a simple site into an online restaurant. The amazing thing about restaurant website WordPress tools is that most of this can be accomplished without any coding skills.

To ensure your restaurant website truly serves its purpose for your business, here are some vital plugins that you should install:

Table Reservation Plugin  

Best Choices Based on Popularity:   

Five Star Restaurant Reservations  

Allows booking blocks through Gutenberg, along with email notifications and table management tools. Best for full automation with WordPress.

WPCafe

A powerful all-in-one solution granting mobile-responsive layouts along with table reservation and food ordering capabilities, including Google Maps integration.

Menu Display & Online Ordering Plugins

Your restaurant’s menu is a go-to page on the website. “Toast” suggests that 93% of people check a restaurant’s menu before deciding on one. It should be organized, easy to read, streamlined, and refreshed often.

Showcase Options:  

Five-star Restaurant Menu  

This has great menu templates as well as dietary symbols, filtering options, online ordering integration, and is block-editor friendly.

Gutenify Restaurant Blocks:  

If you are using the Gutenify theme, you can design stunning layouts with menus using Gutenberg blocks without needing any plugins.

Contact Forms & Google Maps

WPForms  

Design contact, feedback, or inquiry forms using WPForms’ intuitive drag-and-drop editor and create custom templates to suit your restaurant’s needs.

WP Google Maps  

Interactive maps complete with markers are embedded easily, allowing your visitors to get directions instantly.

Social Media Integration

• Smash Balloon Instagram Feed

Visually engaging content including food photos and updates, can be through embedding your Instagram feed to any part of the site.

• Smash Balloon Facebook Feed

Boost credibility while displaying Facebook reviews through posts along with engagement functionalities, which further enhances interaction for and about the brand.

Why These Plugins Are Important

Reservations: Research indicates that more than 80% of diners prefer to book tables online. These plugins allow you to fulfil this need without relying on third-party services.

Menus & Online Orders: Maintaining an interactive and well-organized menu is extremely important since 93% of patrons look at menus online.

Contact forms and maps: They have greatly automated busy work, lessened phone inquiries, and assisted customers when locating your business.

Social Media Feeds: Automated updates from Instagram or Facebook help in trust building as well as increasing engagement, thus making your site current without additional effort.

With these features added, any restaurant will be able to perform exceptionally well with a WordPress website restaurant setup.

Step 6: Create Key Pages for Your Restaurant Website

Now that you have installed your theme and plugins, it’s time to organize your website’s content. Knowing how to create a restaurant website is not only about the aesthetics of the site, but facilitating access to information and actions. Every webpage should target specific objectives for users while being search engine optimized as well.

Here’s a summary of pivotal pages every restaurant website lacks, with reasons supporting their importance:

Homepage: First Impressions Matter

As cited by Nielsen Norman Group, people develop opinions about websites within the first 50 milliseconds. Your homepage acts as the business’s digital front door.

What It Needs:

• Showcase high-resolution photos of meals and ambiance.
• Main Headings and Subheadings (Authentic Thai Cuisine in Downtown Chicago)
• Order actionable headlines (ATLs) like “Reserve A Table” or “Check Menu”
• Showcase customer review testimonials

Pro Tip: Encourage immediate action by placing reservation icons over full-width hero images or video banners.

Menu Page: The #1 Page Diners Look For

According to Toast, almost every single diner, roughly 93%, go through a restaurant’s menu before making any other decision. Having a cluttered layout will make it too challenging to navigate for mobile users, so ensure this page is clean as well as easy to update.

Options:  

• Craft a dynamic digital menu with food images, dietary icons (vegan and gluten-free),
• Five Star’s WordPress Restaurant Menu Plugins.
• You can also embed PDF menus, but remember to always provide a mobile version too.
• Never upload your menu as an image since it is inaccessible and not SEO-friendly.

Share Your Story on the About Us Page

People buy stories, values, connection, and food. Sharing your story on an authentic ‘about us’ page promotes trust and loyalty to the restaurant.

What to include:  

• Your restaurant’s origin tale
• Food sourcing practices or philosophy
• Team or kitchen photos
• Awards or noteworthy mentions
• Milestones

Boosting brand trust through shared stories aids in sales. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, 81% of consumers prioritize trust while making purchase decisions.

Contact & Reservation Page: Reduce Friction

This area especially benefits from a restaurant website WordPress setup. Ease of contact or booking greatly increases communication volume, so simplify the process.

What to include:  

• Mobile-friendly reservation forms are provided by Restaurant Reservations or WP Forms.
• Embedded Google Map with your location pinned
• Opening hours and parking info
• Social media links

Bonus: Use WhatsApp or live chat widgets for seamless instant text exchange.

Optional: Blog Page (But Important)

Having a blog is not compulsory, but it can significantly enhance your website’s SEO and help shape the image of your brand.

Some content suggestions:

• Post-chef interviews or tell the stories behind sourcing ingredients.
• Share recipes or make seasonal posts.
• Write an event recap or announcement.
• Create “Dish of the season” or “Menu creation highlights”.

A website that includes a blog has an average of 55% more visitors than one without local restaurants, which translates to increased footfall and reservations.

Step 7: Optimize Your Website for Performance, SEO & Accessibility

Creating pages is only a small portion of the work that goes into an actively functioning website. Enhancing its ability to attract visitors, increasing site speed, and improving Google’s ranking are all parts of proper site optimization.

While building a how-to-create restaurant website, this is the part many users skip. Do not be one of those people.

Mobile Responsiveness — It’s Non-Negotiable

Mobile responsiveness is no longer a question of “if” it’s needed, but when. With more than 60% market share in food/sit-down restaurants, mobile searches are here to stay (Google). Discovering new restaurants has entirely shifted to smartphones.

Does your site:

• Display awkwardly on mobile devices
• Have buttons that are too small to be tapped easily
• Use PDFs that don’t properly zoom?
• If yes, then you are losing customers—end of story.

Solutions for this issue include:

• Using Gutenify or other mobile-responsive WordPress themes
• Responsive live previews for desktop/tablet/mobile within WordPress
• Tappable buttons and responsive menus

Speed Optimization — Every Second Counts

Business revenue is heavily reliant on load speed. For instance, Google offers stats claiming that if your site takes even one second longer to load, conversion rates will fall by 20%Your website can be improved in the following two ways:

Strategic Approach:

• With plugins like Smush or ShortPixel, you can compress images without losing quality.
• For video content, use WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache for caching.
• Gutenify is a fast and lightweight WordPress theme well suited for blogging.
• Leverage CDN services when your target market is spread across multiple regions.

Basic SEO — So People Find You

When potential customers are searching for places to eat on Google’s map feature, you want the “best Italian restaurant” to pop up, which is what Restaurant Website WordPress SEO enables you to do.

You may start by adjusting these things:

• Page titles & meta descriptions: Clearly say what your page is about (e.g., “Woodfired Pizza in Austin | Mario’s Trattoria”)
• Alt text on images: Helps with both SEO and accessibility
• SEO-friendly URLs: Use /menu/ instead of /page-id=12
• Internal linking: Link blog posts to menu or reservation pages
• Use a plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to guide your on-page SEO

Google drives over 50% of all website traffic — if your SEO is weak, your visibility will be too.

Did you know that approximately 50% of traffic comes from Google? Strong SEO will make your site visible, so don’t neglect it!

Accessibility — Don’t Exclude Anyone

Best practices:

• Select readable fonts (at least 16px and in sans-serif)
• Maintain appropriate color contrast (dark text on a light background or the opposite)
• Include alt text for images
• Implement keyboard navigation support and ensure accessibility for form fields
• Use headings (<h1>, <h2>, etc.) appropriately for screen reader access

Step 8: Launch and Promote Your Website

It’s time to show it off to the world. While the website launch day is exciting, if you are learning how to create a restaurant website, launching is about more than just clicking publish. Testing everything and tracking its performance is equally important.

Your restaurant website WordPress setup can be launched properly by following these tips:

1. Test Everything Before You Go Live

A reservation form failing to work on busy weekends would be devastating. Imagine the chaos that follows.

The checklist for launching includes the following:

• All forms submit correctly (contact, reservation, feedback)
• Buttons are clickable and direct to the right pages
• The mobile layout looks clean on iOS and Android
• Google Maps pin works
• Menu displays properly (no broken images or layout issues)
• Page load speed is under 3 seconds

Use tools like BrowserStack or free Chrome DevTools to test responsiveness across devices.

2. Integrate Google Analytics and Search Console

Track metrics related to traffic with these tools as they help build a clearer picture of audience demographic data and SEO business goals while telling you what’s working out for you.

Set up:

• Google Analytics: Tracks who’s visiting your site, when, and how they found you. Want to know if your Instagram post brought traffic? This shows you.
• Google Search Console: Tracks your site’s search performance, keyword rankings, and alerts you to SEO or crawl issues.

3. Market Your Website

• Only a small fraction of users look for websites using search engines. Use launch campaigns.
• Google My Business (now part of Google Business Profile)
• Claim your business and fill in your web page URL in the Google listing.
• Regularly update hours, menu, and new photos of the business.
• Encourage customers to submit reviews.

Completing GMB boosts visibility, and businesses with fuller profiles get seven times more clicks.

Social Media

• Post on Twitter launches and share Instagram Reels about your TikTok outbreak.
• Promote the homepage plus the menu with a reservation page link on the bio.
• Make use of location tags as well as food-related hashtags for brand visibility.

According to Statista, over 50% of diners discover new restaurants on social media.

Email Marketing

• Send a notification email saying, “We’re Live!” to your client database.
• Free promo for dessert on online bookings. Turn it into an exclusive launch offer.
• Get started with MailerLite or Mailchimp and set them up with their free plans.

Optional: Local PR or Blogger Pitching

• Local influencer and food blogger outreach
• List your site in local directories as well as in the delivery apps of restaurants and cafés.

With proper marketing, helpful tools, efficient advertising strategies, and following our tips, a restaurant’s website can now be set up with WordPress to help you book tables, increase orders, and boost brand recognition from day one.

Conclusion: Launch Your Restaurant Website with Confidence

There is no need to spend money hiring a developer to build a professional restaurant website, as you don’t even need technical skills. These days, with the right tools and guidance, anyone can build a website for a restaurant. This guide walked you through how to create a restaurant website step by step. Starting from understanding its importance in 2025 to launching it and promoting it like a pro. You now know the complete process, including choosing the platform (WordPress has the most flexibility), designing the layout using the Gutenify theme specific for restaurants, customizing your diner-themed design, adding essential plugins and key pages, optimizing for speed and SEO, and lastly, launching while tracking and promoting.

Are you ready to take control of your restaurant’s digital footprint?

And now Gutenify allows you to start building your website without coding today anymore— flexible & fast. Designed for restaurant owners who don’t want hurdles but results. If you want a fully custom restaurant WordPress website, you can hire Gutenify’s customization experts to help bring your vision to life with ease.

Start today! You won’t regret turning clicks into customers.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)