The menu is a PDF
It downloads, it opens in another app, it is set for A4, and every price needs pinch-zooming. It is also invisible to search, so nobody finds you by searching for the dish you are known for.
Websites for restaurants
Read the menu.Book the table.
Custom websites for restaurants, built for somebody deciding where to eat in the next twenty minutes, on a phone, probably outside.
Maison Verre is a KustomSite design concept for the luxury restaurant category. It is not a client project and the business is fictional.
Tasting room · Wednesday to Saturday
Twelveseats.One sitting.
Reserve a tableRead the menu
The moment they land
It is 6pm. Two people are standing on a pavement deciding between you and somewhere else, on a phone, on cellular. They want to know three things — are you open, what do you serve, can we get in — and they will give the site about fifteen seconds to answer.
What costs you jobs
4 things a template gets wrong here.
Opening hours are an image, or wrong
Hours typed into a graphic cannot be read by a search engine, so "open now" answers incorrectly. Holiday hours are usually stale, which converts a customer into someone standing outside a locked door.
Booking is three clicks and a new domain
Every hop loses people. A reservation widget that loads slowly, or throws the visitor onto an unfamiliar site, costs covers on a Friday night.
Photographs of the room, not the food
Empty dining rooms photographed at noon are the default on restaurant sites and they persuade nobody. What a dish looks like, and what the room looks like when it is full, is the actual product.
What gets built instead
Mechanics, not features.
The menu as real, typeset HTML
Readable at phone width without zooming, updatable in minutes, and indexable — so a search for the thing you are known for can find you.
Machine-readable hours, including the exceptions
Structured opening hours, plus a way to set holiday and special hours, so "open now" is answered correctly rather than optimistically.
Booking as the primary action on every screen
One tap, no domain change where the provider allows it, and a visible fallback phone number for the people who would rather just call.
Built for a weak connection
Fast on cellular outside the restaurant, because that is where the decision is actually made.
Fair questions
The reasons not to.
“We get everything from Instagram and word of mouth”
Both send people to search for you, and what they find decides whether they book. The site is where an interested person becomes a reservation.
“The delivery platforms handle our online presence”
They handle delivery, take a cut, and own the customer. A direct reservation costs you nothing per cover and the relationship is yours.
“The menu changes constantly”
That is an argument for real HTML rather than a designed PDF. Changing a price should take a minute, not a designer.
Asked often
Before you ask.
Can I update the menu myself?
Yes — the menu is structured content, not a designed file, so changing a dish or a price is an edit rather than a redesign. Seasonal menus can be prepared ahead and switched over on a date.
Will it work with the booking system we already use?
In most cases yes. The aim is to keep the visitor on your site for as long as the provider allows, and to always leave a phone number visible for people who would rather call.
Can it say when we are closed for a holiday?
Yes, and it should. Special hours are set in advance and written into the structured data, so search results and the site agree with each other.
Start it.
4 parts, and the trade is already answered when you arrive from here. Nothing is charged and nothing starts until you say so.
Build a brief for restaurant