WEB DESIGN · · 6 min read
What a Melbourne café or restaurant website needs to fill tables
In a city obsessed with food and coffee, your website has seconds to win a booking. Menus, bookings, photos and the small details that matter.
Rhys Telfer · Founder & Creative Director
Melbourne diners check before they visit
Melbourne takes its food and coffee seriously, and diners do their homework. Before trying somewhere new, people check the menu, the photos, the hours and how easy it is to book. Your website is often the deciding factor between you and the place down the street.
Put the essentials up front
The most common reasons people visit a hospitality website are simple. Make them impossible to miss:
- Opening hours, including public holidays and any seasonal changes
- Your address with a map, plus nearby trams, trains and parking
- A book a table button on every page
- Your phone number as a tap-to-call link
- The menu, one tap from the homepage
Menus: ditch the PDF
A PDF menu is slow to load on a phone, hard to read, and invisible to Google. Put your menu on the page as real text instead. It’s easier to update, better for search, and lets people find dishes like “gluten free brunch” or “vegan pasta” when they search for them.
Keep it current. Few things frustrate diners more than turning up for a dish that came off the menu months ago.
Make booking effortless
Connect your website to your booking system so people can reserve a table without leaving the page. Show availability clearly, and make the process work beautifully on a phone. Every extra step loses bookings.
If you take walk-ins only, say so clearly. It saves people a phone call and sets expectations.
Photos do the selling
Hospitality is visual. Invest in real, high-quality photos of your food, your space and your people. They’ll work hard across your website, Google Business Profile and social media.
Make sure they’re optimised for the web, so they look great without slowing the site down.
Tell your story
Melbourne diners love knowing who’s behind a place. A short about section on your chef, your producers, your coffee roaster or the history of the building gives people a reason to choose you over somewhere similar.
Don’t forget the extras
- Private dining and functions, with a simple enquiry form
- Gift vouchers you can sell online
- Catering, if you offer it
- A newsletter sign-up for specials and events
- Links to your Instagram, where people expect to see your latest dishes
Local SEO matters as much as the website
Most people find restaurants through Google Maps. Keep your Google Business Profile complete, post updates and specials, add new photos often and reply to reviews. Make sure your website and profile list the same name, address and phone number.
The quick checklist
- Hours, address and directions on every page
- Book a table button that works on mobile
- Menu as text, not a PDF
- Real photos of food, space and people
- Your story
- Functions, vouchers and newsletter
- Google Business Profile kept up to date
Running a café or restaurant in Melbourne? Book a quick call and we’ll show you what we’d change to bring in more bookings.
Book a 20 minute call
WRITTEN BY
Rhys Telfer · Founder & Creative Director
Founded Sault Digital in 2018 after years on the client side. Leads strategy and creative on every project.