Restaurant websites: menus, reservations & ordering

A restaurant website has one job above all others: make it easy for someone who is hungry right now to choose you, find out what you serve, and take action — reserve a table, place an order, or get directions.

This guide covers what a restaurant website needs, the compliance rules around food and allergen information, and the integrations that make it all work smoothly.

What restaurant websites need to do

People visit a restaurant website in a moment of intent. They are already thinking about food. Your site should:

• Show your menu (and keep it current — outdated menus are a trust killer)
• Make it easy to book a table or place an order
• Communicate your vibe, location, and hours instantly
• Show real photos of your actual food

Everything else — the story, the chef's bio, the press mentions — is valuable, but secondary to those four things.

Typical website goals

Compliance & legal considerations

This is general information, not legal advice. Food, alcohol, and accessibility rules differ by state and city, so confirm what applies to you with your local health department and your own attorney.

Menu labeling and allergen disclosure

The FDA's menu labeling rule applies to "restaurants and similar retail food establishments that are part of a chain with 20 or more locations." Those locations must also be "doing business under the same name and offering for sale substantially the same menu items." A covered restaurant has to declare calories for its standard menu items. The rule defines a menu as "the primary writing of the covered establishment from which a customer makes an order selection", and its list of examples includes "electronic menus; and menus on the Internet" — so an online menu people order from counts as a menu. Smaller independent restaurants are not subject to the federal rule, though some states and cities have their own menu rules.

Federal allergen labeling law is aimed at packaged food rather than at a restaurant's own menu. The FDA says its requirements do not reach "most foods sold at retail or food service establishments that are not pre-packaged with a label." Some states do have their own allergen rules for restaurants, covering things like staff training or a notice on the menu, so check your state and local health department.

Even where you are not legally required to disclose allergens, we strongly recommend it. Federal law now recognizes nine major food allergens: "milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame." Sesame was added by the FASTER Act, effective January 1, 2023, so a menu built around the old list of eight is out of date. Flagging those nine on dishes that contain them protects your customers and reduces your liability.

Online ordering and third-party delivery

If you use a third-party delivery platform (DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub), those platforms set their own terms of service and take a commission on each order. Rates and plan tiers change, so check each platform's current merchant pricing rather than working from a number you read somewhere. A direct ordering system on your own website — where you own the customer relationship and avoid third-party commissions — is often worth the upfront investment.

We are honest about the tradeoff: third-party platforms bring discovery traffic. Direct ordering saves money per order but requires you to drive the traffic yourself.

Payment and tip handling

If you take card payments online, PCI DSS (the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) applies to you at some level. In practice that means letting a certified payment processor handle the card details, never storing card numbers yourself, and serving your site over HTTPS. How much you then have to do to prove it depends on your setup and your volume, and your processor tells you which self-assessment applies. See PCI compliance basics for more detail.

Accessibility

A menu posted as an image is unreadable to a screen reader, and a PDF only works with one if it has been carefully tagged — which most restaurant PDFs have not been. The Department of Justice lists "food and drink establishments" among the businesses open to the public that Title III of the ADA covers, and says it "has consistently taken the position that the ADA's requirements apply to all the goods, services, privileges, or activities offered by public accommodations, including those offered on the web." The Department also says it "does not have a regulation setting out detailed standards," so businesses have some flexibility in how they comply — but they still have to comply. We build menus as styled web pages rather than image uploads, so they are readable by everyone.

Alcohol sales and delivery

Selling alcohol online for delivery or pickup is governed by state, and sometimes local, law — the rules on who may deliver, where, and how age is checked vary a great deal from state to state, so start with your state's alcoholic beverage control agency. Expect an ID check by a person at handover; a click-through age prompt on a website is not an ID check. We can build the age prompts and the ordering flow; you are responsible for licensing and for what happens at the door.

Recommended features

Tech & integrations we use

Common pitfalls

• An outdated menu. Nothing loses a customer faster than arriving for a dish that is no longer served. We can set up a menu that your team updates easily — no developer needed.
• A menu as a PDF or image. PDFs are awkward to read on a phone, and an untagged PDF or a photo of a menu is unreadable to a screen reader. Google does index PDFs, so that part is a myth — but a photo of a menu has no text in it to index, and nothing for a screen reader to read out. We build menus as proper web pages.
• No mobile-friendly reservation flow. Most restaurant searches happen on a phone. If the reservation button opens a broken widget on mobile, you are losing bookings.
• Beautiful photography that is too slow to load. We optimize all images so your site looks stunning and loads fast.
• Not owning your customer data. If all your orders go through DoorDash, you don't know who your customers are. A direct ordering flow — even alongside third-party platforms — lets you build a relationship with your regulars.

Common questions

Should we use a third-party delivery platform or build our own ordering?

Both, ideally. Third-party platforms (DoorDash, Uber Eats) bring discovery and require no upfront investment, but they take a commission on every order — check each platform's current merchant pricing, because the rates and the plan tiers change. Direct ordering on your own site costs more to set up but earns you more per order and lets you own the customer relationship. We help you think through the right balance for your volume and margins.

How do we keep the menu updated without calling our web developer?

We build your menu so your team can update it directly in a simple dashboard — no coding, no design skills needed. Adding a seasonal dish or changing a price takes about two minutes.

Do we need a separate website for each location?

Usually not. A single website with separate location pages (one per restaurant) is better for SEO and easier to manage. Each location page has its own hours, address, phone number, and menu if they differ.

Can we sell gift cards through the website?

Yes. We integrate with Square, Toast, or WooCommerce to sell digital and physical gift cards through your website. Customers can buy and send them without calling you.

Does our menu legally need to list allergens?

Federal allergen labeling law covers packaged food, not a restaurant's own menu. Separately, the FDA's menu labeling rule requires calorie declarations from chains of 20 or more locations doing business under the same name, and that reaches the online menus their customers order from. Some states have their own restaurant allergen rules, so check your state and local health department. We recommend listing the nine major allergens regardless — it protects your guests and builds trust. We can add an allergen key to your menu design at no extra effort.

Related guides

• Accepting payments online
• PCI compliance basics
• Local SEO basics
• Google Business Profile for SEO
• Image basics for your website
• Using your own photos well
• Accepting payments online — the whole section
• Web accessibility basics

Learn more

• FDA: Menu Labeling Requirements — the federal rule on calorie labeling for restaurant chains
• FDA: Food Allergies — the nine major food allergens and the labeling law behind them
• Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA — the Department of Justice on why a business open to the public needs an accessible website