What diners check before they choose, what ordering apps and reservations really cost, Google links that bring bookings, and a step-by-step build.
Diners usually check a restaurant on their phone, often while standing in the street deciding where to go. They want the menu with prices, today's hours, where you are and a way to book or order, and they want it in seconds. A plain site that answers those beats a beautiful one that hides them in a PDF. This guide covers what a restaurant website needs, what online ordering and reservations really cost at the time of writing (October 2026), how to set up Google, and how to build it all with an AI builder.
Watch a group pick somewhere to eat and they look for the same things, roughly in this order. If one is missing, they go back to the map and choose someone else.
Your story can wait for the About page. The top of the home page belongs to hours today, the address, and buttons for the menu and for booking or ordering.
The PDF menu is the most common mistake on restaurant websites. On a phone it means a download, then pinching and zooming. A scanned PDF is an image that screen readers cannot read and browsers cannot translate. And because changing it means going back to whoever designed it, it is usually out of date.
A menu typed onto the page fixes all of that, and helps on Google too: Google says it may take menu details from your website for your Business Profile unless you opt out, which works far better from text than from a scan.
This is the one part of a restaurant website where a mistake can hurt someone. Rules differ by country, so check what your local food authority requires. For context, the UK and EU work from a list of 14 allergens that food businesses must give information about, including for food that is not pre-packed, and the US FDA recognises nine major food allergens, with sesame added in 2023. The UK Food Standards Agency also says that for food sold online, allergen information must be available before the order is completed and again on delivery.
Marketplaces bring new customers and drivers; ordering on your own website keeps more of each order and the customer relationship. What each charges the restaurant at the time of writing (October 2026), from the companies' own pricing pages where published:
| Channel | What the restaurant pays |
|---|---|
| Uber Eats (US) | Delivery: 20%, 25% or 30% of the order on the Lite, Plus and Premium plans (Lite is 15% in some cities). Pickup: 7% if app prices match in-store prices, otherwise 10% |
| DoorDash (US) | Delivery: 15%, 25% or 30% on the Basic, Plus and Premier plans, no monthly fee. Pickup: 6% |
| Deliveroo (UK and Europe, now owned by DoorDash) | No public rate card: a percentage of each order plus VAT, agreed per restaurant. Independent UK estimates put independents at roughly 25 to 35% |
| Direct ordering on your own site | Card processing, for example Stripe's standard US rate of 2.9% plus 30 cents, plus your website subscription |
| Direct ordering run by a marketplace | Uber Eats Webshop: 2.5% plus 29 cents per order. DoorDash Online Ordering: no commission, 2.9% plus 30 cents processing |
Just Eat, Zomato, Swiggy, iFood and other regional apps use a similar commission model, with rates that vary by country.
A worked example: on a $40 order, a 25% commission costs $10, while the same order taken for pickup on your own site costs about $1.46 in card fees. At 300 orders a month, that is over $2,500. Delivery is not free when you run it yourself, though: the commission pays the driver, and on-demand drivers such as Uber Direct start at $7.99 per delivery in the US. The clearest saving is on pickup orders and regulars.
So most independents use both: marketplaces for reach and delivery, their own ordering page for pickup and regulars, promoted on the website, the Google profile and every receipt.
A reservation platform such as OpenTable, Resy or SevenRooms shows live availability, confirms instantly, sends reminders, can hold cards against no-shows and manages your tables on the night. OpenTable and Resy also list you in their diner apps. At the time of writing, OpenTable's US plans start at $149 a month plus $1.50 for each diner booked through its network, with bookings from your own website at 25 cents per diner or $49 a month flat on that plan. It pays off if you fill most tables most nights or lose real money to no-shows.
A simple booking request is a form asking for date, time, party size, name and phone, which you confirm by phone, email or message. It costs nothing extra and suits a 30-seat cafe, a bistro that is only busy at weekends, and every large group or private dining booking. It is not instant, so a diner may book elsewhere while waiting: say on the form when you will reply, and keep that promise.
Some general builders sit in between: Wix, for example, has its own table reservations app on plans that take payments. Whichever you choose, run one system per table rather than a platform and a separate form.
Many diners see your Google Business Profile before your website, so treat it as part of the site. According to Google's help pages at the time of writing:
Google stopped taking food orders inside Search in 2024; the Order button now sends people to your website or a provider, so the page it lands on matters.
Keep hours identical on Google, your site and every app, and set special hours before holidays. On the site itself, Google's structured data guidance recommends the Restaurant business type with your menu link, cuisine, price range and opening hours. Our SEO tools check the on-page basics.
Google's Core Web Vitals set clear targets: main content loaded within 2.5 seconds, a response to a tap within 200 milliseconds, and a layout that does not jump about (a shift score of 0.1 or less), for at least 75% of visits. Restaurant sites usually miss them because of huge photos straight from a camera, autoplay video and sliders, and pop-ups covering the menu. Compress photos, use one strong image instead of a slider, and make the phone number call and the address open a map. Test on mobile data, not the restaurant Wi-Fi, with Google's free PageSpeed Insights.
Our AI website checklist covers the general pre-launch steps.
These steps work in any AI website builder. We use WebNewBiz as the worked example because it is ours.
1. Gather the facts. Your menu with prices (typed, not photographed), hours, address, allergen sheet, 15 to 20 photos and three to five reviews you may quote.
2. Describe the restaurant. In WebNewBiz you describe your business in plain language and the AI drafts the complete site (pages, layout and copy), ready to edit in your browser. You can also start from a template.
Example: "Saffron Lane is a 40-seat Mediterranean restaurant in Portland, Oregon, run by chef Elena Costa. Wood-fired fish, mezze and slow-cooked lamb; mains $18 to $29. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 5pm to 10pm, plus weekend brunch 10am to 2pm. Main goal: table bookings; second: pickup orders. Private dining for up to 14. Tone: warm and plain. Pages: Home, Menu, Order, Book, Private dining, Visit us."
Our prompt guide covers how to word follow-up requests.
3. Replace the draft menu and check every claim. Without your menu, the AI writes plausible dishes and prices. Paste the real one, check every price, and add allergen information yourself. Delete anything you did not supply, such as "award-winning" or a placeholder review.
4. Edit by chat. WebNewBiz's AI Copilot changes the site from plain requests, such as "Add a Private dining page: up to 14 guests, set menus from $55 a head, and an enquiry form." One change per request works best. For hand edits, the Design Studio visual editor comes with Starter and above.
5. Set up pickup orders. The online store on Starter ($29 a month) gives you a cart and secure checkout, with cards through Stripe plus Apple Pay and Google Pay. Start with 15 to 25 dishes that travel well and state collection times. It is a general online store, not an ordering system built around a restaurant till, so check how orders reach you during a busy service and place a real order before promoting it.
6. Keep track of regulars. On Growth ($79 a month), site enquiries land in the AI CRM automatically, store buyers become contacts, and bookings are handled there too, so private dining enquiries stop getting lost in an inbox. Pro adds email campaigns; only email guests who agreed to hear from you.
7. Connect the domain and Google, then launch. Add your website, menu and order links to your Business Profile, then tap every button on your phone.
An honest note: WebNewBiz is young, with a much smaller app ecosystem than Wix, Squarespace or Shopify, and the cheapest plan (Lite, $9 a month) has no store or CRM.
| Option | Cost at the time of writing | Good at | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace only (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Deliveroo) | No monthly fee in the US; 15 to 30% per delivery order | New customers, drivers, almost no setup | Thin margins; the app owns the customer relationship |
| Restaurant platform (Toast, Owner.com, BentoBox) | Owner.com: $249 a month plus 5% per order, or $499 flat, with a 5% fee charged to guests on both. Toast: from $0 a month on its Starter Kit, with online ordering as an add-on to its till system | Ordering built for kitchens, links to the till, loyalty | Higher cost and ties to their system; BentoBox is now part of Clover and sold only to Clover POS customers |
| General AI website builder (WebNewBiz, Wix, Squarespace) | WebNewBiz $29 a month with a store, $79 with CRM; Wix from $29 (Core) to take payments; plus card fees | The whole site (menu, events, private dining) at a predictable price | Less specialised ordering; you set it up and test it yourself |
If you take many online orders and already run Toast or Clover, their own tools will probably fit best, because orders go straight into the system your kitchen uses. If you want built-in table reservations with a floor plan on a general builder, Wix is the stronger choice. If you are an independent restaurant, cafe or bakery that wants a menu site, pickup orders, booking requests and a record of regulars in one place, a general builder such as WebNewBiz fits, with a marketplace alongside for delivery. See pricing for each plan.
What should a restaurant website include?
The menu as text with prices, opening hours, the address with a map, real photos, and one clear way to book, order or call. Most restaurants need five to eight pages.
Should I put my restaurant menu online as a PDF?
Not as the main version. PDFs are awkward on phones, hard for screen readers and usually out of date. Type the menu onto a page with prices and dietary markers, and offer a PDF only for printing.
How much do delivery apps charge restaurants?
At the time of writing (October 2026), Uber Eats charges 20%, 25% or 30% per US delivery order depending on the plan, and DoorDash 15%, 25% or 30%. Pickup orders cost less, from 6%. Orders on your own site cost only card fees, about 2.9% plus 30 cents with Stripe in the US.
Do I need OpenTable to take reservations?
No. A booking request form that you confirm by phone or email suits smaller restaurants and groups. OpenTable, from $149 a month plus per-diner fees in the US, earns its cost when you are full most nights or lose money to no-shows.
How much does a restaurant website cost?
With a general website builder, roughly $9 to $79 a month plus a domain and card fees. Restaurant platforms cost more, for example $249 to $499 a month on Owner.com. On WebNewBiz the first month is $1, then $29 a month with an online store.
Type a few lines about your restaurant into the AI Website Builder, paste in your real menu, and see what comes back. Every plan is $1 for the first month with no minimum contract, so you can start for $1 and decide once you have seen a draft of your own site.