The Problem

The restaurant had a website. Customers just couldn’t use it.

A template from 2018, a PDF menu buried three clicks deep, and an ordering flow that handed users off to a third-party platform on a completely different domain — different fonts, different colors, a checkout that felt like a different restaurant entirely. Customers were calling to place orders. Staff spent 20 minutes a day answering “where’s the menu?” messages on Instagram.

The food was genuinely exceptional. The digital presence communicated none of that.

My rule with restaurant work: start with the food, not the wireframes. The client had a stunning photography library that nobody was using. We sat down and went through every image together — identifying the shots that made you lean forward. Those images became the foundation. Every layout decision flowed from them.

The Approach

The navigation practically designed itself: Menu, Reserve, Order Online, About. Four items. Everything a customer needs to make a decision, one tap away.

No PDF. The menu lives on the page — tabbed by category, each item with name, description, and price. The hero rotates through featured dishes with full-bleed photography and a persistent Order Now button. Not aggressive. Tasteful. But always there, because the moment someone decides they want food is unpredictable and friction at that moment is revenue left on the table.

The biggest win was pulling ordering back onto the restaurant’s own domain. Same branding, same fonts, same colors. Cart persists as you browse. Checkout feels like part of the same experience — because it is.

The Outcome

Within 60 days of launch:

• 3× increase in online orders — the biggest single-month revenue driver in the restaurant’s four-year history
• 45% increase in average session time
• Zero support contacts about the menu

The owner texted on a Saturday morning about six weeks after launch: “We’ve been slammed. In the best way.”