The restaurant homepage trap
Saying everything on the homepage — story, set menu, events, press, a video — convinces no one standing outside who just wants tonight's dishes.
Homepages fail when they are treated as a brand film. Every stakeholder gets a section. The diner gets a scroll.
Someone is on a phone trying to see if you are open and whether the menu will feed six. Lead with that. Personality can sit beside it. It should not hide it.
If you have multiple sites, the homepage should get people to the right room without cloning the manifesto six times.
Keep the weird. We will not sell a black page with gold serif as the only serious option. Make it weird. Make it work. The conversion is still a table.
If the first screen cannot offer menu or book, it is a poster, not a restaurant website.
Common questions
- What does a restaurant homepage actually need?
- Who you are, the live menu, hours, location, a booking path, and one honest picture of the room. The rest can wait.
- Where should the brand story live?
- About, or a short paragraph. Not six screens above the menu.