What does a café or restaurant website in Melbourne need to fill tables?

Short answer: a café or restaurant website in Melbourne needs to answer four questions on a phone in under ten seconds — are you open now, what is on the menu, where are you, and can I book — and get out of the way. That means opening hours that are right, a menu as text rather than a PDF, a map that opens directions, a booking button that goes to a system you do not pay a commission on, and photos of the actual food and room. A site that does exactly that costs from about A$900 in Melbourne and typically A$1,500 to A$4,000 with photography and a booking integration. Anything that slows those four answers down is losing you covers.

What the visitor is doing

The person on your site is standing on a footpath, or sitting on a couch at 6pm, deciding between you and two other places. They found you on Google Maps or Instagram, tapped through, and they will decide in seconds. They are not going to explore. They want the hours, the menu, the address and a way to book, and if any of those is missing or slow they tap back and choose the other place.

Every design decision for a hospitality site comes back to that moment. The homepage is not a brand experience. It is a menu board and a front door.

The five things that matter

Hours that are correct, and visible first. Not on a contact page. At the top of the home page, with today highlighted and public holidays handled. Wrong hours on a website are the single most common complaint diners make, and the one that costs a visit.

A menu that is text on a page. Not a PDF. A PDF on a phone means pinching and scrolling through a document designed for A4, it cannot be read by Google, and it is the thing owners most often forget to update. A menu as a web page loads instantly, is searchable ("does this place do a vegan breakfast"), and can be updated from a phone in a minute. Prices included — hiding them makes people assume the worst.

A map that opens directions. One tap from the address to Google or Apple Maps with the route already set. Parking and public transport in a line underneath.

A booking button that goes somewhere sensible. For a café that does not take bookings, say so and skip it. For a restaurant, link to a booking system you have chosen deliberately — one with a flat monthly fee rather than a per-cover commission, because commissions on your own website's bookings add up to real money over a year. If you take bookings by phone only, make the number tappable.

Photos of your food and your room. Real ones, taken in your light, of dishes that are on the menu. A dozen good phone photos beat a stock library. Update them when the menu changes seasonally.

What to leave out

• Autoplay video and music. On a phone on mobile data, it is the reason the hours have not loaded yet.
• A "story" above the menu. Put it on an about page. Nobody deciding where to eat tonight reads three paragraphs about the founder's grandmother first.
• A menu inside an image. It cannot be read by a screen reader, a search engine or anyone who has zoomed in. Text, always.
• A gallery of fifty photos. Twelve good ones. The fiftieth is never seen and slows the first.
• An events page from last year. Empty or stale sections make a venue look closed.

Instagram, Google Maps, and the website

Most hospitality businesses live on Instagram and Google Maps, and that is the right place for them to live. The website does not replace either; it is where both of them send people who want to book or check the menu. So the site's job is to be the thing those links land on and to make the next step obvious.

Two practical points. Embed your Instagram feed on the site so the photos stay fresh without you doing anything, but keep it below the hours and menu, not above. And keep your Google Business Profile — the map listing — exactly consistent with the site: same name, same hours, same phone. Google reads both, and when they disagree it trusts neither. The small business website launch checklist has the steps for lining those up, and our Melbourne web developer page covers how we build for local search.

What it costs

Ranges from Melbourne studios and freelancers for a café, bar or restaurant website:

A single-page site is genuinely enough for most cafés. Restaurants with a functions offering, a wine list or multiple menus need a few pages. Online ordering is a different category and is usually better handled by a dedicated platform than built from scratch, unless commissions are eating your margin — which is where a custom build starts to make sense. Our website design service starts at the bottom of that table, and the website cost guide walks through what changes the price.

Bookings without commissions

A quick word on the booking question because it costs venues a lot. The big reservation platforms charge per cover on bookings that come through your own site — the diner was already coming to you, and you paid to take the reservation. Flat-fee systems exist and integrate just as easily. For a venue doing a hundred booked covers a week, the difference over a year is thousands of dollars. It is worth an hour of comparison before choosing, and we will happily point out which ones we have integrated and what they cost.

If your menu is a PDF, your hours are wrong on Google, or you are paying a commission on bookings from your own site, book a free 30-minute call. Bring your Instagram and your current site, and we will tell you what to fix first.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a restaurant website cost in Melbourne?

A single-page café website with hours, a text menu, a map and a booking link costs from about A$900 in Melbourne when you supply the photos. A multi-page restaurant site with menu sections, a gallery, a functions page and a booking integration runs A$1,500 to A$4,000, and A$3,000 to A$6,000 when food photography and copywriting are included. Sites with online ordering, gift vouchers or a loyalty login are priced as web apps from A$2,500 and typically cost A$5,000 or more.

Should my restaurant menu be a PDF or a web page?

A web page, always. A PDF on a phone means pinching and scrolling through a document laid out for A4 paper, it cannot be read by Google or by a screen reader, and because updating it means opening a design file it is the part of the site most often left stale. A menu as text on a page loads instantly, is searchable for dishes and dietary needs, can be updated from a phone in a minute, and shows in search results when someone looks for a specific dish near them.

Do I need online bookings on my café website?

Only if you take bookings. A café that is walk-in only should say so plainly and skip the button, because a booking link that leads nowhere frustrates people. A restaurant that takes reservations should link to a booking system chosen deliberately, ideally one with a flat monthly fee rather than a per-cover commission on reservations made through your own website. If you take bookings by phone, make the number tappable at the top of every page and state the hours you answer it.

Does a café need a website if it has Instagram?

Instagram brings people to you; the website is where they check the hours, read the menu and find the door. Instagram cannot show a searchable menu with prices, cannot be found by someone Googling the dish you are known for, and cannot give a reliable answer to whether you are open right now. A small website with those things, kept consistent with the Google Maps listing, converts the interest Instagram creates into visits. For most cafés a single well-built page is enough.