What it costs
What a restaurant website should cost
Diners choose where to eat by looking at the menu first. The site shows yours and takes the booking direct. Here is what it costs.
From £297, live in 7 days, on your own domain.
Restaurant website cost
The short answer on cost
A restaurant website cost starts from £297 for a spec-built site on your own domain, live within seven days, with the first three months of care included, then £49 a month you can stop whenever. That sits below the agency quotes and above the throwaway builders, both of which mislead you. But for a restaurant the number matters less than how a diner decides where to eat, which is by looking. Before choosing a restaurant, people look at the menu, the photos, the atmosphere and the reviews, and they book the place that appeals, and increasingly they want to see the menu online before they will even consider you. At the same time, a booking made through a reservation platform costs you a commission, while one made through your own site does not. So the site’s job is to show your menu and restaurant appealingly and take the booking direct. Set against the tables a good site fills and the commission it keeps, a few hundred pounds is trivial.
What the money buys: your menu shown and bookings kept
The value here is whetting the appetite and keeping the booking, not decoration. That price buys a site that shows your menu, your food and the atmosphere of your restaurant appealingly, so a diner deciding where to eat wants to come to you, and that takes bookings direct, so the reservation, and any commission a platform would have charged, stays yours. That matters because a diner chooses largely on the menu and the look of the place, so a site that presents both well is what wins the booking, and a bare listing that shows neither loses them. And every booking made on your own site rather than a platform keeps the commission, which across a busy service adds up. A site that shows your food beautifully and takes bookings smoothly turns a searcher into a diner and keeps the booking yours, which is where a restaurant’s tables, and margins, come from. What you are paying for is to make people want to eat with you and to book them direct.
Why cheaper and dearer both mislead
The thousand-pound-plus agency quotes bundle overheads and complex systems, and while some restaurants want integrated bookings, the core job of showing the menu and taking direct bookings is done by a lean site for far less. The near-free DIY builders go the other way, producing thin, generic sites that fail to whet the appetite or convert a diner. Both miss the point. A restaurant needs a site that shows the menu and atmosphere appealingly and takes bookings smoothly, which is a specific thing to get right, so agency prices can overspend and bargain builders undercut the appeal and the direct booking.
Paid off by the tables you fill and the commission you keep
A restaurant website pays for itself out of tables filled and commission saved, so the maths is quick. A few tables filled by direct bookings, each keeping the commission a reservation platform would have taken, cover the build, and every direct booking after that keeps money you would have paid away. And because diners who had a good meal return and recommend you, the site keeps filling tables long after. Set against the tables a menu-showing, easy-to-book site fills and the commission it keeps, the modest cost is an easy decision for a restaurant that would rather fill its own tables and keep its own bookings.
How it works
From message to live in four steps.
- 01
Message me
Tell me your trade and your town on WhatsApp. No forms to wade through, no call to book.
- 02
£99 to start
A £99 deposit gets your build going and comes off your quote. It covers some of the build time.
- 03
I build it, you see it
I build the whole site, framed around your work, and send it to you finished to look at.
- 04
Pay the rest, go live
Happy with it? You pay the balance, it goes live on your own domain, and it is yours to keep.
What you get
What a restaurant site from me includes.
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Built on spec
I build it first and send it finished. You see the real thing before you decide, not a mock-up.
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Live in 7 days
From the go-ahead, your site is live within a week. No months of back and forth.
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On your own domain
It goes live in your name. You own the site and everything on it, with no lock-in.
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Genuinely fast
Static pages, no WordPress. Fast pages rank better and turn more visitors into calls.
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Found on Google
Built to be found in local search, with the plumbing done properly from day one.
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Looked after
Someone looks after it and changes it when you need. Two small edits a month, your listing kept current.
What it costs
A straight price.
From £297 to build it, first three months of Care included, then £49 a month.
You own the site outright and can stop the monthly plan whenever you like. Hosting is part of Care and Grow, so one of those keeps it online after the first three months, or you host it yourself. See the full pricing.
Common questions
Questions I get asked.
How much does a restaurant website cost?
From £297 as a one-off, live on your own domain within seven days, then £49 a month for hosting and small edits you can stop any time, with the first three months included. For a restaurant that fills tables and pays commission on booking-platform reservations, that is a small price for a site that shows your menu and takes bookings direct.
What am I really paying for with a restaurant website?
A way to show your menu and take bookings direct. Diners decide where to eat by looking at the menu, the atmosphere and the reviews online, so the site's job is to show your food and your restaurant appealingly and let people book with you rather than through a commission-charging platform. You are paying for a presence that fills tables and keeps the booking, and its fee, yours.
Why does showing the menu drive the value?
Because a diner chooses where to eat largely on the menu and the look of the place, so showing your food and atmosphere well is what wins the booking. A site that presents your menu and restaurant appealingly makes a diner want to come, which a bare listing cannot, so its value is in turning a searcher into a booking, and keeping it direct.
Why do some restaurant websites cost thousands?
Agencies bundle overheads and complex booking systems, and while some restaurants want integrated bookings, the core job of showing the menu and taking direct bookings is done by a lean site for far less. So the big quotes are often more than a restaurant needs to fill tables and keep bookings direct.
Is a cheap DIY restaurant website good enough?
Usually not. A diner choosing where to eat is drawn by a site that shows the menu and atmosphere appealingly and makes booking easy, and a thin, generic one fails to whet the appetite or convert them. You need a site that presents your food well and takes bookings smoothly, and a cheap DIY job undercuts the appeal and the direct booking.
Are there ongoing costs beyond the build?
The domain is about ten to fifteen pounds a year and stays yours. The £49 monthly plan covers hosting, backups and two small edits, so you can update the menu, offers and opening hours without a separate bill. A static site has almost nothing to break, so there are no surprise maintenance invoices.
How quickly does a restaurant website pay for itself?
Usually fast, because a few tables filled by direct bookings, each keeping the commission a platform would take, cover the cost, and every direct booking after that keeps money you would have paid away. Because diners return and recommend you, the site keeps filling tables.
Do I own the restaurant website or rent it?
You own it outright. The domain is in your name and the site is yours to keep even if you stop the monthly plan. I do not lock people in, because the site that fills your tables should belong to you, not be rented back every month.
Tell me your town and I'll build you a restaurant site on spec, so you can see it before you pay. Or read What a website costs, see the full pricing, or get in touch.