How to build a food delivery website for your restaurant

Source: 360localbusiness.com

Why food delivery websites matter

Before we go into detail about must-have features of food delivery software for restaurants, it’s important to understand the reasons for starting your own website.

• A website is a great way to market your restaurant locally and get more returning customers. 
• You can arrange pick-up through your website. A lot of customers prefer to pick up food and not pay for delivery. 
• Customers prefer ordering through your brand website or app. In 2020, 82% of guests say they order food directly from a restaurant’s website or app.
• A custom website allows you to capture more data about your customers and better understand what drives your revenue. This can help you spend more time and money on what’s working and less on what isn’t. When customers order via a third-party service, you have limited information about customers and their ordering habits, so it’s more difficult to understand what’s working and what affects your marketing.
• You can use your loyalty program more effectively. By having users order through your website, you’ll have all of their data such as demographics, preferences, and purchasing behavior. This can help you create a better loyalty program. For example, you can benefit from SMS or email marketing (say, to offer discount coupons) to help you fill tables on slow days.

Examples of the best restaurant websites

What are the best sources of inspiration if you’ve decided to build your own restaurant website for online ordering? Of course, the websites of the world’s best restaurants. They’re the perfect places to get inspired with ideas for your own website. Let’s dive in!

Mirazur

Check out the website: Mirazur

Mirazur is a three Michelin star restaurant in Menton, a seaside town in the French Riviera. It was ranked the world’s best restaurant of 2019 on a list sponsored by San Pellegrino. Mirazur features a splendid terraced garden with marvelous views over the Mediterranean and Menton. This location provides the perfect environment for the restaurant to grow and harvest their own vegetables.

Source: mirazur.fr

Mirazur has an elegant website with a minimalist design that displays important information about the restaurant. Features include:

• About us pages. There are quite a few pages that talk about Mirazur’s team, kitchen, gardens, philosophy, and latest news. There’s also a separate page about Mauro Colagreco, the owner and chef of Mirazur. This page features Mauro’s biography, an overview of his career, and a list of his restaurants. 
• Book a table. Visitors can book a table at Mirazur right on the website. To request a booking, they need to fill in the number of guests, the date, and the time. Visitors can also sign up for the waiting list. 
• Social media CTAs. Visitors can quickly navigate to Mirazur’s social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) via buttons placed in the top right corner of the main page.
• Contacts. A contact icon on the top navigation bar lets users easily access contact information.
• Multi-language support. To target a wider audience, Mirazur opted for French, English, and Spanish.

Asador Etxebarri

Check out the website: Asador Etxebarri 

Asador Etxebarri is a Spanish restaurant that serves grilled food only. Everything from the main courses to desserts has the taste of fire. Begun in 2002, Asador Extebarri got its first Michelin star in 2010 and is now the third best restaurant globally according to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. 

Source: asadoretxebarri.com

Asador Etxebarri provides a great example of a single-page restaurant website. Among its features are:

• General details. This section provides information about the restaurant, including opening hours, contact information, and policy information.
• Reservations. Visitors can book a table by entering the number of guests and choosing a date. They can also sign up for the waiting list. 
• Multi-language support. The Asador Etxebarri website caters to Spanish-, Basque-, and English-speaking visitors. 

Mugaritz 

Check out the website: Mugaritz

Mugaritz is a Spanish restaurant that’s considered one of the best in the world. Opened in 1998, Mugaritz already earned its first Michelin star in 2000. Five years later, the restaurant was awarded a second. 

Additionally, Mugaritz and its chef-owner, Andoni Luis Aduriz, have shown up on the pages of popular publications ranging from The Observer to Cuisine Kingdom, Omnivore, and The Trade Republic. 

Source: mugaritz.com

• Reservations. Visitors can make reservations at Mugaritz by completing an online form in which they indicate the number of guests and the meal (lunch or dinner). After that, the website offers visitors to choose an available date and time. Next, they need to fill in personal information including their first name, family name, phone number, email address, and allergy information. Mugaritz charges guests for bookings and then subtracts this amount from the final bill. 
• Multi-language support. In addition to Spanish, the Mugaritz website is available in Basque, since the restaurant is situated in Errenteria, a town in the Basque region of northern Spain. This area also borders France, so the website is available in French as well. Plus, as Spain attracts lots of foreign tourists who might know none of these languages, the Mugaritz team opted for English.
• Store. The Mugaritz website features a store where visitors can purchase cookbooks and T-shirts.
• Social media icons at the bottom of the website pages allow users to easily find Mugaritz on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
• A gallery provides photos and videos of dishes.
• FAQ. This is the go-to destination for visitors to find answers to questions about the restaurant and its operations. 
• How to get there? The name speaks for itself. On this page, users can find information about how to get to Mugaritz. They can also use Google Maps right on the website.
• Contacts. Visitors can use a contact form to send messages. There’s another form for visitors to leave feedback and share thoughts as well as a separate page where those interested in working at Mugaritz can submit their resumes. 

Applebee’s

Check out the website: Applebee’s

Applebee’s started as a small restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. Today, it’s one of the world’s favorite restaurant chains with almost 2,000 restaurants around the globe. Applebee’s focuses on casual dining with mainstream American dishes like pasta, burgers, chicken, salads, and riblets.

Source: applebees.com

• Sign-up & sign-in. Users can sign up for Applebee’s to create an account. They can sign up with Google, Facebook, or email.
• Menu. Applebee’s lets visitors view the menu, add items to the cart, customize orders, and pay for orders.
• Locations. Since there are a lot of Applebee’s restaurants, their website allows visitors to enter their location and find the closest Applebee’s.
• Ordering. Once a user has chosen the nearest restaurant, they can order from it. The website includes options for delivery, pickup, and curbside pickup.
• Catering. Users can also use the website to order the catering.
• About us pages inform users about how to contact Applebee’s and their restaurant’s operations, hours, and addresses.
• Newsletter. Users can subscribe to Applebee’s newsletter to receive their most recent and up-to-date news stories.
• Gift cards. Users can purchase digital or mail gift cards.
• FAQ. This section provides answers to common questions about Applebee’s and its operations.

Daniel

Check out the website: Daniel

Daniel is a two-Michelin-star restaurant in New York that serves French cuisine. Opened in 1993 by Daniel Boulud, the restaurant has already won several awards including the Wine Spectator Grand Award and Gourmet's Top Table Award, and was named the top-ranked restaurant in America by Forbes.

Source: danielnyc.com

• Ordering. The first thing visitors see on Daniel is a pop up offering them to book a table and order for pickup or delivery. When a user clicks the place an order button, they’re redirected to Tolk, a third-party restaurant reservation platform.
• About us. This section tells visitors about the restaurant’s story.
• Reservations. To make sure the table booking feature isn’t overlooked, Daniel places the reservation button in the top right corner of the main page. For reservations, Daniel uses Resy.
• A gallery provides photos of dishes and the restaurant.
• A contact button allows users to easily access contact information.
• Social icons in the bottom-left corner of the menu let users quickly find Daniel on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Features to include in a food delivery website

We’ve given just five examples of websites by top restaurants, but there are far more inspirations out there. Still, even these five examples give us a picture of what functionality to include in your restaurant website. Let’s see what ingredients are key to your restaurant website’s success.

In addition to this functionality, you might want to consider including the following features in your online restaurant ordering software:

• Gallery. Use video content to engage users. You can include photos and videos of the food served at your restaurant, kitchen processes, and/or recipes.
• FAQ. Answer questions before they’re asked. You can create a separate page that provides answers to common questions about your restaurant and its operations.
• Customize dishes. Allow users to customize their dishes by removing or adding ingredients.
• Preorder. Let customers schedule food delivery.
• Order tracking. Customers will appreciate the opportunity to watch the progress of their deliveries in real time right on your website.
• Payments. Processing payments directly via your restaurant delivery website is a great way to increase the number of orders, free up your staff for more important tasks, and boost your restaurant’s productivity. Make sure to include different payment methods so customers can choose the one they like.  
• Social media buttons. Implement social icons on your website so users can easily navigate to your social media pages.
• Discounts and rewards are an effective means of driving repeat sales and providing a great customer experience. 

What else should you pay attention to when developing a restaurant food delivery website?

Before you rush into creating your restaurant reservation website, you need to do the following:

• Choose between a ready-made solution and a custom website. This is the first and most important step before you start your restaurant website development. If you need little functionality, no customizations, and have a limited budget, consider using a ready-made solution. If you opt for robust features, individuality, and high performance, custom development is your best-case scenario.
• Get the perfect restaurant website design. Make sure your website is simple, usable, clean, and consistent. The main goal is to help users easily do what they want when interacting with your website.
• Create multiple revenue streams. Consider additional revenue sources to make extra income. Third-party food delivery websites may come in handy. You can also offer gift cards, add a takeout model (if you haven’t yet), start a blog, and get on social media.
• Tune your social media channels and optimize your website. 
• Make your website mobile-friendly. More and more people use their mobile devices to browse the internet. It’s, therefore, crucial to make your website mobile-friendly.

Need a restaurant website developer?

Source: dribbble.com by Sahil Bhagat

Choosing a software development agency to build your restaurant website is a big step. This can be even more challenging if your technical knowledge isn’t quite up to snuff. To make a wise choice, we suggest you:

• define your business goal and requirements
• choose an outsourcing destination
• select an appropriate technology stack
• check out feedback from past clients of companies you’re looking to hire (Ratings and review platforms like Clutch and GoodFirms might come in handy.)
• review development companies’ portfolios
• narrow your search
• interview companies you’re considering 
• request quotes.