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How to Choose a Restaurant Website Design Company

May 20, 2021

What to look for when searching for a restaurant website design partner.

The website is a restaurant's digital storefront. Today’s websites are more than just a place to display information like hours and location, they’re important revenue drivers. The goal for a restaurant’s website is to convert as many online visitors into paying customers as possible.

There is a litany of choices restaurant owners face when choosing who designs, builds, hosts and manages their restaurant website. While local designers and agencies come with their pros and cons, we put together the reasons why partnering with a 100% hospitality-focused design company is the most beneficial for restaurants.

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The Pros and Cons of Hiring a Local Designer or Design Agency

Both of these options can come with talent. Whether freelance or part of an agency, designers have the capability to deliver a well-designed website. But what happens when the website is finished? Who manages it and makes important updates?

Depending on the platform on which it’s built, websites can be difficult to update and maintain even for tech-savvy people. Often, restaurants find that they have no control over their website, making it difficult to keep up-to-date. From outdated menus to old business hours, issues like this discourage potential diners from becoming customers.

Whether it’s choosing to hire a design agency or a local freelancer, a new website is often an expensive investment and restaurants run a tight ship. It’s a business where the profit margins are notoriously slim. Therefore, it’s not in a restaurant owner’s best interest to shell out thousands of dollars each month on a new website. Restaurants must pay the agency or the designer to make ongoing changes, which are usually billed by the hour. Imagine a seasonal restaurant that changes its menu weekly. It’s not a sustainable solution. That’s why there is a better option: a restaurant website design company.

Why a Restaurant Website Design Company is the Right Choice for Restaurants

There are a number of affordable website solutions online. But unlike them, a website design platform, such as BentoBox, is 100% hospitality-focused.

Here are a few of the core benefits of partnering with a restaurant website design company over anything else.

1. Hospitality Industry Experts

Restaurants can benefit by teaming up with experts in their industry. This is one of the main benefits of a 100% hospitality-focused design company. Restaurants can receive value from a team of web designers and customer success partners who have hospitality experience and who understand the ins and outs of everyday restaurant operations.

A fun fact: at BentoBox, 82% of employees have worked at a restaurant.

A true hospitality platform is built with industry best practices and experience. Restaurant website designers keep the guest experience top of mind, optimizing it to convert online visitors into actual diners. Restaurant website developers consider the restaurant operator first, ensuring that they have access to a dashboard where they can edit their menus, upload photographs, create events and manage eCommerce and online orders, simply and intuitively.

2. Tools That Drive High-Margin Revenue

Restaurant website design platforms can also provide more than just a website. They offer a suite of eCommerce tools that drive online revenue as well. While helpful at all times, it is particularly so as the demand for delivery is only set to increase in the near future.

These tools are optimized for guests to easily find on the website and for fast and secure checkout. Whether it’s purchasing custom restaurant merchandise through an online store, digital or physical gift cards, tickets to events or online ordering for pickup or delivery, eCommerce is a vital revenue stream for restaurants now and will be going forward.

3. Ahead of Technology Trends

Another key benefit of partnering with a hospitality-specific website design company is that their product is constantly evolving and being improved on. A dedicated team of developers and engineers are at work daily to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the platform for restaurant owners as well as online visitors. For restaurants, the ability to forgo adding other costly third-party apps and marketplaces to their monthly budget is an added advantage. There is also peace of mind knowing that platforms such as these are pioneering the latest new technologies and trends to enter the restaurant space.

4. Design First

Restaurant website design companies, like BentoBox, have a sound understanding of the restaurant industry. Designers strictly design and build hospitality-specific websites using industry best practices and the latest in SEO and digital accessibility. These best practices include text-based menus, alt-text on images, mobile-first design, sticky buttons and more. Read more about restaurant website design here.

5. Trusted Support and Personal Service

To top it all off, partnering with a restaurant website design company comes with ongoing support and services. Problems may arise and for restaurant owners who need help, every restaurant has a dedicated person who can help solve issues. When compared to hiring a local designer or agency, restaurants will save thousands of dollars in the long run.

6. Committed to the Restaurant’s Success

Restaurants should partner with a company whose success is shared with the restaurant’s success. Communities are built around this principle. Because technology is so intertwined with business, shouldn’t restaurants rely on a team of individuals who understand the latest web design best practices and the industry at the same time? At BentoBox, we believe this to be true.

Restaurants who are interested in learning more about how a restaurant website design company like BentoBox can help their presence and drive revenue online, get in touch with one of our specialists today.