10 Ingredients for Restaurant Websites That Sell

Restaurant Websites That Sell
www.adaptorelse.com l rchambers@adaptorelse.com l 817.522.0512
prepared by:
Ryan Chambers, Principal
10 INGREDIENTS
for

10 Ingredients For Restaurant Websites That Sell l 2
Restaurant Websites || Social Media || Innovative Restaurant Wi-Fi || Flexible Online Ordering
According to The National Restaurant Associa-
tion’s January 2012 Restaurant Industry Forecast,
U.S. restaurant industry sales will reach a record
$632 billion this year – a 3.5% increase over 2011.
On the flip side, restaurateurs cited rising food
costs, the sluggish economy, combined with
building and maintaining sales volume, as the
top challenges they expect to face this year.
With a promising outlook challenged by an
uncontrollably rising cost of doing business, it’s
crucial for restaurateurs to maximize their return
on every marketing dollar whenever possible.
At quick service restaurants, four out of ten diners
said they would use in-store self-service order-
ing kiosks, or use smart phone apps to look at
menus, order delivery, or place online orders for
pick up. In addition to apps, kiosks and other
technologies that are available, an overlooked and
surefire place to begin evaluating your marketing
effectiveness is your restaurant’s website. Too
many restaurants lose opportunities to easily grow
sales, because (a) their website does not reflect
the true personality of the brand and (b) these
sites aren’t designed and developed with the
objective of SELLING the restaurant to the visitor.
Effective restaurant websites go beyond just
displaying your latest specials and slapping a
‘Like’ button on your homepage. The average
restaurant website usually fails to entice, attract,
FOR RESTAURANT WEBSITES THAT SELL
and compel visitors to take any action that could
potentially increase revenue for the restaurant.
Whether it’s time to update your restaurant’s site
or start fresh with a brand-spankin’ new one, the
process doesn’t have to be complicated or stress-
ful. However, it needs to be thoughtful, purpose-
ful, and creative. Any chef knows it only takes a
few “secret” ingredients and a fresh approach to
jazz up ordinary food and turn it into a “wow” dish
that keeps customers coming back for more! The
same holds true for your restaurant’s website. The
following 10 “ingredients” can turn your website
into a powerful brand-building, sales and market-
ing tool that adds dollars to your bottom line!
10 INGREDIENTS

or the delicate Belgian chocolate shavings art-
fully placed on top of your mocha crème brulee.
Don’t forget to include food photos in ALL
sales and marketing channels: Facebook, Pin-
terest, promotional collateral, coupons, bro-
chures, signage, ads, tradeshow booths, etc.
The investment you make in profes-
sional, appealing food photography will
be well worth the money spent.
How many times have you flipped through
menus filled with grainy, unappetizing food
photos? The photos didn’t do much for you,
right? The response is even WORSE when visi-
tors see unsavory, “I-took-it-with-my-phone’s-
camera” food images on your restaurant’s site.
Your customers are visual and BUSY people. As
soon as they land on your home page, appealing
photos of your food and drinks should be front
and center, and scattered throughout your web-
site. If the photography looks unappetizing and
bland, your customers will expect your menu to be
the same. Not only will they pass on your website,
but they may not walk through your door either.
That’s not worth losing a potential customer or
large group in less than three minutes – simply be-
cause your product wasn’t represented well online.
Even if you are pressed for time, don’t skimp
on putting your cuisine’s best “face” forward!
Food photography is VERY different from other
photography. As opposed to making a person
look good, you are highlighting key characteris-
tics that make the dish delicious. “The consider-
able effort a chef puts into presentation should
be visually conveyed to the customer. Expert
lighting, composition, focal point, and depth
of field will showcase those efforts,” advises
food photographer, Jeremy Enlow. Show off the
fresh-pink color of your signature salmon dish,
MOUTH-WATERING FOOD PHOTOS
The considerable effort a chef puts
into presentation should be visually
conveyed to the customer. Expert
lighting, composition, focal point, and
depth of field will showcase those
efforts,” advises food photographer,
Jeremy Enlow.
INGREDIENT #1

Foodies are an especially discerning bunch
and they know what they like and don’t like. If
your website’s navigation is not user-friendly,
you will quickly lose visitors to your site.
Create a simple navigation so it’s “easy on the
eyes”. Your goal is to make it easy for visitors to say
“yes” to your restaurant, so they eventually walk
through your doors, place an order online, request
catering, etc. AND become return customers.
Always remember the “Three Click Rule”. Stud-
ies have shown that most users will not click
more than three links to get to the informa-
tion they want. So every page on your website
should be accessible within three clicks- tops! 2
USER-FRIENDLY SITE NAVIGATION
INGREDIENT #2
Ideally, you should organize and
structure your site’s content BEFORE
you design your site.

Mobile access to the web will eclipse internet ac-
cess using PC’s by 2013 and by 2014, 3 billion of
the world’s adults will be making mobile financial
transactions, according to research giant, Gartner.
The future of mobile visibility and market-
ing is here for the restaurant industry. Mo-
bile is one of the hottest and fastest ways to
instantly connect with your customers.
How many times have you had or overheard
questions that get solved with this state-
ment, “Wait, let me look that up on my
phone!” Everywhere you turn, your custom-
ers are attached to their mobile devices.
Now more than ever, it’s important for your web-
site to be easily read and understood from mobile
devices and tablets. If you have a website, that’s
great. But if you don’t have a mobile version of
your site, you are losing out on a HUGE marketing
opportunity! Websites built to be viewed on desk-
tops typically provide a poor user-experience on
mobile devices. Your mobile website allows you to
focus on highlighting the important areas of your
site that consumers care about, instead of every
page and the content of your regular website.
SEASONED FOR MOBILE
INGREDIENT #3
According to a recent survey from
Compuware, 40% of users have turned
to a competitor’s site after a unsatisfactory
mobile experience.

When designing your restaurant’s web-
site, the aesthetics and flow are crucial.
Think about the ambience of your restaurant
for a second: how do you want your custom-
ers to “feel” the moment they walk through
your door? The same thought should be ap-
plied to your website design strategy. What
does your website design and layout say
about the experience a customer should ex-
pect once they step inside your restaurant?
Design, layout, fonts, and color schemes should
create the “desired brand experience” as soon as
visitors land on the first page. For example, color
has a psychological impact on people’s behaviors
and emotions. Rich-earth tones evoke a casual,
friendly, and relaxed feeling. Warm, cheery colors
create a vibrant, upbeat atmosphere. And bold,
flashy colors relay trendy and hot – i.e. a swanky
hip bar that may appeal to the urban jetsetter.
These design features can also apply to
your food menu (see Ingredient #1). When it
comes to making a dining decision, people
are more particular nowadays about how
they spend their money, so that first impres-
sion is more important than ever before.
APPEALING DESIGN & LAYOUT
INGREDIENT #4
93% of communication is non-verbal
and we process visuals 60,000 times
faster than text.3

The words you include on your website should
target and focus on what you do best. Food
trends may be hot one week, and next week they
may be stale! So keep up with food lingo and din-
ing trends that relate to your culinary concept.
And don’t just say your restaurant has the
“best food” in town. – use specific words to
describe how and why your food is authen-
tic, tasty, and loved by customers. Here’s
a quick, basic exercise to illustrate.
A. “At Luigi’s, we use only the finest olive oil…”
Or
B. “At Luigi’s, we import our quality, cold-pressed,
extra-virgin olive oil from Palermo, Sicily…”
Which of these basic descriptions do you think
would appeal to a pasta-loving consumer?
To steal a line from our copywriter, Therese,
“Statement A lacks “flavor”, but state-
ment B has sauce and sizzle to it!”
FOOD WORDS THAT SELL
INGREDIENT #5
“We’re not dealing with a consumer
who is uneducated,” says Geoff Wilson
of FsStrategy. “We’re dealing today
with consumers who understand food.
They watch The Food Network, they
travel. It’s not all of them, but even if
you don’t have a huge income, you’re a
little more knowledgeable about differ-
ent kinds of foods…”4

As restaurateurs, it’s important to take advan-
tage of local search marketing. By 2015, 30% of
all searches will be local, compared with 12% in
2009.5
Mobile search is also set to generate 27.8
billion more queries than desktop search by 2016.6
Local search can help your restaurant
marketing in the following ways:
• By creating local profiles in directories and
search engines (i.e. Google+, Yellow Pages®,
Bing®, Yelp®, MerchantCircle®, TripAdvisor
etc.), you increase your chances of being
easily found by local consumers and travelers.
• Increases the visibility of positive customer
reviews and feedback (download our How to
Avoid Negative Online Reviews white paper).
• Videos and photosw included in local pro-
files make your restaurant look more inter-
esting and appealing to new customers.
When you observe both the rise in local search
on mobile devices with the topics being que-
ried, it is crucial that your restaurant’s web-
site is properly optimized to be viewed and
found easily on mobile devices. If you don’t,
you will miss out on customers who are try-
ing to make their next dining decision NOW!
OPTIMIZE FOR LOCAL SEARCH
INGREDIENT #6
In a Pew Research Study, the top 5 of
16 local topic-searches online include
restaurants, local businesses, schools,
housing, and local jobs. 41% of the lo-
cal searches for restaurants/bars/clubs
were done by 18-34 year olds.7

Isn’t it funny how the most important concepts
are usually the simplest? Despite their “sim-
plicity”, they often get overlooked. The big-
gest frustration for a website visitor is digging
through your website for basic information.
Make sure you include the following in VISIBLE,
easy-to-find locations on your website pages.
• Phone number
• Location/address
• Hours of operation
• Directions & maps
• Menu
• Order Now
KEEP THE SIMPLE STUFF SIMPLE
INGREDIENT #7

A content management system (CMS) allows
you to easily stay up-to-date on your site’s main-
tenance, and helps you keep your content ac-
curate and fresh. A website’s CMS provides:
• Control over your website’s content,
even if you’re not the one updating it
• Fresh & accurate content on-the-fly –
with new specials, events, menus, etc.
• Decreased customer issues because
your site has correct information
• The ability to easily improve
search engine rankings
• Consistency across the entire website
• Drastic reduction in website maintenance costs
EFFICIENT CONTENT
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
INGREDIENT #8
It also allows you, your marketer, man-
ager, and/or website administrator to
easily access and control your content.

1. For starters, it should include an opt-in form
so customers can easily join your restaurant’s
email marketing list. Keep the form
simple (name, email address, birthday,
zip code). This helps grow your email
lists and keeps customers up-to-date on
your specials and promotions, etc.
2. Promote your catering and special
events’ services on your website.
3. Don’t forget about your bar! By promoting
your bar, wine/beer lists, cocktail specials
on your website, you could potentially increase
your wine/beer and liquor profits. A 2011 survey
by the National Restaurant Association found
that beverage sales accounted for an average
21 percent of the full service restaurant’s sales.8
4. Include social media plug-ins (i.e. Facebook and
Twitter “share” buttons) on your restaurant’s
website. These plug-ins make it easier
for site visitors to connect with your
brand online and share your website
pages with their friends and followers.
5. Show your dining menu and keep it up-to-date.
MAKE IT SALES &
MARKETING FRIENDLY
INGREDIENT #9
Your restaurant’s website should help
your marketing and sales team sell
more effectively. If it doesn’t, then why
bother to have a site?

Ok, so you have great food photography, a mobile-
ready website, and your site’s design and layout
is on point. BUT have you monetized the visitor
experience by enabling them to order directly on
your website? In a National Restaurant Association
study, convenient ordering options are popular
among consumers, with four out of 10 adults
saying they would be likely to order online through
a website or via a smart phone application.9
“With the proper online ordering system, guests
order, pay ahead, and avoid waiting at the res-
taurant. There are no phone discrepancies, and
employee time is not wasted taking orders. Giv-
ing your customers this added convenience will
result in increased efficiency, productivity, and
customer loyalty”, Jason points out further.
Online ordering is not just for fast casual brands.
In a 2012 survey conducted by Adapt of over 4100
diners loyal to full service restaurants in the Dallas/
Fort Worth area, we asked if they would use online
ordering for their favorite full service restaurant.
92% diners responded that they were in favor of
this convenience. Surprisingly, many of the same
respondents would also use online ordering to
fulfill small catering needs – i.e. for their office.
Your restaurant’s website goes beyond just post-
ing information about your latest specials and
MAKE ONLINE/MOBILE
ORDERING AVAILABLE
INGREDIENT #10
deals. Your website plays a dynamic role in your
marketing and sales strategy. If you have put it off
or haven’t thought it necessary to create a restau-
rant website that sells, think about the potential
customers you aren’t reaching…and thousands
of dollars you leave on the table each month.
“It’s imperative that restaurant owners
adapt and afford their customers the
ease and convenience of the latest
technological trends, such as online
ordering”, implores Jason Iseman,
Director of Marketing at online ordering
company ChowNow.

ABOUT ADAPT
Adapt Marketing & Design is an award-winning,
boutique restaurant marketing agency that
delivers results to restaurant and food-service
brands. Our team focuses on helping restaurants
stay engaged, accessible, and relevant, while
injecting personality into restaurant brands.
Adapt’s number one goal is to facilitate the
success of restaurateurs. Let us know how we
can help your restaurant brand succeed.
ABOUT CHOW NOW
ChowNow is a strategic restaurant technology
partner of Adapt Marketing & Design. ChowNow’s
innovative use of the latest online ordering
technology increases sales from the Facebook,
smartphone, and online crowd that you’ve been
missing. Through ChowNow’s proprietary soft-
ware, your customers can order directly from
your restaurant’s branded iPhone and iPad apps,
Facebook page, or website. In just a few quick
steps, orders are placed, filled, and charged. And
they’re just as easy to manage on your end.
Whether it’s time to update your restaurant’s site or start fresh with a
brand-spankin’ new one, the process doesn’t have to be complicated or
stressful. However it needs to be thoughtful, purposeful, and creative.
Are you are ready turn your website into an attractive marketing & sales
machine…or is this your first site? Contact Adapt today to learn more
about our restaurant-focused web design & development services.
817-522-0512
info@adaptorelse.com
www.adaptorelse.com

1 http://supermarketnews.com/latest-news/restaurant-industry-forecasts-growth-2012
2 http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/5-tips-to-designing-effective-website-naviga-
tion-bars-0123592)
3 http://www.billiondollargraphics.com/infographics.html
4 http://www.bakersjournal.com/content/view/3723/62/
5 http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2012/7098/five-must-dosto-get-the-most-out-of-local-
search#ixzz1tAFGBbtM
6 http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/12628.html
7 http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2011/6090/pew-americans-rely-on-multiple-media-for-local-
info#ixzz1tAHHEu7S
8 http://www.rkma.com/2011restaurantSAMPLE.pdf
9 National Restaurant Association’s 2012 Restaurant Industry Forecast - www.restaurant.org/forecast
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