Introduction
Are you into the restaurant business and want more benefits from it? Here’s how you can make up for it. Creating a WordPress restaurant website is a powerful way to showcase your dining establishment, attract customers, and provide an excellent user experience. WordPress, known for its flexibility and user-friendly interface, is an ideal platform for building a professional and functional restaurant website.
A well-designed restaurant website goes beyond aesthetics; it communicates your brand identity, highlights your menu, and provides essential details like operating hours, location, and reservation options. It can also incorporate advanced features like online ordering, table reservations, customer reviews, and event promotions. This guide will perfectly help you accomplish straight steps to designing a WordPress restaurant website.
How to Create a WordPress Restaurant Website?
Here are the steps to follow for building a WordPress restaurant website with ease:
Step 1: Select a Hosting Plan and Domain Name
When building a WordPress restaurant website, the two most vital elements that are aligned are the domain and the hosting provider. These two elements are the foundation of any website.
A domain is the unique address that a website holds. Users utilize it to reach your website on the web. By entering the domain on the web, users can immediately reach your website. It starts with “www” and usually ends with “.com,” “.co,” and “.in.”
Choosing the right domain becomes a concern as it represents your website. It should be short, memorable, professional, and unique. Also, choose a domain that easily reflects your website’s purpose and should include the right keywords as well. This is where you need to choose the right domain provider for your website.
Talking about the hosting service, this is like the home of your website. The hosting service provides a complete space for your website files and folders, giving security and stability. A hosting service for a website is also responsible for providing reliability, growth, scalability, and performance to your website.
So, you must go for the hosting that resonates with all the best features, just as Bluehost, Dreamhost, and more. On the contrary, some of the best hosting services come with integrated domain services with a one-year guarantee. One of those hosting services is Bluehost, which resonates with all the features and a free domain service.
So for the education WordPress website, we are heading with the Bluehost hosting service. Here we begin how you can get hosting service for your education WordPress website:
- Go to Bluehost's official website.
- Click on "Host Your Website" or "WordPress Hosting": Bluehost offers various plans like:
- Basic Plan, Plus Plan, Choice Plus, Pro Plan.
- Choose a hosting plan. For a beginner, the Basic Plan is sufficient, but for larger websites, consider the Plus or Choice Plus plans.
- For a WordPress restaurant website, the Plus or Choice Plus plan is ideal if you expect medium to high traffic.
- Click "Select" on your preferred plan.
- The next step is to get a domain for your education website. Input your website’s domain name in the search box.
- Bluehost will check if the domain is available, and if available, proceed to register it.
- If you already have a domain, select the "Use a domain you own" option and follow the steps to link it.
- The next step involves entering the account details to complete the hosting purchase. And finally get the payment done through credit, debit, or any online payment method.
- You will receive a confirmation email once the payment is done.
- Log in to your Bluehost account using the credentials in the email.
Step 2: Install WordPress
The next step we have is to install WordPress. And for this, Bluehost offers a 1-click WordPress installation tool.
- Click "Install" to start the process. Bluehost will automatically set up WordPress for you.
- Once the installation is complete, you’ll see a success message with your WordPress admin login URL.
- Go to your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Log in using the credentials (username and password) provided during the setup or sent to your email.
Step 3: Select a Suitable WordPress Restaurant Theme
Once you have got the WordPress installed for your WordPress restaurant website. It's time to move forward with purchasing a good theme for your website.
This is where the actual hunt begins, as you need to pick a theme that is worth investing in. The theme chosen for your website turns out to be the most crucial decision, as it decides the overall design and functionality of your website.
And, no doubt, there are so many themes from different platforms for almost every venture you need. But what’s best is to be chosen.
So here we recommend selecting themes from Aster Themes. They hold a tremendous collection of premium WordPress themes for online restaurants and food delivery websites. Here are some of the best recommendations to look at:
a) Food Joint WordPress Theme
The Food Joint WordPress Theme by Aster Themes is a stylish and functional theme tailored for restaurants, cafés, food trucks, and other food-related businesses. It is designed to provide a professional online presence with features that make it easy to showcase menus, promote special offers, and facilitate customer interactions.
b) Bistro WordPress Theme
The Bistro WordPress Theme by Aster Themes is a feature-rich and visually appealing theme designed specifically for restaurants, cafés, bistros, and food-related businesses. It provides all the tools necessary to create a professional online presence, allowing you to showcase your food, promote events, and enhance customer engagement.
c) Bakery WordPress Theme
The Bakery WordPress Theme by Aster Themes is a perfect solution for bakeries, pastry shops, cafés, and dessert businesses. This theme offers a visually delightful design with features tailored for building WordPress restaurant website, enabling you to showcase your products, promote your brand, and engage with customers effectively.
d) Ice Cream WordPress Theme
The Ice Cream WordPress Theme by Aster Themes is a specialized theme tailored for ice cream parlors, dessert shops, and sweet treat businesses. This theme offers vibrant and engaging design features that help showcase your products, attract customers, and enhance your online presence.
So, these are the highly recommended themes you can go with to design the WordPress restaurant website.
Now comes the purchasing of the theme:
- We are going to purchase the Bistro WordPress Theme. To do so, you need to first visit the Bistro WordPress Theme page and tap the Buy Now button.
- Once the theme is added to your cart, click on the "Cart" or "Checkout" option.
- Review your order to ensure everything is correct.
- If you're a new customer, you'll need to create an account by providing your name, email address, and password.
- In the case of an existing account, you can simply log in with the credentials.
- Choose a payment method (e.g., credit/debit card, PayPal).
- Enter your payment details and complete the transaction.
- Once the payment is successful, you’ll receive a confirmation email with the purchase details.
- After purchasing, log in to your Theme Ignite account.
- Navigate to the "Downloads" or "My Account" section.
- Locate your purchased theme and click "Download" to save the theme file (usually in a zip format) to your computer.
- Log in to your WordPress dashboard.
- Go to Appearance > Themes and click "Add New.".
- Click "Upload Theme," then select the zip file you downloaded from ThemeIgnite.
- Click "Install Now" and then "Activate.".
Step 4: Customize the Theme
Here’s how you can customize the theme on your own:
- Navigate to the Appearance tab and then tap Customize.
Update the following sections:
- Add your logo, site title, and tagline.
- Customize featured sections like About, Menu, Gallery, and Contact.
- Match your branding by selecting appropriate color schemes and typography.
Create Essential Pages:
- Home Page: Highlight your restaurant's key features (e.g., top dishes, special offers, or events).
- Menu Page: Use the built-in menu layout or a plugin like "Five Star Restaurant Menu."
- Reservation Page: Set up a reservation form or integrate a booking plugin like Restaurant Reservations.
- Contact Page: Add your address, a map, operating hours, and a contact form.
- Add Content: Use high-quality images of your dishes and restaurant interiors to make your website visually appealing.
Include engaging descriptions for menu items and other services.
Step 5: Install Essential Plugins
When building a WordPress restaurant website, essential plugins can enhance functionality, improve user experience, and streamline operations. Here’s a curated list of must-have plugins for a restaurant website:
- Restaurant Reservations: Allow customers to book tables online. It integrates seamlessly with WordPress and sends email notifications for confirmed bookings.
- Five-Star Restaurant Menu: Create and display professional menus with descriptions, images, and pricing. This plugin supports categorization (e.g., appetizers, main courses, desserts) and is easy to customize.
- WooCommerce: A versatile e-commerce plugin for enabling online food orders and payments. You can add menu items as products and customize delivery or pickup options.
- WP Google Maps: Embed interactive Google Maps on your contact page to help customers find your restaurant easily.
- WPForms: Create custom forms for inquiries, catering requests, or feedback.
- Yoast SEO: Optimize your site for search engines with features like meta descriptions, keyword targeting, and sitemap generation.
- Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons: Encourage customers to share your website or menu on social platforms. Add share buttons to your pages and posts.
Step 6: Test and Launch your Website
- Test your website’s functionality on different devices and browsers.
- Ensure all links work, forms are submitted correctly, and the menu is easy to read.
- Double-check your contact details, operating hours, and any integrations like Google Maps.
Conclusion
Creating a WordPress restaurant site is an excellent way to establish a strong online presence, attract new customers, and streamline your operations. By leveraging the power of WordPress and essential plugins, you can build a visually appealing, user-friendly, and functional website that represents your brand effectively.
A professional and well-maintained WordPress restaurant website enhances customer trust, boosts brand awareness, and contributes to the overall growth of your business. It serves as a digital storefront, giving potential customers a taste of your offerings before they step foot in your restaurant. And this is why we have made a complete set of steps for you to get your restaurant business right.