Three questions on the first screen
Most people looking up a café want to know three things: is it open, what's on the menu and where is it. They're usually on a phone, often already nearby. If those answers aren't on the first screen, they'll go somewhere that makes it easier.
That makes a café one of the simplest sites to get right and one of the easiest to get wrong. Opening hours buried in a footer, a menu that's a blurry photo or a map that doesn't load on mobile all lose customers.
What a café's website needs
- Opening hours on the home page, kept up to date for holidays and late openings.
- The menu typed out as text, not a photo. It loads faster on a phone and Google can read it.
- A line on allergens, asking people to tell you about allergies, plus what you can offer, like gluten-free bread.
- Your food hygiene rating. In Wales you have to display your rating sticker at the premises. Showing it on the site reassures people before they visit.
- Where you are, where to park and whether you're step free.
- Your own photos of food, the counter and the inside, taken in daylight.
- Whether dogs are welcome, if you have high chairs and when it's worth booking.
What adds to the cost
The big cost for a café is online ordering. Taking orders and payments through your own site means a shop system, payment fees and someone keeping the menu and stock right every day. If you don't do takeaway or delivery, skip it. If you do, many cafés find it simpler to link to the ordering platform they already use.
Table booking is cheaper than people think. If you already use a booking system, we link every Book button to it. If not, a Call button and a contact form do the job.
The ongoing cost is menu changes. A main menu that changes a few times a year is easy. Weekly specials are better on Facebook or Instagram, with a link from the site. With us, Starter covers one small change a month (up to 15 minutes), like updated hours or a price. Standard gives you up to an hour.
How many pages does a café need?
Three or four: a home page with hours and location, the menu, about the café, then contact and find us. Add a page for private hire or events if you do them. That fits our Starter plan at 3 to 5 pages.
What it costs over three years
Totals for a small café site at the time of writing (October 2026). Builder prices are yearly plans with about £12 a year for the domain from year two.
| Option | 12 months | 24 months | 36 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wix Light, you build it | £108 | about £228 | about £348 |
| Squarespace Basic, you build it | £144 | about £300 | about £456 |
| Onside Starter, 3 to 5 pages | £667 | £1,135 | £1,603 |
| Onside one-off from £695, then £20 a month | £935 | £1,175 | £1,415 |
DIY figures leave out your own time and any ordering or booking system fees, which are paid to those providers.
What a café can skip
- A PDF menu. It's slow on a phone and hard to read.
- Online ordering if you don't do takeaway or delivery.
- A blog. Your Instagram does that job.
- Music or video that plays on its own.
Your Google Business Profile matters as much
For a café, a lot of people will see your Google Business Profile before your website. Make sure the hours, photos and menu link there match the site. We set up your profile on every plan and link it to your website, so both say the same thing.
Keeping it right through the year
A café site goes wrong quietly. The summer hours are still up in November. The Christmas closing notice is still there in February. A dish you dropped months ago is still on the menu. None of it costs much to fix, but it does cost customers when someone turns up to a locked door.
Set a reminder to check the site whenever your hours or menu change and send the update straight away. With us, small updates like these come out of your monthly changes. Keep your Google Business Profile hours in step too, because that's what many people check first.
Seasonal things are worth a line too: outdoor seating in summer, a Christmas menu or a quiz night. Put them on the home page while they're on, then take them off. A short, current site beats a long, out-of-date one.
What to ask before you sign
- How quickly can you change my opening hours?
- Will the menu be text, not a photo?
- Will you show my food hygiene rating and allergen information clearly?
- Can you link to my booking or ordering system?
- Is the domain in my name?