Creating your own restaurant website on WordPress with built in online ordering powered by Mobi2Go

Whether you’ve just started your own restaurant or have hit that growth stage, it can be a challenge figuring out how to build your website. Websites are still viewed as the most important marketing tool for bringing in new customers to your restaurant. Websites are the first place customers come to check you out, so it’s vital your site is responsive, visually appealing, contains quality content and popular services like online ordering. Once you’ve got your website up and running, you can implement marketing campaigns that direct customers to your site and increase your chances of winning sales too.

So, should you hire a Web Developer to do it all for you? Or should you outsource the project to a Web Design Company or Ad Agency? Sure, these are good options if you’ve got the budget, but they also come with a price tag that isn’t so appetising when you’ve got other expenses to consider, like ingredients, goods, payroll, rent, utilities……yeah, I’ll stop depressing you now.

The good news is there is a wonderful free web software service called WordPress.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website and blog for your restaurant. WordPress started out as a blogging system in 2003, but has evolved to a full content management system for websites. It now contains thousands of plugins, widgets and themes, so you can customise your site however you like.

The benefits of WordPress for restaurants

With WordPress, you can build important features into your site specific to the restaurant and hospitality industry, such as:

• Hours and location: Easy access to the information your customers need most, including maps, phone numbers, and hours in a handy location widget.
• Simple menus: Add your menu items all at once, or edit them on the fly within your Food Menu. You can also upload a PDF.
• Reservations: Integrate seamlessly with OpenTable, or take reservations by phone or email.
• Create an online dining experience with themes: Choose from one of the many themes available to reflect your restaurant’s unique style and ambience.
• Get discovered: Help your visitors spread the word about your food and atmosphere with integrated social media sharing.
• Mobile ready: Your customers need information about your restaurant when they’re on-the-go, and your site is mobile ready from the start.
• Online ordering: Download the Mobi2Go WordPress plugin and offer online ordering to your customers so they can order ahead while they’re on-the-go.

How do I create a WordPress site for my restaurant?

Creating a website and blog with WordPress is a straightforward and easy process, even for the technologically challenged. This video tutorial walks you through the steps.

Choosing a theme

Screenshot of the Sweet Cake WordPress theme

Whether you’re a fine dining establishment, bakery, Japanese sushi bar, pub, cafe, pizza chain or a fish & chip shop, there’s a WordPress theme to suit every style of food business out there.

As well as choosing a theme that reflects the culture of your brand and contains all the basics like a menu section and hours/location, make sure you pick a theme that’s responsive. Responsive means you can download, install and activate it quickly and it meets the needs of your mobile users.

 Screenshot of the Lemon Chili WordPress theme

Here are examples of over 50 best responsive WordPress restaurant themes to help you decide.

Building online ordering into my WordPress site with the Mobi2Go plugin  

Screenshot of the Mobi2Go WordPress plugin 

Once you’ve got your WordPress site up and running (go you!), you can make it even better by downloading the Mobi2Go WordPress plugin and installing it into your site. Online ordering for restaurants is becoming increasingly popular with both customers and restaurant owners. Customers love online ordering because they can customise menu items with their food orders, schedule a pick-up ahead of time, avoid waiting in line if they’re busy, order from the comfort of their own home, or order on-the-go. Restaurant owners love it because it increase the amount of money spent per transaction and the volume of sales, reduces in-store wait times and provides business intelligence to tailor further promotions and marketing campaigns.

This plugin will allow customers to order online directly from your store, recall previous orders, customise orders, schedule orders, redeem vouchers and pay by pick-up/delivery or pre-pay by credit card.

Download the plugin and view the installation instructions by clicking on the hyperlinks.

So now you’re ready to get your restaurant website online with WordPress! Want to learn more about Mobi2Go and online ordering? Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.