Some of our favorite Websites 360® websites are the ones restaurants have built...and not just because we like reading over the menus.
5 Reasons Websites 360® is Great for Restaurant Websites
Admittedly, we're an office of foodies. On Mondays, our weekend gastronomic adventures are a common topic of conversation. We live in a city that's ripe for culinary exploration. Unfortunately, if we're trying to scope out menus beforehand on our iPads or get directions to a little hideaway from our phones, it can take a lot of pinching and squinting. The chefs around here are cutting-edge, but the restaurant websites? Not all of them have caught up.
That's why we like restaurants that use Websites 360® to create and manage their websites. Their web presence actually reflects their brick-and-mortar (or trailer) character - in several ways.
1. Clean navigation
What would you think about a menu with desserts, salads, entrees and drinks randomly thrown together with no descriptions or organization? Or a dining room with the dishwasher in the middle, the head chef on one end and the pastry chef working in a corner by the bathroom? The food might be great, but the discombobulation of the establishment would be enough to make you want to run away and never return.
The same is true of websites. A restaurant website with clearly posted hours, a linked Google map for easy directions, and menus that are front and center and nicely labeled - lunch, dinner, happy hour - is a wonderful thing. And Websites 360® makes it easy and intuitive for restaurants to design their websites with everything in its rightful place.
2. No PDF menus
One of our favorite things about Websites 360®-built restaurant websites is that they have the menus right there, instantaneously available - no downloads required. This is a huge boon when you're checking out menus on your phone at lunchtime or when you find out your date is gluten-free and need to make sure the place where you made reservations has options. But it's also just nice when you don't want to open yet another tab on your browser or wait for more files to download on your super-slow office network. With Websites 360®, it's all right there right away.
3. Feature beautiful imagery
Just when you thought the food styling and photography on the Internet couldn't get any better, it does. We love when restaurants (like these favorites) feature their beautiful dishes in galleries and give us a virtual taste of what's to come. Websites 360® makes that easy to do, with slideshows, thumbnails next to menu items, featured content blocks showing images, and tons of other options to give us an eye full.
4. OpenTable integration
Whoever invented reservations was onto something. Isn't it fantastic to arrive for a special dinner and find that someone's expecting you? And, what do you know, they've even saved a table for you. Of course, until now, you still had to call and get on the books. But OpenTable has one-upped even that convenience so you can make reservations without even picking up the phone (unless, of course, you're using the Internet from your phone). And on a Websites 360® website, you can book a table straight from the restaurant's website. It just doesn't get more convenient than that.
5. Responsive
We saved the best for last. As we've already alluded to, our very favorite thing about Websites 360®'s restaurant websites is that they work across devices. And they look great. That means the entire website - not just a mobile version or what you can make out with your grandmother's bifocals - is clearly and beautifully displayed on your mobile phone or tablet. From videos and image galleries (which you can swipe through with your finger) to menu item descriptions and hours, phone number (just tap it to call), and locations, it's all perfectly scaled, and still as fast as ever.