Pop-ups asking for an email before the page loads Autoplay video with sound A chat widget nobody answers A blog you won't keep up

What does a restaurant, bar or brewery website actually need?

Q: What are the must-haves?

Hours that are right. They should match your Google Business Profile exactly, including holidays. Wrong hours cost you a customer and a review. A menu written as text. Not a photo or a PDF of the printed menu. Text loads fast, zooms on a phone and can be read by Google. Prices on it, kept current. Events that clean up after themselves. Trivia, live music, tap takeovers. Each event gets a date and drops off the page when it's over, so nobody sees last month's lineup. A private-event page with a real form. Rehearsal dinners and office parties are often the biggest checks you'll see. Say what spaces you have, how many people they hold and what someone should send you. Then make it easy to ask. Tap to call and tap for directions. The phone number and address are links. The number on the page is the number the link dials. Fast on a phone. A slow site loses people before they see anything. Big photos are the usual cause, and they can be fixed. Staff can update it from a phone. If the menu needs a developer to change, it won't get changed.

A restaurant site has one job: answer the questions people have before they walk in. Are you open, what's on the menu, what's happening this week and how do I reach you. Most sites fail at one of those on a phone, which is where almost everyone looks.

What are the must-haves?

Hours that are right. They should match your Google Business Profile exactly, including holidays. Wrong hours cost you a customer and a review.
A menu written as text. Not a photo or a PDF of the printed menu. Text loads fast, zooms on a phone and can be read by Google. Prices on it, kept current.
Events that clean up after themselves. Trivia, live music, tap takeovers. Each event gets a date and drops off the page when it's over, so nobody sees last month's lineup.
A private-event page with a real form. Rehearsal dinners and office parties are often the biggest checks you'll see. Say what spaces you have, how many people they hold and what someone should send you. Then make it easy to ask.
Tap to call and tap for directions. The phone number and address are links. The number on the page is the number the link dials.
Fast on a phone. A slow site loses people before they see anything. Big photos are the usual cause, and they can be fixed.
Staff can update it from a phone. If the menu needs a developer to change, it won't get changed.

What does a brewery or bar need on top of that?

What's on tap now, easy for staff to change every time a keg kicks
Food trucks or kitchen hours if they differ from bar hours
Age or dog policies, parking and anything people ask at the door

What can you skip?

Pop-ups asking for an email before the page loads
Autoplay video with sound
A chat widget nobody answers
A blog you won't keep up

How can you check your own site?

Open it on your phone, on cell data, standing outside. Time how long until you can read the menu. Then try to find this Friday's event and send a private-event question. If any of those take more than a few seconds, that's where to start.

Where does Google come in?

Google shows your hours, menu link, photos and reviews from your Business Profile before anyone reaches your site. Keep the profile and the site saying the same thing. Every site I build includes setting the Business Profile up to match. See pricing for what's included.