Restaurant Menus on Mobile Websites

The Catalog/Menu page type in the Mobile Management area is perfect for building restaurant menus. This page type allows you to add items and organize them using "spacers".

Add Spacers

A "Spacer" is a simple displayed title that can be used to organize your menu. A common use for this is to organize your menu by food types: "Soups" "Salads" etc. Below each spacer you can add items (the actual menu items).

Add Items

Items are your actual menu items. This would be a specific soup, sandwich or salad that people will order. Items have 3 fields. First you add a name and then a price. The 3rd field is a content area where you can add a description, insert a photo or even add a video.

Menus Are Essential

One of the main reasons web users visit restaurant websites is to view the menu. They want to see what you have and find out how much it will cost them. Many people are unlikely to go to a restaurant with no idea what the food is like. Having some kind of menu, be it a sample or a full menu is essential to bringing in customers.

Catalogs and Restaurant Menus

Yes, Even on Mobile

Don't be fooled. The Mobile Web can be just as feature rich and informative as desktop websites. More and more people are browsing on mobile devices and using their phone as a primary resource for information and search.

Catalogs

Some people may never see your full website. If they find you on their mobile device - that may be it. That could be your only chance to catch their attention or sell to them. Why not have your catalog or featured catalog items right on your mobile site?

For example, if you own a stationary store, you will want to show off the products you offer. Including a catalog of your products on your mobile site is the best way to show off what you have and why someone should visit your location to make a purchase.

Restaurant Menus

Most people searching for a restaurant website online are concerned with a few factors: hours, location, prices and food. (What else do you need to know?) Your mobile site needs to offer all of this information and in a sleek, easy-to-use fashion. You may not need to include every single menu item (though there is nothing stopping you). But, people want to know how much things generally cost and what you offer. Be sure to show the range of your offerings to get interest from as many people as possible.

Also, do not forget about the Phone call buttons. Most mobile users are on phones and including buttons such as "Order Now" or "Call Us" can help encourage people to call your restaurant right then and there. Of course, be sure that someone is there to answer the phone and take the order.

Multi-Location Businesses

Determine How You Handle Your Business

First of all, if you have a multi-location business you need to determine how you handle and promote yourself. The main thing to consider is if you promote your brand as a whole entity or allow each location to have a more autonomous approach (while of course still remaining under the main brand).

A quick way to figure out which you are (or maybe want to be) is to look at how you do things on Facebook. Do you have one unified Facebook page for your brand (for all locations)? Or does each location of your business have its own Facebook page? Typically, you will only have on website, but on Facebook many businesses are more fragmented.

Best of Both Worlds

Squareberry offers the best of both worlds for multi-location businesses and franchises. A customizable solution from Squareberry allows organizations to push content down to corresponding accounts. This means every restaurant in a chain could have their own separate accounts for publishing to their own specific Twitter/Facebook pages. But, the top level (the brand) could still run company wide events and promotions, pushing them down to all the corresponding locations. Each individual location would then be scheduling their own events, messages and promotions that are specific to their location.

This gives a perfect balance of location specific events and marketing with brand wide promotions to create an ideal solution. Multi-location businesses can empower their brand and their individual locations with a balanced approach that helps drive traffic to the real world locations.