Restaurants are one of the easiest industries to pitch for web design — 75-85% have no website — but the pitch has to lead with orders and reservations, not "online presence," because that's the only language a restaurant owner responds to.
Restaurants live or die by table turnover and delivery volume tonight, not brand-building over six months. If your pitch sounds like a marketing lecture, it gets ignored. If it sounds like "this gets you five more orders a week," it gets a reply.
The Real Objection: "My Customers Already Find Me on Instagram and Google Maps"
This is the single most common pushback, and it's partly true — restaurants over-index on Instagram and WhatsApp for existing customers, and Google Maps for new foot traffic. Many owners genuinely believe a website is redundant on top of those.
The counter isn't "you need a website instead" — it's "you need a website in addition, because Instagram and Google Maps aren't yours." An Instagram account can be shadow-banned, hacked, or algorithmically buried tomorrow. A Google Maps listing shows your name, hours, and a link — but not your full menu, not your delivery radius, not a way to see today's specials without scrolling through 40 posts. A website is the one channel they fully own and control, and it's what a delivery aggregator, a food blogger, or a first-time customer searching "best jollof rice near me" actually lands on when Instagram isn't enough.
The second-most common version of the objection is "I'm on Chowdeck / Glovo / Jumia Food already, that's my website." That's worth acknowledging directly: delivery apps take a commission (often 20-30% per order) and control the customer relationship — the app owns the data, not the restaurant. A direct site with WhatsApp ordering keeps that margin and that customer relationship in-house.
What Restaurants Actually Pay for a Website
Restaurant budgets are modest and decisions are fast — usually the owner or a manager with direct authority decides on a call, not a committee. Typical first-project pricing:
| Package | What's Included | Typical Price (Nigeria) | |---|---|---| | Basic | One-page site: menu, hours, location, photos, WhatsApp order button | ₦100,000-₦180,000 | | Standard | Multi-page site, photo gallery, online reservation form, Google Maps embed | ₦180,000-₦300,000 | | Full | Standard + online ordering/payment integration, SEO for local search | ₦300,000-₦500,000+ |
Most first deals land in the Basic-to-Standard range. Don't lead with the Full tier — restaurants want to see a working menu and photos online fast, and will often upgrade to ordering functionality once the site is already driving calls.
What the Website Actually Needs to Include
A restaurant website that doesn't have these isn't finished, no matter how nice it looks:
- Full menu with prices — the single most-requested page; customers check this before calling
- High-quality food photos — phone photos of 3-5 signature dishes outperform generic stock images
- Hours and location with an embedded map — including delivery radius if relevant
- A one-tap WhatsApp or call button — restaurant customers order by message far more than by form
- Reservation or ordering option — even a simple form beats none
- Mobile-first layout — the overwhelming majority of restaurant site traffic is a phone, checking the menu while deciding where to eat
Skip elaborate "About Us" sections and blog pages on the first build — restaurants convert on menu, photos, and a fast way to order, not brand storytelling.
Where to Find Restaurants With No Website
- Google Maps search — "restaurants [city]" or "[cuisine] [city]," then check each listing for a website link
- Delivery app browsing — restaurants listed on Chowdeck, Glovo, or Jumia Food with no independent site are prime targets; they already know digital ordering works, they just don't own the channel
- Instagram local hashtags — search "#[city]food" or "#[city]restaurants"; many active, well-followed accounts have zero website link in bio
- Runvax — filter by "Restaurants & Eateries" in any city and get a list flagged by website status instantly, instead of checking listings one by one
The Pitch
Open with something specific and visual, not generic: "I checked [Restaurant Name] on Google Maps and noticed you don't have a website — just Instagram. I put together a quick sample homepage with your menu and a few of your photos so you can see what it'd look like. Want me to send it over?"
Restaurants respond to seeing, not being told. A free 15-minute mockup with their actual name and a couple of their own photos converts far better than a generic pitch deck, because it removes the imagination gap — they're not deciding whether to trust a stranger's promise, they're reacting to something that already exists with their name on it.
Runvax finds restaurants with no website in any city and generates a personalized first-touch email for each one automatically, so you're not writing 40 versions of the same message by hand.