Website for coffee shops: menu, hours and order-ahead coffee

A coffee shop website has to answer, in a few seconds, what people actually want to know: are you open, what's on the menu, and can I order ahead? Everything else is a bonus.

It sounds basic, but that's exactly what goes wrong. Google says you open at 7 and you open at 8, the menu is an old photo of the chalkboard, and ordering a coffee to go still means standing in line. Here's how I'd fix it.

Get the hours right, and put them first

Coffee decisions happen in the moment: is it open right now? If your site doesn't say so on the first screen, or says it wrong, people go elsewhere. It seems small, but wrong hours are a bad experience people end up linking to your coffee.

So the hours go at the top, with an open now or opens at 8 badge that updates on its own, and holidays and closures set from your admin page. The same hours should be on your Google Business Profile, which is the first thing many people check.

A menu that makes people hungry

People read a cafe menu with their stomach. Real photos of what you serve (the breakfast sandwich, the croissant, the house banana bread, the flat white with its latte art) sell better than any description. Organize it the way customers think: coffee, breakfast, savory, sweet, and gluten-free or vegan if you have them.

If you serve specialty coffee, the website is where you can say what there's no time to explain at the counter: where this week's beans come from, which brew methods you offer and how they taste different. Coffee nerds appreciate it, and everyone else learns something.

What a coffee shop website needs

• Hours you can see right away, with an open now badge and holidays set.
• A menu with photos, editable from your phone, with sold-out items marked.
• Order ahead for pickup: choose, say when you'll stop by, and skip the line.
• Whole-bean or ground coffee to take home, ground for each brew method.
• What makes your place different: laptop-friendly or not, outlets, dogs welcome, patio seating.
• Location and directions, with a map.

Coffee to go, without the line

At 8 a.m., someone on the way to work doesn't want to wait. If they can order from their phone a few blocks away and walk in to a coffee that's ready, they'll be back tomorrow. It also helps you behind the bar during the rush: orders come in one by one, with a name and a pickup time.

You don't need an app for this. Customers order from your website in the browser. If you'd like to take orders without relying on delivery apps, I wrote about it in own online ordering for restaurants. And to bring people back every day, a digital punch card works well: more in loyalty app for coffee shops.

How we'd work together

I work on my own, remotely from Buenos Aires (UTC−3), with video calls and progress you can check through a link, in English or Spanish. We start with the essentials (hours, menu and map) and add ordering or coffee sales when it makes sense. I quote each project separately; you can see the rest of what I do on the services page.

Frequently asked questions