Short answer: a restaurant website on Nantucket needs to answer four questions instantly on a phone: are you open right now, what is on the menu, can I get a table, and where are you. Everything else, including the chef's story and the wine list philosophy, comes after. Most island restaurant sites fail at least two of the four, and the usual culprits are PDF menus and hours that are wrong on Google.

I have designed campaigns and materials for Cisco Brewers and Triple Eight Distillery for years, and I have watched summer crowds decide where to eat in real time. This is what actually matters.

The menu problem

PDF menus are the single most common mistake on restaurant websites, and they are especially bad on Nantucket where a large share of your visitors are on a phone with weak signal.

A PDF forces someone to download a file, wait, then pinch and zoom to read it. Google cannot read PDF menus reliably either, so searches like "lobster roll Nantucket" never find you. And every time you change a price, someone has to re-export the file.

Put the menu on the page as text. Sections, dish names, short descriptions, prices. It loads instantly, it reads on any phone, it shows up in search, and updating a price takes ten seconds. If you change the menu daily, a simple "tonight's menu" page you can edit from a phone is worth more than any design flourish on the site.

Hours in three places

Your hours live in three places: your website, your Google Business Profile, and your Instagram bio. If they disagree, the customer believes Google and you get a one-star review about driving out to 'Sconset for nothing.

The fix is a habit, not a feature. When hours change, update Google first, then the site, then Instagram. For seasonal closures, use Google's special hours rather than marking the business closed. I wrote a step-by-step guide to Google Business Profile for seasonal businesses that covers the details.

On the site itself, put the hours in the header or footer of every page, not buried on a contact page. The person checking is usually already in the car.

Reservations and waitlists

Do not build a custom reservation system. Use the platform your front of house already runs, whether that is Resy, OpenTable, or Tock, and link to it from a button that is visible without scrolling on a phone.

The button text matters. "Reserve a table" beats "Reservations". If you do not take reservations, say so plainly and tell people how the wait works. A line like "Walk-ins only. Add your name to the list from 5pm" prevents a dozen phone calls a night.

For takeout, the same rule applies. Link to whatever ordering system you use. If you do not do takeout, say that too.

Photography that sells the plate

Food photography is where restaurants either look like themselves or look like a stock photo. Visitors can tell. A real photo of your actual clam chowder in your actual bowl on your actual deck at golden hour will outperform a licensed image of a generic chowder every single time.

You do not need a huge shoot. A half day during the shoulder season, when the light is good and the kitchen has time, produces enough images for the site, Google, Instagram, and the menu boards. I shoot product and brand photography for island businesses, and it is almost always the highest-return part of the project. See why island businesses cannot fake their imagery.

Pages you actually need

  • Home. Hours, address, reserve button, three great photos, and one sentence about who you are.
  • Menu. As text. Split into lunch, dinner, drinks, and specials if you have them.
  • Reservations or ordering. A page that explains how it works and links out.
  • About. Short. Who cooks, who owns, how long you have been on the island.
  • Private events. If you do them, this page pays for the site. Wedding rehearsal dinners and corporate summer outings are searched for months ahead.
  • Contact and directions. A map, parking notes, and whether you are walkable from the ferry.

What to skip

Autoplay background video, splash pages, a music player, a photo carousel that hides your hours behind ten seconds of animation. Anything that delays the four questions.

Getting it built

Restaurant sites are one of my favorite projects because the results are so visible. If your site has a PDF menu and wrong hours, we can fix that in a week. If you want the full build with photography before next season, the off-season timeline explains how to schedule it. Either way, reach out and tell me about the restaurant.