Four steps,
in order, on purpose.
Most restaurant owners arrive at this library asking the wrong question first. This path puts the questions in the order that actually helps. Read what you've got time for; come back for the rest.
The five steps
-
~ 12 min · article
Understand the landscape.
Before you decide anything about your own site, get oriented on what a custom restaurant site actually costs, what a templated one quietly costs you, and where the four real options sit on the price/value curve. This is the post that makes the rest of the library make sense.
Why first: every other decision hinges on knowing the budget shape and the tradeoffs. Skip this and you're guessing.
Read the cost breakdown -
~ 30 sec · interactive tool
Audit your own site.
Drop your URL into the free Restaurant Website Audit. It runs a real mobile Lighthouse scan plus eleven restaurant-specific checks — menu readability, reservation flow, hours visibility, schema, and the things most generic SEO tools don't even look for. About thirty seconds, no signup.
Why second: abstract advice doesn't change behavior. Seeing your own site graded does. Most owners discover at least three leaks in the first run.
Run the audit -
~ 10 min · reference
Learn the vocabulary.
Your audit just used words like schema, Core Web Vitals, and mobile-first indexing. The glossary translates every one in plain English, with a "why it matters" line that connects each term back to a real restaurant decision. Skim it once; come back when a term shows up in the wild.
Why third: you don't need to memorize the vocabulary, but you do need to recognize it the next time someone tries to sell you something. The glossary makes you immune to nonsense.
If you read nothing else, read these ten:
- One-sentence pitch — the sub-head under your name
- Hours visibility — today's hours, no scrolling
- Click-to-call — one tap, one ring
- HTML menu — not a PDF, not an image
- Call to action — the "do this next" button
- Reservation link — one-tap booking, in your team's system
- Google Business Profile — the panel that drives most discovery
- NAP consistency — name, address, phone — everywhere the same
- Core Web Vitals — Google's three speed scores
- Social proof — reviews, press, star ratings on the homepage
-
~ 10 min · article
Close the biggest leak.
The reservation funnel is where most independent restaurants quietly lose between a quarter and a half of their intent-driven mobile traffic — every single night. This article maps the six most common leak points, gives you a thirty-second test for each, and tells you exactly how to plug them.
Why fourth: by now you've got context, you've audited, you know the vocabulary. This is the post that turns all of it into a thing you can actually do tomorrow morning.
Read the funnel post -
~ 12 hours · self-paced course
Build the site.
When the tour ends, the course begins. Open the Doors is a free 16-lesson path from "I need a website" through every decision to a deployed, downloadable restaurant site. Bilingual EN+ES. No account needed. Two tracks: opening soon (fresh) or rebuilding (existing site).
Why last: the four tour steps before this teach you what to look for, what to measure, what to call things, and what to fix. The course is where you actually build the thing — at your own pace, with your own restaurant as the working example.
Open the Doors bootcamp
You've got
three honest options.
Most owners land in one of three places after the four-step tour. None of them is wrong; only one is right for you this quarter. (And the fifth step — the bootcamp — is open whenever you want it.)
Browse the rest of the library.
If you found a leak you can fix yourself, head back to the library for the deeper articles, more tools, and the checklist.
Back to the library → Take it offlineDownload the checklist.
Twenty-three checks you can run on your own site in under an hour. Hand it to your team or your current agency.
Get the checklist → Bring it to meEmail Don.
If the audit surfaced more leaks than you want to take on, walk through them with me. Twenty minutes, no obligation, same honest answer.
Book the call →Ready to build something
worth the time?
If you've done a tour like this before and you know what kind of partner you're looking for, the Services page lays out exactly what I do, what it costs, and how long it takes. No tour required.