Chapter 6: Best Restaurant Themes
Posted on December 13, 2023 | Updated on February 21, 2024
The profit margins for most restaurants are razor thin. Your online presence can bring in the extra business you need to find success in a competitive market. It all starts with choosing the best restaurant theme for your WordPress website. The catch? You are trying to run your restaurant and don’t have time to hunt for themes.
Good news! We’ve done the research for you and come up with five of the best themes we could find.
The National Restaurant Association estimates sales will hit $997 billion by the end of 2023. At first glance, that sounds lucrative. The reality is that competition is fierce, customers are fickle and food costs keep rising. Marketing and finding your niche target audience is crucial if you want to stay in the game long term.
Finding the right branding and restaurant theme for your website may make the difference in who comes to your establishment versus one up the road. Some experts believe customers have to see and interact with a brand around 15 times before the person takes action. Anything you can do to increase the impact may improve your statistics.
What to Look for in Restaurant Themes
Restaurant themes have to take into account the type of food and dining experience. An elegant steak house may need a different look and features than a takeout diner. Still, there are some things nearly any restaurant will benefit from when it comes to WordPress themes.
- Location information
- Contact info
- Big images showcasing food
- Ability to add on features such as online ordering
- Collect emails to send them special offers
- Uncluttered design where the focus is on the food
Consider how you’d like to present your menu. You may want to upload a PDF file but then those without a PDF reader won’t be able to access it. You could just list items and descriptions. Breaking things into categories and adding images throughout can also create a truly engaging experience that makes people’s mouths water.
Once you have an idea what you’d like to accomplish with your restaurant themed website, consider these five options below, including our top choice that will work for nearly any size or type of establishment.
Our Favorite Restaurant Themes
We spent hours pouring over potential ideas for restaurant themes we felt would work for most brands. With that in mind, we narrowed the choices to elegant, fun, functional and useful. We also looked for themes with a free component but where you could upgrade and get some professional features later.
Goldy Restaurant
Goldy Restaurant is a child theme of Goldy Mex. It features a large hero image across the top with a jagged edge along the bottom to set the graphic off from the body of the design. We like the way the menu is laid out to show the different categories, small image, description and price all in one location. Users can make a quick decision before arriving to see what they can afford or what sounds delicious.
We were impressed with the flexibility of the free design to meet the needs of most restaurants. The pro version adds features such as multiple sliders, multiple sections, longer excerpt length and custom footer.
Restaurant Food Delivery
Restaurant Food Delivery is an excellent option for establishments offering delivery services or carryout as the main part of their business structure. The grid layout features boxes with rounded edges, big bold photographs and a rating system so customers can review their favorite dishes.
The WordPress restaurant theme is compatible with Elementor, Contact Form 7, WooCommerce and Mailchimp. Upgrade to the Premium theme for under $50 and gain translation ready themes and customizable options to make the theme truly your own.
Best Restaurant
Cool Themes brings Best Restaurant WordPress theme–a child theme of Thea. We love the elegant look of this theme and it would work well for any upscale restaurant. Notice the fancy line under the heading “Discover Our Story” and the script writing to add some interest.
The large hero image at the top of the page lets users customize the design. The menu is transparent and sits in the upper right corner and the reservation button is also seen through. The entire look is upscale.
Restaurant and Cafe
Restaurant and Cafe theme features big, beautiful food images, a parallax effect and responsive design. It is WooCommerce compatible for adding those online ordering features and comes with a reservation form.
You can upgrade to the pro version for $59 or a one-time, lifetime support fee of $149. With the upgrade, you’ll get additional homepage sections, more header designs, custom pages, Google Map and Menu layout.
Our Winner: Unique Restaurant
Unique Restaurant is our choice for the best of restaurant themes for your WordPress site. We love the pop of red, a traditional choice for restaurant branding. The slider at the top gives you a chance to feature new dishes or specials and the boxes below give you a chance to dive into why the chef created a particular dish or how local farmers play into your establishment.
Some of the best features of this theme include:
- Search engine optimization
- Mobile responsiveness
- Online reservation system
- Customizable
If you upgrade to the Premium version of Unique Restaurant theme, you gain additional template pages, shortcodes and priority support for $49. However, the theme is frequently on sale for a bit less.
We love how easy the theme is to customize and the ways restaurants can make it their own, making this one suitable for high-end as well as fast food and everything in between.
Finding the Best Restaurant Theme for You
Selecting a theme that shows people the vibe of your restaurant may be more about the customizations you choose than anything. Each of the options above allow you to swap in your own photographs and change color options to make the design unique. Stand out in your area with any of these designs.
Web Design Themes
Chapter 1: Cosmetology Themes
Chapter 2: Small Business Themes
Chapter 3: Day Care Themes
Chapter 4: Pet Grooming Themes
Chapter 5: Real Estate Themes
Chapter 6: Restaurant Themes
Chapter 7: Wedding Themes
Chapter 8: Teacher Themes
Chapter 9: Events Themes
Chapter 10: Manufacturing Themes
Chapter 11: Flower Shop Themes
Chapter 12: Portfolio Themes
Chapter 13: Photographer Themes
Chapter 14: E-Commerce Themes
About The Author
Eleanor Hecks is the Editor-in-Chief of Designerly Magazine, an online publication dedicated to providing in-depth content from the design and marketing industries. When she's not designing or writing code, you can find her exploring the outdoors with her husband and dog in their RV, burning calories at a local Zumba class, or curled up with a good book with her cats Gem and Cali.
You can find more of Eleanor's work at www.eleanorhecks.com.
