A bakery website that sells out before the doors open

The pages a bakery or café should have

If you have more than one shop or a market stall, give each location its own short page with hours and a photo. People looking for the nearest one should not have to work it out from a list of addresses.

A café website is read on a phone, usually by someone standing in the street deciding where to go. Make the home page show the shopfront, the opening hours, the address and a button for directions before anything else. Below that, show what is fresh today.

Then build four simple pages. A Menu page with prices, a Cakes and celebrations page, a Catering page for offices and events, and a Find us page with a map, parking notes and photos of the entrance. If you sell bread or pastries for collection, give that its own page with order cut-off times.

• Home with hours, map and today’s bakes
• Menu with prices
• Cakes for birthdays and weddings
• Office catering
• Find us and parking

What people check before they walk in

The first question is almost always “are you open now?”. Show hours at the top of the page, and note changes for bank holidays or school breaks. Next comes food that suits them: vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, halal. Be careful here. List allergens clearly where the law expects it, and say if you bake in a kitchen that handles nuts, wheat or dairy. Never promise “allergen-free” unless you can truly guarantee it.

Show real photos of your food, not generic pictures, with prices beside them. Mention whether dogs are welcome, whether there is step-free access and whether you take card payments. People with a pram or a wheelchair appreciate knowing before they arrive.

How people find a bakery or café online

Weekend and morning searches are the busiest, so check that the site loads quickly on mobile data. A café visitor who waits more than a few seconds will simply tap the next result on the map.

Most searches are local and immediate: “bakery near me”, “best brunch in Bristol”, “vegan birthday cake Manchester”, “café with outdoor seating Dubai Marina”. Assistants get questions like which place nearby does sourdough on a Sunday.

Use those phrases honestly. Say what you are known for in the first line, for example “sourdough bakery and coffee house in Hackney”. Name your neighbourhood on the home page. Write dish names and descriptions in plain words, and use short sentences for ingredients. Keep the menu as real text rather than a picture of a menu, so search engines and screen readers can read it. Save the PDF for printing only.

Custom cakes, sell-outs and seasons

Gift boxes, party platters and corporate breakfast orders are worth a mention too. They bring in larger orders than a single coffee, and a short page with sample sizes and pickup times makes them easy to request.

Cake orders are the most valuable enquiries a bakery gets, so treat them with care. Show a gallery of finished cakes with sizes and starting prices, then a short form asking for the date, number of guests, flavour and any allergies. Say how much notice you need. Mention a deposit if you take one.

Plan for seasons. Christmas, Eid, Easter, Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day each drive orders weeks ahead. Add a dated banner with the last order day. When bread sells out, update the page rather than leaving it to disappoint people at the door. A short “sold out today” note builds trust.