Hospitality
Websites & marketing for restaurants and cafes
There are 61,910 restaurants and cafes registered in the UK, and the number has risen 13.6% since 2021. Here is how they win customers online, and what a restaurant’s website needs to do.
Diners decide in moments. They look at the menu, the photos, the location and the most recent reviews, and often book or order directly from their phone. If your own site makes that hard, they will use a listing site or go somewhere else.
A restaurant or cafe website should do four things well: show the food, show when and where, make booking or ordering effortless and keep the details up to date.
The UK market for restaurants and cafes
The number grew 13.6% between 2021 and 2026, well ahead of the +0.8% for UK businesses overall, so more firms are competing for the same customers.
68% of them have fewer than 10 employees, 10% are sole proprietors and 85% are limited companies. Most are small operations, so a clear, quick website is a genuine way to stand out from competitors who have not looked after theirs. The ten areas with the most firms hold about 34% of the UK total.
Where restaurants and cafes are concentrated
| Area | Firms | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| London | 14,145 | 15.5 |
| Birmingham | 1,015 | 8.6 |
| Glasgow | 860 | 13.1 |
| Edinburgh | 850 | 16.0 |
| Cornwall | 785 | 13.4 |
| Manchester | 730 | 12.4 |
| North Yorkshire | 730 | 11.4 |
| Leeds | 705 | 8.4 |
| Bristol | 565 | 11.4 |
| Liverpool | 560 | 11.0 |
Most firms per 10,000 residents
| Area | Per 10,000 residents | Firms |
|---|---|---|
| Derbyshire Dales | 19.4 | 140 |
| Brighton and Hove | 18.3 | 520 |
| Gwynedd | 17.5 | 210 |
| Argyll and Bute | 17.2 | 150 |
| Thanet | 16.4 | 235 |
| Edinburgh | 16.0 | 850 |
Source: ONS UK Business Counts 2026 (enterprises), SIC 56101 + 56102: Licensed restaurants; Unlicensed restaurants and cafes, and mid-2025 population estimates, via Nomis. Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts are rounded by ONS and cover VAT- and/or PAYE-registered businesses only. London is the 33 boroughs combined; areas under 60,000 residents, and areas with very few firms, are left out of the density table.
What a restaurant’s website needs to do
- Your menu on a page of its own, up to date and easy to read on a phone, not a PDF to download
- Opening hours, location, parking and how to find you
- Online booking, or a clear way to reserve, and ordering or takeaway information if you offer it
- Real photos of the food and the room
- Dietary and allergen information, or clear instructions on how customers can get it
- Information on events, private hire and gift vouchers, if you offer them
Mistakes we see
- A menu that is only a PDF or an image
- Opening hours that differ between your website, Google and social media
- No online booking
- Photos that do not match the food customers receive
How we would approach it
- Bespoke web design. Menu, hours and booking on a fast, clear mobile site.
- Meta and Google ads. Instagram and Facebook ads fill quieter days and promote new menus and events.
- Email automation. Offers and event announcements bring regulars back (with their consent).
Guides that help
- How to Get More Google Reviews (Without Breaking the Rules)
- Meta Ads for UK Businesses: A Beginner's Guide for UK Brands
- Do I Need a Website If I Have Social Media? An Honest Answer
Find your area
See the business picture where you work: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol, Sheffield, or browse all areas.
Questions from restaurants and cafes
What should a restaurant website include?
The menu, opening hours, location, online booking, real photos, dietary information and details of events or private hire.
How do restaurants and cafes get more bookings online?
By making the menu, hours and booking easy to find on a phone, keeping Google details accurate and building a steady flow of reviews.
Should a menu be a PDF?
It is better as a normal web page. PDFs are slow, hard to read on a phone and harder for search engines to understand.
How many restaurants and cafes are there in the UK?
ONS counts 61,910 restaurants and cafes registered for VAT and/or PAYE in the UK for 2026. That figure excludes firms below the VAT threshold that are not registered for PAYE, so the real number is higher.
Where are most restaurants and cafes based?
By number of firms, the biggest concentrations are in London, Birmingham and Glasgow. Per 10,000 residents, Derbyshire Dales, Brighton and Hove and Gwynedd come out highest.
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