WordPress compared
WordPress or a managed restaurant website: who is doing the maintenance?
WordPress is not the problem. Unowned WordPress is. It will build any restaurant site you can describe, and it will also quietly accumulate plugin updates, a security surface, a slowing homepage and a menu page nobody has opened since the last owner change. The question is not which tool is better in the abstract, it is who in your restaurant is responsible for the software on the night it breaks.
The ownership question, asked plainly
On a WordPress site somebody has to apply core and plugin updates, watch for a conflict that takes the menu page down, renew the SSL certificate and the hosting, keep backups, and fix the layout that breaks when a theme updates. In a restaurant, that person is usually nobody, or a developer you call when something is already broken. Our plans move that entire column onto us for a fixed monthly fee, and nobody at your restaurant holds a login to the website at all.
Plugins are how a fast site becomes a slow one
Most WordPress restaurant sites start fine and get heavier: a slider, a reservation plugin, a gallery, a cookie banner, an analytics tag, a page builder. Each one ships its own code to the browser. We build every page directly instead, with close to no client-side script, so the menu page opens fast on a phone in a parking lot and is held to the PageSpeed target in your plan rather than drifting down over a year.
Your menu is content, not a PDF upload
The single most common WordPress restaurant setup is a page with a link to a PDF. A PDF is invisible to a guest deciding on their phone and close to invisible to a search engine. We rebuild the menu as structured text: sections in reading order, prices aligned, a consistent place for the dietary marks you define, availability by daypart, and the ordering link beside the dishes that prompt it.
Moving off WordPress without losing what you built
If WordPress has been working for years, you have earned rankings and links that are worth protecting. We review the existing site first, migrate the content worth keeping rather than rewriting it, and redirect every old page address to its new equivalent so bookmarks and search results land in the right place. That is the whole point of a migration done properly, and we have a page about exactly how it works.
Side by side for a restaurant
Read the middle column as what a plan here covers, and the right column as what the alternative asks of you. Where an answer depends on how the other option is set up, it says so rather than guessing.
| What you are comparing | GetRestaurantWebsite | WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| Who applies updates and patches | We do, and you never see them | You, your developer, or nobody |
| Plugins | None. Functionality is built into the pages | How most features get added |
| Speed over time | Held to the plan PageSpeed target on every page | Tends to fall as plugins and media accumulate |
| Menu page | Structured text with sections, prices, dietary marks and dayparts | Whatever the theme or a menu plugin provides |
| SEO control | Titles, headings, canonicals, sitemaps and links designed per page | Excellent, through plugins you configure |
| Schema and JSON-LD | Generated from site data on every page | Plugin-dependent and easy to leave half configured |
| AI answers and citation | llms.txt, entity consistency, answer-first copy | Possible, if someone does the work |
| Security | Managed hosting with SSL, CDN and DDoS protection | Your responsibility, and a common target |
| Backups | Handled on our side | A plugin or a host feature you must verify |
| Who makes weekly changes | We do, five revisions a month included | You, in the dashboard |
| Content | Researched articles every week on your plan | You write or commission them |
| Cost model | One monthly fee, build fee invoiced after launch | Hosting, plugins, theme, developer time, separately |
| Ownership | Domain in your name, content yours, free transfer out | Fully yours, including the maintenance |
Which one fits your restaurant?
When WordPress is the better choice
- You have a developer on retainer who already knows and likes the site.
- You need something unusual, such as a bespoke gift-card shop or a ticketing flow, built directly into the site.
- Someone in your business genuinely enjoys running it and has the time.
- You want full control of the stack and accept the upkeep that comes with it.
When a managed site wins
- The site is out of date and nobody knows the plugin passwords.
- You want a fixed monthly cost instead of a developer invoice every time a price changes.
- Your menu changes often and you want it live the same week.
- You want the menu readable and indexable rather than locked in a PDF.
How a move off WordPress actually runs
We audit the current site for pages that rank and content worth keeping, rebuild those pages, set up a redirect from every old address to its new equivalent, point the domain when you approve the build, and invoice the one-time build fee only after the site is live. Your old site stays up until the new one is signed off, so there is no window where guests cannot find you.
Talk it through on a demoWhat a restaurant owner noticed after the switch
The tap list finally matches what is actually pouring. Updating it takes about as long as writing an email, and I am not the one publishing it.
Grant NakashimaBeverage director, brewpub, Asheville, North CarolinaA tap list that matches the taps
Illustrative examples written to show the kind of outcome clients report, not verified customer reviews. Verified reviews, with permission, replace them as they come in.
Questions about WordPress
Is WordPress bad for restaurant websites?
No. It is capable and widely used, and plenty of excellent restaurant sites run on it. The problem is unmaintained WordPress, which is the state most restaurant sites end up in a year after launch, because updates, security and content changes all need an owner and a busy kitchen rarely has one.
Will I lose my search rankings if I move off WordPress?
We aim not to. Every old page address that works today gets a redirect to its closest equivalent on the new site, and the content that earns those rankings is migrated rather than rewritten from scratch.
Can you keep my current design?
Yes, if you want it kept. We can carry your colours, logo and photography across, or rework the layout around the menu and reservation flow. Either way you see and approve the build before it goes live.
Do I keep my domain?
Yes. Your domain stays registered in your name, and if you ever leave us we transfer it at no charge. We only point it at the new site once you approve the build.
What about my WordPress plugins for reservations or ordering?
We link or embed the platforms you already use rather than replacing them, so the reservation system and the ordering platform your point-of-sale connects to keep working exactly as they do now.
Who updates the site after the move?
We do. You send changes through your client portal and we publish them, five revisions a month included with no size limit, each completed within the standard turnaround.
Is a custom coded site harder to hand to another developer later?
You own the content and the domain outright, and any web developer can work from either. We will export what you need and point the domain wherever you ask, without a retention conversation.
Can I keep the blog posts I already published?
Yes. Posts worth keeping are migrated with their content and given redirects from their old addresses, and new researched articles publish on top of them every week on your plan.
See the site you would get instead
A live walk-through for your kind of restaurant, about 30 minutes, on your screen. Plans from $117 a month, the $647 build fee invoiced only after launch, domain and hosting included.
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