To a stranger,no website is a red flag. Websites for cafes,all in for £500
Photographs of the room and the food, then the hours, the menu and the phone number. Five pages, live in about a week, £500 fixed.
- £500once, fixed
- No contractnothing to cancel
- You own itsite and domain
For cafes
What a cafe website has to do
Built around the one decision your customer is actually making.
Choosing a cafe is a fast, visual decision made by someone who is already hungry and often already outside. They want to see the room, see the food, check you are open and check you do the thing they fancy. Four questions, answered in about eight seconds, or they walk to the next place.
That is why the demo below opens on photographs rather than a welcome message. The menu is readable on a phone without pinching, the hours sit near the top, and there is no PDF anywhere. A menu locked in a PDF is a menu nobody reads standing on a pavement.
- The room and the food, photographed. This is the whole decision. If your photos are phone snaps we will make the best of them, and we will tell you honestly which ones are worth retaking.
- A menu that reads on a phone. Proper text on the page, not a PDF and not a photo of a chalkboard. Google can read it, so can somebody outside in the rain.
- Hours, including the awkward ones. Last orders, kitchen closing, the day you shut, bank holidays. Getting this right prevents the review that starts "walked over specially".
- Dietary options, said plainly. Vegan, gluten free, dairy free. People search for these by name and they decide on them before they set off.
- Found on Google Maps. Your Google Business Profile set up or tidied, because for a cafe that listing does at least as much work as the website.
The example
A £500 site for a cafe, built out in full
All-day breakfast in Dennistoun. Photographs first, because that is the decision, then the hours, the menu and the phone number in that order.
The same £500 build, written for a different trade: joiners, barbers, electricians, plumbers.
Worth avoiding
What most cafe websites get wrong
None of these are hard to fix. They just have to be noticed first.
The menu as a PDF.
CommonIt downloads instead of opening, it is unreadable on a phone, and search engines largely ignore it. It is the single most common mistake on cafe sites.
Stock photos of coffee.
CommonEveryone recognises them, and they say the real place is not worth photographing. One honest picture of your actual counter beats ten perfect stock shots.
Hours only on Facebook.
CommonWhich means they are only right for people who use Facebook, and wrong for everyone who searched Google and got an old listing.
Compare the cost
Why £500 once beats "from £350"
Budget web packages advertise a low headline price, then tie you to a monthly direct debit for a year and a half. Here's how that actually adds up.
| Feature | Savvy Website | Typical pay-monthly package | DIY site builder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up front | £500 | from £299 | £0 |
| Monthly fees | None you have to pay | £20–£30 a month | £13–£25 a month |
| Minimum term | None | Often 12 to 18 months | Rolling, but forever |
| Cost over 3 years | £540 | around £1,200 | around £700, and rising |
| Who writes the words | We do | Usually you | You |
| Your own domain | Included, first year | Sometimes included | Paid extra |
| Who owns it | You, outright | Usually them | You rent it |
| If you stop paying | Nothing happens | Site comes down | Site comes down |
Our three year figure is £500 plus roughly £20 a year for domain renewal after the first year. One like-for-like note: pay-monthly totals usually include an email inbox and ours doesn't. Email is an optional add-on, priced on request. We do offer optional care plans from £24.99 a month if you'd rather we looked after the site. It is never required, there is no minimum term, and the three year figures above assume you don't take it. Even allowing for that, the gap doesn't close. Comparison figures are typical advertised UK prices for budget and DIY packages in 2026, and minimum terms are those the providers publish themselves. Always check what your own quote includes.
The only clause that matters
£500 fixed. We don't get half of it until you're happy.
£500, fixed. Half gets the build started; the other half is due only once you've approved the finished site. If we can't get it right, you don't pay it, and the site still transfers to you.
- You approve it before the balance is due. Not the other way round.
- We carry the risk. If we can't get it right, you don't pay the balance.
- It's yours outright. Site and domain, both in your name.
The arithmetic, in full
Fixed. That is the whole cost of your website, and there are no monthly fees to us, ever.
- Today, to start the build
- £250
- Once you've approved it
- £250
- Monthly fees, either way
- None
Card, Apple Pay or Klarna, handled by Stripe. If you would rather get a price first, start there instead.
We don't get that second £250 until you tell us the site is right. If we can't get it right, you don't pay it, and the site still transfers to you.
After you're live · optional
Never want to think about this again?
Once your site is live it is yours. It keeps working whether you pay us another penny or not, and most owners simply renew the domain each year. If you would rather hand the upkeep over, there are two plans. Both are optional, month to month, and neither is mentioned on the call.
- Care plan, £24.99 a month. Hosting, domain, backups, three changes a month and a traffic report. For a site that is live and just needs looking after.
- Success plan, £99 a month. All of that, plus changes as you go, Michael directly rather than a ticket, and half an hour on the phone each month.
- Neither is required. The £500 does not depend on it, and we only raise it near the end of a build if we think it would genuinely help.
The bit that matters
You can take the site and never hear from us again.
Cancel any time, and the site stays yours. It does not come down, it does not get locked, and we hand over every login.
That is not how most monthly website deals work. The usual arrangement is a small setup fee, a direct debit, a minimum term of a year or more, and a site that stops being yours the moment you stop paying. Which is exactly why this is written here rather than buried in terms.
How it works
Four steps, and you're only ever committed to the one you're on
See a free preview
We show you a preview of what your site could look like before you spend a penny. If it's not for you, that's the end of it. No hard feelings.
Start the build
Like the direction? The first half, £250, gets the build under way. We have a quick call about your business so we can write your pages properly.
Site goes live
Your site goes live at your own address about a week after our call. You get up to two rounds of changes to get it just right.
Approve it, or walk away
Approve it and the last £250 completes the £500. If we've not got it right, you don't pay it. The deposit covers the work done and the site is still yours.
Where we work
Cafes across Glasgow, Edinburgh and central Scotland
We're one person on Glasgow's Southside, and the price is the same wherever you are.
Web design in Paisley
RenfrewshireThe biggest town in Scotland, with a proper high street to compete on.
Web design in East Kilbride
South LanarkshireScotland's first new town, with an older village still standing at the heart of it.
Web design in Hamilton
South LanarkshireSouth Lanarkshire's county town, built around Quarry Street and the Mausoleum.
Web design in Clydebank
West DunbartonshireShipyard town turned shopping town, from Kilbowie Road out to Faifley.
Web design in Bearsden
East DunbartonshireA Roman bath house at one end, Bearsden Cross and the shops at the other.
Web design in Motherwell
North LanarkshireA steel town with Strathclyde Park at one end and the Dalzell woods at the other.
Get a quote
Tell us what you do. We'll send back a price and a plan.
Two fields is enough to start. You'll have your price within one working day, and a free one-page plan for your cafe business alongside it. If the job's bigger than the £500 build, we'll tell you straight and quote it properly.
- A free plan comes with it. One page: where you come up on Google for what you do, who is above you, and the three things costing you calls. Yours to keep, whether you use us or not.
- We reply within one working day. Usually much sooner.
- No obligation, and no chasing. If it's not for you, that's the end of it.
- Rather just talk? Call or text Michael directly on 07508 750017, or message on WhatsApp.
If we emailed you first, the easiest thing is simply to hit reply.
Questions
What cafes ask before getting a website made
My menu changes every week. Won't the site be out of date?
We build the menu so the fixed parts are on the page and the things that change weekly are described rather than listed, or we set up a single spot you can point people at. If you would rather we made the changes, the care plan at £24.99 a month covers three a month. Plenty of places also just keep the specials on Instagram and link to it.
Do I need online ordering?
Usually not, and it is not part of the £500. Most small cafes get more from a fast site, a correct Google listing and a phone number than from a checkout. If you are doing real delivery volume that is a different build and we will quote it properly rather than pretend the £500 covers it.
I've got hardly any decent photos. What then?
Send what you have. We crop, straighten and colour-correct them, and we will tell you plainly which two or three are worth retaking on a bright morning before the place opens. Twenty minutes with a phone by a window usually fixes it.
What does the £500 actually cover?
Five pages, every word written for you from one 20 minute phone call, your own domain for the first year, hosting, the security certificate, backups and the Google setup. Half up front, half only once you have approved it. There is no contract and no monthly fee you have to pay. The full breakdown is here.
How long does it take?
About a week from our phone call to going live, with up to two rounds of changes after that to get it right. More questions answered here.