What a bakery website needs: pages, words and photos

A bakery website needs a few pages that answer what customers ask at the counter: when are you open, what do you bake, how do I order something special, and where do I park. Home, menu, custom orders, about and a contact page with hours and directions cover nearly every bakery. Your own photos of your own bakes do more for the site than any design.

What customers come to check

A bakery's visitors usually fall into two groups.

The walk-in customer wants to know if you are open now, what is in the case today, whether you have gluten-free or vegan options, and whether there is parking. They are often on their phone in the car.

The special-order customer is planning ahead: a birthday cake, a dozen decorated cookies for a baby shower, pies for Thanksgiving, a wedding cake. They want to see examples, know how far ahead to order and roughly what it costs.

Both should find their answer from the top of the home page in one tap.

The pages to have

Home. What kind of bakery you are, where, today's hours, and buttons for "What we bake" and "Order a cake".
Menu or What we bake. Your regular items, by category, as text.
Custom orders. Cakes, cookies, pastries for events, with how to order.
About. Who bakes, and the story of the place.
Visit or Contact. Address, hours, parking, phone, email.

Optional pages that earn their place: wedding cakes, if you do enough of them; holiday pre-orders, published each season; wholesale for cafés and restaurants; classes, if you run them. The order process for custom cakes and how to show a daily menu are covered in bakery websites: custom cake orders and daily menus.

The opening line and hours

Many bakery sites open with a lovely photo and the word "Welcome". A first-time visitor still does not know if you are a French patisserie, a donut shop or a wedding-cake studio. Write it:

"Scratch-made breads, pastries and celebration cakes in downtown Fairhope."
"A small family bakery in Lansdale: kolaches, pies and custom cookies, open Wednesday to Sunday."
"Gluten-free bakery in Mesa. Everything we make is gluten-free, baked in a dedicated kitchen."

Right below, show today's hours and add the days you are closed. Many bakeries close early or are shut Monday and Tuesday, and a customer who drives over to a locked door does not come back easily. If you close when you sell out, say so: "Open 7 am until 2 pm or until we sell out."

Photos that make people hungry

Bakery photos sell more than almost any other trade's. Take them yourself in the morning, when the case is full and the light is good:

The full case first thing in the morning
Close-ups of your signature items, cut open where it matters (a croissant's layers, a cake slice)
Custom cakes and cookies you have made, as a small gallery
The shop from the street, so people recognize the front
The bakers at work, hands in dough, which tells customers it is all made there

Daylight from a window beats overhead fluorescent light. Keep the background simple. Do not use stock photos of cakes you did not make; customers who order "that one" will be disappointed. If you want help with framing and light, see how to take good photos for your website with a phone.

The about page

A bakery is personal. A short about page with a photo of the baker and a few true lines is enough: who started it, what you bake and why, and something that makes you yours ("Grandma Rosa's sourdough starter has been going since 1987"). If you bake everything from scratch on site, say it plainly.

What to leave off

A menu from a year ago, with items you no longer make
A photo of your menu board as the only menu
Holiday pre-order pages left up after the holiday
Long blocks of text about baking philosophy before the hours
Price lists you have not updated since your flour costs went up

The contact path: call, order, find you

Many bakery orders still start with a phone call. Make it easy:

Your phone number at the top of every page, as a link that dials when tapped
When someone answers: "Call during open hours; we're elbow-deep in dough before 7 am"
An email address or a short form for custom orders, separate from general questions
Your address as a map link, with a note on parking: "Free parking behind the building, entrance on Elm St"

What to do this week

Rewrite the home page opening line: what you bake and where.
Put today's hours and closed days right under it.
Take morning photos of the full case and three signature items.
Type the regular menu as text, by category.
Take down any holiday or seasonal page that has passed.
Tap your phone number on your own phone and check it dials.

If your bakery's site is out of date or awkward on a phone, you can see your site rebuilt first with your own photos and menu, then decide whether to keep it.