How to Write a Restaurant Description: Creating an About Page that Sells

Creating a restaurant description is like crafting your elevator pitch. It’s your moment to show quickly how your food and brand stand out.

You’ve only got seconds to grab attention on your website, delivery apps, or your Google Business Profile. Clear communication connects your menu with the right customers with no confusion. 

And once you perfect your description, it’s much easier to write longer pages like your “About” page.

A good description highlights the food you serve, the atmosphere, the location, and the dining experience. These are simple things to list, but they can be hard to describe—especially in a way that appeals to guests.

If you need help crafting your own restaurant description, I’ve got you covered. I’ll guide you through simple ways to create a description that draws more customers in.

Before we start, let's go over some important words to know. These terms are all related, but each one means something a little different.

What should be in a restaurant description? 

At Owner.com, we’ve seen firsthand that a strong restaurant description helps you write better copy. And that helps boost conversions. What you include in your description on your homepage and Google Business Profile will depend on your unique restaurant. 

Of course, the details might vary depending on where you’re sharing it—like social media, where you’ll need to keep it shorter—but certain key elements consistently make an impact.

Here are the essential elements I’ve found most effective in drawing in customers:

• Cuisine: Highlight your signature dishes and what makes your food stand out. This is your chance to showcase your unique offerings and tempt people to visit.
• Atmosphere: Describe your vibe and ambiance. Are you cozy and intimate or lively and casual? Customers want to know what kind of experience to expect.
• Location: Make it easy for people to find you. This is crucial! An incorrect address or outdated hours of operation will drive customers away faster than anything else.
• Dining experience: Set clear expectations for the kind of service and overall experience customers will have. Whether you offer upscale dining or a laid-back feel, this gives them a sense of what’s in store.
• Your background: Share your story—what makes you unique. While this is often better suited for your “About Page,” a brief mention here can still give customers a connection to your brand and why you’re different.

By including these elements, you can create a description that captures attention and helps convert that interest into actual visits.

Steps to create your description 

Your restaurant description isn’t something you write once and forget about—it’s important to keep it updated as your business evolves and is something that the best restaurant websites feature. A well-crafted, up-to-date description is key to attracting new customers and converting their interest into visits.

Below are the steps I recommend to help you create a powerful description that showcases what makes your restaurant special and draws people in:

1. Create a clear picture of your ideal customer

First, you’ll want to decide who your ideal customers are—those who would most likely be regulars at your restaurant. You can help sort this out by taking a look at these different factors: 

• Demographics: Age, income, family size, occupation
• Psychographics: Lifestyle, values, interests, preferences
• Behavior: Dining habits, occasions, food preferences

An example persona details your target customer’s needs, habits and communication preferences so you can effectively reach them with marketing.

The owners over at Talkin’ Tacos do this perfectly and center themselves well in Miami’s vibrant scene. Surrounded by young, energetic crowds, they’ve nailed the vibe with their bold colors, cool artwork and trendy tacos.

Example: Let’s say you’re an Italian restaurant called Bella Cucina. You observe that the customers who most often visit you are families, with adults who are primarily 30 to 50 years old. They are middle to upper-class and are busy and family-focused, so they value time together and love kid-friendly options. They also want good value for money and dine regularly.

Now, I’ll show how you can apply these observations to find your menu-market fit. 

2. Identify your menu-market fit 

After you get a good sense of who your ideal customer is, you’ll then want to take a step further by identifying your menu-market fit—what makes you unique and stand out from other restaurants on the block. These unique factors could be things like: 

• Special, larger or premium dishes 
• Better prices and deals 
• Offering online ordering in addition to in-person dining 

Example: Let’s continue with the Bella Cucina example. Based on your observations, your ideal customers are families who value convenience and quality time together. To highlight your menu-market fit in your restaurant description, you could showcase your focus on offering affordable, family-sized pasta dishes or pizza specials that are perfect for sharing. 

You would also want to highlight that you offer online ordering and delivery options, making it convenient for busy families to enjoy your food at home. 

I explain this more in my post about creating a restaurant marketing plan, but here’s the gist: By understanding your menu market fit, you can create a compelling description that resonates with your customers.

3. Write the core version of your restaurant description 

Now that you have a clear picture of your ideal customer and have identified your menu-market fit, it's time to craft the core version of your restaurant description. Here, you’ll also want to incorporate keywords related to your restaurant that customers are going to type into Google. Having these keywords on places like your website really helps with SEO and gets your site ranking higher in search results. 

I like to recommend specific keywords like “best [CUISINE/MENU ITEM] in [CITY].” 

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So, with that in mind, I’ve created an example of how everything comes together from the example we’ve been using:

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This is essentially a quick sentence that can act as a slogan for your homepage. See how our friends at Arubaya Fried Chicken do this too in a catchy way—notice how they also include an “order online” button right underneath to drive more customers to order: 

When it comes to writing restaurant descriptions, I’ve found that less is often more. Here are some of my pro tips if you want to make sure your restaurant description is as strong as possible:

• Keep it clear and concise so your message shines through. 
• Avoid jargon and overly fancy words—just focus on what makes your restaurant special.
• Highlight the atmosphere, the kind of dining experience you offer and what sets you apart. 

By keeping your restaurant description to the point and simple, you'll catch people's attention and make it easy for them to want to choose you as the spot they order from. 

4. Add assets and visuals to complement your copy 

Once you’ve nailed your restaurant description, the next step is to bring it to life with visuals. I always recommend including high-quality photos and videos that show off your mouth-watering dishes, inviting atmosphere and friendly staff. These assets help potential customers get a true feel for what your restaurant is all about.

Make sure your photos capture the essence of your food—from close-ups of your signature dishes to group shots of families enjoying meals together. 

Why Not Pizza does a great job of showcasing tasty-looking photos of their popular menu items alongside their description.

Including video content can also be a great way to give a virtual tour of your space or showcase your team in action, making your restaurant feel familiar before they even step inside. 

You can add images to your restaurant description that live on the About page on your website, your Google Business Profile and your Yelp page. 

Fit your description to your most important channels  

Now that you’ve got your restaurant description, where should you put it? The simple answer is the more places, the better. 

But I’m here to help you tailor that description to fit the key platforms that are most important to you and where you see most of your customers coming from. This could be your About Page, Google Business Profile, Yelp, third-party apps, or your website. 

Each of these channels requires a slightly different approach, so let’s dive into how to customize your description to suit them perfectly, starting with your About page.

About page 

Your website’s About page is where you can tell your full story—it’s the more built-out version of the core restaurant description we wrote above.

Here, you have more space to expand on your history, mission and what makes your restaurant special—it’s your chance to really connect with customers on a more personal level. Let’s break it down. Your About page could include elements like your: 

• Restaurant's history and mission: Tell customers what inspired you to open your restaurant and what sets you apart. This could be things like showcasing causes you support or if you’re sustainable and eco-friendly. 
• Team: Introduce your staff and their expertise to build trust and credibility.
• Your values: Emphasize sustainability, community involvement or other core values to resonate with your target audience.
• Imagery: Adding images of your food is a no-brainer, but if you talk about your restaurant’s history, consider adding a blast from the past and feature the founders, or a photo of an old, original location. 
• Call to action (CTA): I would also recommend you encourage visitors to explore your menu, make a reservation or sign up for your email list on your About page. You can do this in the form of buttons on the page. Owner.com’s website builder has all of these CTAs integrated, so you don’t even have to think about adding these yourself.

For example, Bella Cucina could have an About page that looks a little like this: 

Google Business Profile 

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is your restaurant's online storefront. A well-crafted description can entice potential customers and boost your local search rankings.

You want to keep it short and sweet here, highlighting the most important details—your cuisine, vibe and location. This is about getting potential customers the essential info they need to make a quick decision.

And, you’ll want to use those relevant keywords like your cuisine type, location and unique selling points to boost your visibility in local search results. 

In this example below, they use a quick sentence highlighting what their restaurant is all about—and they use keywords like “sandwiches” and “craft beer” to help show up in customers' search results for that type of food in Pacific Beach. 

Yelp “from this business”

Yelp for Business is such an important platform for reaching new customers, and adding a great description really helps you stand out. Here’s how I recommend doing it and some tips to make it effective:

When you log in to Yelp for Business, head over to the "Business Information" section. You’ll see a spot labeled “From the Business”—this is where you’ll add your description. This is your chance to share your story and highlight what makes your restaurant special.

This is often the first thing people see when looking at a Yelp page, so here are some elements I recommend including: 

• Cuisine: Talk about your most popular or unique dishes.
• Atmosphere: Let people know what kind of experience they can expect when they visit.
• Specialties: Mention any signature dishes or unique offerings, like your family-sized meals or seasonal specials.

Here’s an example of a Yelp description that would be well-suited for Bella Cucina: 

Third-party delivery apps 

When it comes to third-party delivery apps, you might not have room for an extensive restaurant description like on your website or About Page. However, you can still make an impact by adding descriptions to your specific menu items. Here are some tips to take full advantage of this space:

• Highlight specific ingredients: Be sure to mention any unique or high-quality ingredients that set your dishes apart. For example, instead of just "Margherita Pizza," describe it as “Wood-fired pizza topped with fresh, locally sourced mozzarella, vine-ripened tomatoes and fresh basil leaves.”
• Get as descriptive as possible: Use vivid, sensory words to create a mouthwatering image for customers. Instead of saying “Spaghetti with meatballs,” try “Handmade spaghetti topped with tender, slow-cooked meatballs, all covered in our rich, house-made marinara sauce.”
• Add serving sizes if applicable: This tells customers exactly what to expect and can be particularly helpful for families or larger groups. For example, “Family-sized lasagna—serves 4-6.” 

By optimizing your menu descriptions, you’ll not only capture attention but also help customers make confident choices that lead to higher satisfaction—and more orders.

Social media 

Think punchy and engaging. This is where you can have fun with your description, using a more casual tone to connect with your audience. Keep it brief, but showcase your vibe and food in a way that catches attention fast. You can also get creative with emojis: 

Examples of strong restaurant descriptions 

If you need some more inspiration as you’re creating your restaurant description, look no further! Here are some examples of my favorites that are featured and why they work:

1. Metro Pizza lets their history shine 

I love Metro Pizza’s about page because their description roots the brand in a deep sense of history and tradition, starting with the origin of pizza in America and connecting it to their family’s journey. 

The description highlights the values of family, craftsmanship and community, giving readers a personal connection to the brand. It also creates a nostalgic atmosphere by tying the pizza experience to universal memories of family gatherings and local pizzerias. 

Why it works: ​​It ties the brand’s history to the broader story of pizza in America while making the experience feel personal and community-focused.

2. Chipotle highlights the quality of ingredients 

What I love about Chipotle’s homepage is the video playing in the background. It instantly grabs your attention by showing fresh, hand-prepped ingredients in action. This, paired with their description, really drives home how much they care about quality and transparency. You can see exactly what sets them apart: delicious, responsibly sourced food made right in front of you. It’s a great way to connect the visuals with the message.

Why it works: Chipotle's use of video with their description makes their commitment to fresh, responsibly sourced ingredients feel real and immediate, creating a strong connection between the brand and customers who care about quality and transparency.

3. Salt & Straw Ice Cream showcases their values 

Salt & Straw has nailed it with their storytelling approach on their About page. It's all about connecting with people on a personal level and sharing a genuine passion.

It starts with a mission statement, then leads into a personal and relatable narrative, explaining the founders' journey and how their vision for a neighborhood gathering place came to life through ice cream. By sharing their story, they make the brand feel human and authentic.

They also do a fantastic job of showing their values, from sourcing local ingredients to supporting community causes. This makes you feel like you're part of something bigger than just enjoying ice cream—you're supporting artisans, sustainability and important social causes.

Why it works: The page blends personal storytelling, brand values and a playful tone to create an emotional connection with the reader, making the brand feel both authentic and inviting. 

4. Sushi Me Rollin’ shows their passion 

What I love about Sushi Me Rollin's description is how fun and true to the brand it feels. They keep it casual with clever phrases like "we're not your average sushi joint," making them approachable and unique.

Plus, they really emphasize fresh ingredients and put a personal touch on everything they do. They also highlight that they were voted by sushi in their neighborhood. You can feel their passion for sushi, and it all comes across as genuine and inviting.

Why it works: The casual, fun tone makes Sushi Me Rollin feel approachable and authentic, helping customers instantly connect with their laid-back yet passionate vibe.

5. Shake Shack shares their journey

Shake Shack does a great job of sharing their journey from a single hot dog cart in New York to an internationally known brand. They emphasize their commitment to high-quality ingredients and community while also reflecting their fun, casual vibe. Their story feels approachable and authentic, appealing to customers who value both quality and a good time.

It feels genuine and makes you want to be part of their crew. Plus, their fun, laid-back vibe is contagious. It's clear they care about more than just burgers—they want to create a good time for everyone.

Why it works: Shake Shack inspires customers with a story of humble beginnings and shares how they give back to the community.

6. Sweetgreen emphasizes sustainability 

Sweetgreen's restaurant description focuses on their mission of connecting people with real food. They emphasize their values, such as sustainability, sourcing locally and supporting healthy lifestyles. Their focus on transparency, with stories about their farmers and suppliers, helps customers feel connected to the brand and its ethical choices.

Why it works: Sweetgreen’s focus on sustainability and transparency really connects with people who care about making ethical food choices. It helps build trust and creates a stronger, more personal connection with the brand.

Impress customers with your restaurant description 

Wowing customers with your restaurant description starts with crafting a clear, compelling story that captures your unique essence. By following my recommended tips, you’ll create a description that doesn’t just attract visitors but turns them into loyal patrons who keep coming back. 

If you want to level up your online presence, let’s partner up. Owner.com's AI-powered website builder can help you create a professional-looking site that drives more direct online orders customers. If that sounds good, schedule a free demo to talk with our team. 

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