Consider an imagined cafe in Brunswick with a loyal local crowd and a web presence that is a single photograph of a printed menu. Before it fixed that, staff answered the same questions all week. After a short rewrite, those answers sat on a plain page. Here are the questions and the short answers.
Before: the questions
Is there a vegan option? Do you take bookings for ten? What time do you stop serving breakfast? Is there space for a pram? Each query arrived by phone or message, often in the middle of the morning rush.
The short answers, written once
What is on the menu? Type it as text under headings, with a note that dishes change.
When are you open? List the hours, including when breakfast ends and any public holiday changes.
Do you take bookings? One sentence on whether to book, and how to arrange a larger table.
Can you cater for my diet? Be honest about what you can do and invite guests to speak to staff about allergies.
Where exactly are you? Give the street, the nearest tram stop and whether prams and wheelchairs can get in.
After: what changes
New customers arrive knowing what to expect. Messages become real requests, such as a booking for a birthday. A free page from Seliee is enough to hold the answers, and it can be edited in minutes when the menu turns over.
The same idea elsewhere
A pizzeria in Fitzroy can add sizes and takeaway details. A bar in the CBD laneways can say when it opens and whether it takes groups. A caterer can explain the events it handles and how far ahead to book.
Why a plain menu works better
A photograph of a menu is hard to read on a phone, cannot be searched and goes out of date the moment the specials change. Plain text loads quickly, reads well on a small screen and lets a diner find the one word they are looking for, such as gluten-free or oat milk. It also means that the next time you change the coffee supplier or add a seasonal dish, the update takes a minute rather than a new photo shoot.
A final word
The change is small and the effect is steady. A diner who finds the answer in seconds is far more likely to turn up than one who has to ask.
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