Boulevard Restaurant website by Cottagewebs, Sussex Web Design

The Boulevard

The Boulevard is a successful family-run restaurant in the seaside village of East Wittering, well-known for their hearty home-cooked breakfasts, Sunday roasts and indulgent desserts.

History

  • Cottagewebs created a first website for the Boulevard in 2012
  • As mobile responsive sites became popular, the site was re-developed in WordPress to fit all devices.
  • In 2014 the family acquired a second restaurant, the Riviera in Selsey.
  • We designed a website for the Riviera, using the same free template but with a completely different look to suit their unique style.

Website Revamp

As more and more restaurants turned to the internet to attract customers, both restaurants underwent a complete refurbishment and needed a more modern, eye-grabbing website to reflect this.

A professional photographer was hired to take photos inside and out, but they also wanted to show off their extensive menu with specialised food photography.

From this professional photo-shoot, Cottagewebs created a new gallery for both websites.

Riviera Restaurant website by Cottagewebs 2018

Social Media

Both restaurants already had a Facebook feed, and with suitable plugins we were able to add a live feed to the widget areas. They also wanted to show off their specials board. Originally we set this up as a blog which was easy to update – but restaurants get busy. So we suggested setting up a twitter account, for which we integrated another feed. Once a week, a member of the team would take a photo of their specials board and by posting this on Twitter, were able to display this.

Social media is an easy way of refreshing content, making sure customers can see their recent photos and menus on Facebook and instagram. Their Twitter feed keeps everyone up-to-date with the daily specials.

Social media feeds on the Boulevard website

Adapting To A New World

Like many businesses the Boulevard and Riviera had to adapt to a changing new world and none so much as during the coronavirus pandemic, 2020.

With both restaurants forced to close in UK lockdown for several weeks, a different approach was needed. Thus, in 2021 the family decided to do away with their second website and integrate both restaurants under just the one.

Combined websites for the Boulevard, East Wittering and Selsey

The Boulevard Website Today

When you visit the home page, you will see a universal image slider, using images from both establishments.

But from the home page, customers can visit two distinct areas; one for East Wittering and the other for Selsey, each with its own home page (photo carousel, reviews, contact details), a specific menu page, photo gallery and contact page. Each section also has links to its own social media.

Home page with two restaurants under one website