Our client, a well-established café operator with multiple locations across the UK, approached us to create a set of responsive, easy-to-manage websites for each of their café sites. As the cafés operate on a concessionary basis, the challenge was to design websites that adhered to the client’s brand identity while also aligning with the landlord’s branding and fitting the unique aesthetic of each café’s location.
Project Overview: Custom Websites Tailored to Multiple Locations
Our client required websites that could effectively represent the unique branding of each café location while maintaining a consistent design across all sites. Each café has its own identity, but there needed to be a unified theme to reflect the overall brand of the client. Additionally, as each café is managed under a concessionary model, the websites needed to incorporate both the client’s branding and the landlord’s visual guidelines to create a seamless user experience across multiple locations.
The client also requested the creation of a new logo for one of their sites, which would be consistent with the other logos, yet still possess a distinctive flair for the café it represented. The websites had to be clean, user-friendly, and easily customizable so that the internal team could update content, such as food menus, without requiring technical expertise. Another key requirement was that the websites needed to be fully responsive, ensuring they functioned perfectly across various devices including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.
Understanding the Client’s Vision: Building the Perfect Website
To ensure we met the client’s expectations, we held a series of consultations where we discussed various website designs and features that the client found appealing in other websites. By understanding their preferences, we gained valuable insights into the type of look and feel they desired for their sites.
Based on these discussions, we created wireframes to visualize the structure of each website. These wireframes provided a clear representation of how content would be laid out on each page, including the placement of key elements such as navigation menus, call-to-action buttons, and imagery. The wireframes served as a blueprint for the websites, allowing the client to visualize the design before the actual build began.
Seamless Integration of a Custom Menu System
One of the most important features of the websites was the ability to easily update the food menu. To address this, we developed a custom drag-and-drop menu plugin, which could be used across all the café websites. This intuitive tool made it simple for the client’s team to update and manage the menu without needing coding skills. The plugin was integrated into the website’s content management system (CMS), allowing for effortless updates.
This system enabled the client to maintain full control over their content, ensuring that each café’s menu could be updated in real time, reflecting seasonal changes or special offers as needed. With this user-friendly system, the client could manage their websites more efficiently and keep their customers informed with minimal effort.
Bringing the Design to Life: Colour, Imagery, and Content
Once the wireframes were finalized and approved, we began the process of adding color, imagery, and content to the websites. We used Adobe XD to create high-fidelity screen designs, providing the client with a realistic preview of how the website would look before the build commenced. These designs incorporated the client’s branding guidelines, ensuring a consistent aesthetic while also aligning with the unique branding requirements of each individual café location. We focused on creating a clean, modern, and professional design that would engage visitors and enhance the user experience. Imagery was carefully selected to reflect the ambiance of each café, capturing the essence of the location and making each site feel unique while maintaining a cohesive overall look. The content was crafted to ensure it was clear, concise, and aligned with the brand’s messaging. We also optimized the websites for SEO, ensuring that each site was discoverable on search engines and could effectively drive traffic to the cafés.
The Final Product: Custom Websites for Each Café Location
Upon completion, the client had a set of websites, each with its own branding and content but clearly reflecting the overarching identity of the DA GT family of cafés. The design respected the strict brand guidelines, incorporating both the client’s and the landlord’s branding in a harmonious way. Each site was tailored to the specific café it represented, while maintaining a unified look and feel across the entire network of cafés. The websites were designed to be fully responsive, ensuring that customers had a seamless browsing experience on any device. Additionally, the custom menu plugin gave the client full control over their food menu, making updates quick and easy.
Conclusion
The websites we created were built with scalability in mind, so they could easily be replicated for future café locations if necessary. In fact, since the original launch, the client has reduced the number of active sites, but the flexibility of the design means that additional sites can be easily added or cloned to reflect the same design, functionality, and backend. This project successfully delivered custom websites for our client’s café locations, aligning with their branding needs while providing an easy-to-manage, user-friendly solution. With clean design, custom menu management, and scalability, these websites are set up to evolve with the client’s needs. You can explore the websites at www.wendovercafe.co.uk and www.aliceholtcafe.co.uk. Whether expanding to new locations or maintaining current sites, the client now has a flexible and effective online presence that meets their needs and enhances the customer experience.
Update 2025: The ability to scale the websites across multiple locations remains a key benefit of the project, ensuring that the client can grow their online presence efficiently and consistently.
