Do you need one?
Does a bakery need a website?
A fair question when the counter is busy. But the honest answer turns on the baking people see, and the celebration orders lost without a site.
From £297, live in 7 days, on your own domain.
Does a bakery need a website?
The honest answer
Does a bakery need a website? If you are always sold out on passing trade and never want the celebration orders, then perhaps not. But the honest answer turns on what draws people to a bakery, which is the baking, and increasingly they see it online first. Someone wanting good bread, a cake or a treat searches for a bakery nearby, looks at whose products tempt them, and goes to the one whose baking looks best, and someone planning a birthday or party order almost always starts by looking at what a bakery can make. They are choosing on the baking, and they can only be drawn by what they can see. A bakery with nothing to show, no products, no orders page, no hours, is passed over for one whose baking tempted them, and it loses the higher-value celebration orders entirely, because those begin online. The real question, then, is whether you want the trade the baking draws and the orders that start with a search, because a website is how a bakery gets seen, and chosen.
People are drawn by the baking they can see
The defining fact about how people choose a bakery is that they are drawn by the products, and now they see them online before the counter. Someone deciding where to get their bread or a cake is pulled by the look of it, the fresh loaves, the proper cakes, the tempting pastries, and they judge that from what they can see. So before they come to you, they want the baking to look good, and they find it, or don’t, online, on your site, your listing, your photos. A bakery whose products look fresh and tempting wins them; one with nothing to show, or that looks drab, loses them to a bakery whose baking looked better. These customers are not reached by the smell of fresh bread, which only carries to the pavement, nor by passing trade, which misses everyone searching from home. So a site that shows your baking is how a bakery draws the people choosing on the products, which a bare listing never does, because people go to the baking they can see.
A website wins the orders and searchers the counter misses
The strongest objection is that a bakery is filled by passing trade and the pull of fresh bread, and both help, but a website wins the trade they cannot reach rather than duplicating them. Passing trade and a good aroma work on people already at your door, but they do nothing for the person searching for a bakery or a cake from home, or the one planning a celebration order, and those orders, birthdays, parties, seasonal specials, are higher-value and almost always start online. A site captures them by showing what you can make and taking the enquiry, and it draws in the searchers who don’t yet pass your door, while relying on the counter alone caps your trade at whoever happens by. So a website does not replace your passing trade, it wins the orders and the searchers the counter misses, turning your baking into trade beyond your pavement. Far from being unnecessary, a good site is how a bakery reaches everyone looking for what it makes.
So the real answer to does a bakery need a website is: yes, if you want the trade the baking draws and the celebration orders that start online, because people choose on the products they can see, so being absent means being passed over. And finding out costs just £99 up front: I build the site on spec, from £297, and you see it finished before you pay the rest, so you can look at your actual site, ready to show your baking and take orders, and decide from there, knowing the footfall and orders it draws cover the cost many times over.
How it works
From message to live in four steps.
- 01
Message me
Tell me your trade and your town on WhatsApp. No forms to wade through, no call to book.
- 02
£99 to start
A £99 deposit gets your build going and comes off your quote. It covers some of the build time.
- 03
I build it, you see it
I build the whole site, framed around your work, and send it to you finished to look at.
- 04
Pay the rest, go live
Happy with it? You pay the balance, it goes live on your own domain, and it is yours to keep.
What you get
What a bakery site from me includes.
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Built on spec
I build it first and send it finished. You see the real thing before you decide, not a mock-up.
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Live in 7 days
From the go-ahead, your site is live within a week. No months of back and forth.
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On your own domain
It goes live in your name. You own the site and everything on it, with no lock-in.
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Genuinely fast
Static pages, no WordPress. Fast pages rank better and turn more visitors into calls.
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Found on Google
Built to be found in local search, with the plumbing done properly from day one.
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Looked after
Someone looks after it and changes it when you need. Two small edits a month, your listing kept current.
What it costs
A straight price.
From £297 to build it, first three months of Care included, then £49 a month.
You own the site outright and can stop the monthly plan whenever you like. Hosting is part of Care and Grow, so one of those keeps it online after the first three months, or you host it yourself. See the full pricing.
Common questions
Questions I get asked.
Does a bakery really need a website?
If you want the trade drawn by seeing the baking, and the celebration orders, yes. People are pulled to a bakery by the look of the products, and they search locally for bread, cakes and a bakery nearby, choosing the one whose baking tempts them. And a birthday or party order almost always starts with someone looking online. A bakery with nothing to show loses both the drawn-in footfall and the orders.
Isn't a bakery filled by passing trade and the smell of fresh bread?
Both help those already passing, but they don't reach the person searching for a bakery or a cake nearby, or the one planning a celebration order. A site draws that trade in by showing the baking, while the smell only reaches the pavement. Passing trade fills part of the counter, a site brings the people who were looking for what you make.
Why do people look at a bakery online before visiting?
Because they choose on the baking, so before going they want to see it looks fresh and good, and to check your hours, and if it's an order, what you can make. They judge it online, and a bakery whose products look tempting wins them, while one with nothing to show, or that looks drab, loses them to a bakery whose baking looked better.
We're busy at the counter already. Do we still need a site?
Yes, because counter trade misses the higher-value celebration and party orders that start online, and it depends on people already passing. A site captures those orders and draws in searchers who don't yet pass your door, while relying on the counter alone caps your trade. Busy at the counter is not the same as reaching everyone looking for what you bake.
When could a bakery skip a website?
Realistically, only if you're always sold out on passing trade and never want the celebration orders or the searchers looking for a bakery nearby. Because people choose on the baking they can see, a bakery with nothing to show misses them. For any bakery wanting the bigger orders or more footfall, the case for a site is strong.
Is a website worth it for a small independent bakery?
Often especially so, because lovely baking, not size, draws a customer, and a good site lets a small independent show its products as temptingly as any chain, and win the celebration orders that mean most to a small business. An appetising, findable site can bring a small bakery the searchers and orders a supermarket bakery never gets. The trade won covers the cost easily.
How much does it cost to find out if a website is worth it?
Just £99 to start with me, and it comes off your quote. I build the whole site first and you see the finished thing before you pay the rest, from £297. So you are not gambling on a maybe, you are looking at the actual site for your bakery and deciding then. Given the footfall and orders an appetising site draws, the risk of finding out is very low.
Tell me your town and I'll build you a bakery site on spec, so you can see it before you pay. Or read A Checkatrade alternative, see the full pricing, or get in touch.