Fair questions. Straight answers.

Yes, and there isn't one. We design your complete site before you pay anything — the £20/month starts only when you approve it and it goes live. Mockups take us about an hour and enough of them turn into clients that the maths works. The worst case for you is a free look at what your cafe could look like online.

Because one-page cafe sites are all we do, so we do them quickly, and because a fast one-page site costs almost nothing to host. We'd rather have lots of happy cafes at £20 than a few resentful ones at £200.

No. Month to month, cancel with a message. Annual (£200 — two months free) is there if you want it, never required.

Instagram is brilliant for the customers who already follow you. It does almost nothing for the ones who don't: when someone searches "cafe near me" or "brunch [your town]", Google is choosing from websites — their menus, hours, and locations. An Instagram page gives Google almost nothing to read, so you're invisible in the exact moment someone nearby is deciding where to go. You keep Instagram; the website is the part Google can see. We even embed your feed so both work together. (What Google actually sees.)

It's the foundation, not magic. What it does: gives Google a menu, hours, address and photos it can read and trust, links to your Google Business Profile, and shows up for searches Instagram never can. Every site we build comes structured the way Google asks for (fast, mobile-first, with the right behind-the-scenes markup). What it doesn't do: put you top of the map pack overnight. Nobody honest promises that.

We'll link your site to your existing profile and make sure the two agree with each other (that agreement matters to Google). If you don't have a profile, our free guide walks you through it in 20 minutes — or ask, and we'll help.

One photo and your Instagram or Facebook link. Honestly. If you have a logo, a menu file, or strong opinions about the colour green, send those too. (Full step-by-step process.)

Mockup within 48 hours. Most cafes go live within a week or two of the first mockup — the pace is set by how fast you reply, not by us.

Photograph the chalkboard, send it, done — we update the site, usually same day, included in the £20. Or we link straight to your Instagram for the daily stuff and keep the core menu on the site.

Not on The Cafe Site, on purpose — ordering systems are where the industry hides its fees ($49–179/month plus per-order cuts, and most cafes don't need them). If you genuinely do, that's a Bespoke conversation and we'll be straight about the costs.

No. We design from your photos and your room. Plant-filled and pastel gets plant-filled and pastel; dark wood and vinyl gets dark wood and vinyl.

You do, always. If you arrive with one we connect it; if we register one for you, it's registered in your name and stays yours if you leave. Domains-held-hostage is the industry's ugliest trick and we want no part of it.

Hosting, SSL security, backups, software updates, and content changes (menu, hours, photos, prices). If a request grows into "actually, can we add three pages" — that's an upgrade conversation, and we'll say so before doing anything.

Cancel with a message — sites come down at the end of the paid month, no exit fee. If you sell, the site can transfer to the new owner (nice sweetener in a sale, incidentally). See our support page for how to reach us.

Fair question to ask any small supplier. Your domain is yours, your photos are yours, and on request we'll export your site's content so you're never locked in. The site runs on standard, boring, portable technology (that's a feature).