What a bakery's website needs: tomorrow's loaf and next month's cake

Two people are looking at a bakery's website. One is in a kitchen at nine at night, deciding whether to walk over in the morning or whether the bread will be gone. The other is holding a phone, working out whether you can make a cake with a name on it for the Saturday after next.

They want opposite things from one page. The first needs today's facts, accurate today. The second needs a process: what you make, how far ahead to ask, and what happens after they send it. Most bakery sites answer neither, because they describe a bakery instead of replying to either person.

For the one coming tomorrow morning

Say what you sell, where you are, and the hours you actually keep, as text rather than inside a photo of the sign. Include the days you are shut. A bakery that closes on Mondays and never says so answers the same question every Monday.

Then the sentence most bakery pages leave out: how the day usually runs. "Sourdough is normally gone by eleven on Saturdays" is useful, not bad news. It tells someone whether to come early, or to ring and ask you to put one aside.

Say whether you bake the same list daily or the counter changes, and where the day's specials appear. If you take collection orders, give the cut-off: "bread orders by 4pm the day before" saves a phone call in the middle of service.

For the one planning next month

That visitor has a date and no idea whether you can help. Give them something to read without emailing you:

• what you make for occasions, in the words people use: birthday cakes, wedding cakes, cupcakes for a christening, a traybake for an office
• how far ahead to ask, and whether you take late orders
• sizes, and roughly how many each one feeds
• collection only, or delivery within so many miles
• what you need from them: date, collection time, flavour, any writing on top
• whether you take a deposit, and whether they should send a photo they like

"Bespoke cakes for every occasion" loses you enquiries you would happily have taken. "Two weeks' notice for a wedding cake, colours from the swatches on this page" wins them.

The allergen question, which is not optional

Food you package on the premises before the customer orders or selects it — a cake in cling film, bread in a paper bag, a wrapped sausage roll — is prepacked for direct sale. Since 1 October 2021 it needs a label with the name of the food and a full ingredients list, with any of the 14 allergens emphasised in the list so it can be seen. This is Natasha's Law, and it covers bakeries, cake shops, cafés, counters and home bakers alike.

Loose food is the other half: a loaf on an open shelf, a slice cut when asked, a sandwich made to order. No label needed, but you must still give the 14 allergens, displayed where the food is sold or told to a customer who asks, with a notice saying they can ask.

The website matters for the third case. If anyone orders by phone, email or a form on your site, that is distance selling, and the allergen information has to be available free before they order and again when the food arrives. Not on request after you reply. On the page, before the order.

Write it as a list, not fine print: your products with the allergens beside each one. Your local authority's food safety team will tell you what your counter needs, and the Food Standards Agency's guidance is free.

For allergen information, you can be prosecuted without an improvement notice first. This is the one part of the page not to leave half written.

What you can honestly say about gluten free

"Gluten-free loaves, baked Tuesdays, on a bench that is cleared down and kept separate" is useful. "Gluten free" alone suggests a guarantee you may not be able to make. Say whether anything is made in a separate area, and which products people ask about most.

What to photograph

Four photos, on your phone: the counter as it looks at opening, one loaf cut open, one cake you actually made, and the shopfront so people recognise it. For light and angles, the phone photo guide covers the rest.

A bakery page you can fill in tonight

• One line: what you bake, where, and when you are open.
• Hours as text, with shut days and bank holidays marked.
• One honest line about sell-outs.
• Order cut-offs for tomorrow, and lead times for occasions.
• Flavours and sizes, with what each one feeds.
• Allergen information a visitor can read before they order.
• Prices for your regular cake sizes, as Putting prices on your website describes.
• A form asking for date, collection time, what they want and a phone number.
• The rest of the page: what a small business website needs.

Sitewright is not built yet, so there is nothing here to sign up for and no date promised. The waitlist on the home page is the only thing open, and it is where you will hear when there is something to try.