Choose a way to display restaurant hours as real text, with each day, time, exception and location clearly named. Then check that the same information remains understandable when a guest enlarges the page on a phone or navigates it with a screen reader.
For most restaurants, a short list of days and hours on each location page is a practical starting point. A well-labeled table can also work. The better choice is the one your staff can update accurately and your guests can read without relying on color, tiny type or an image of a schedule.
Organize days and exceptions in clear text
Start with the hours a guest needs to act on: the days you are open, opening and closing times, and days you are closed. Use full day names and include a.m. or p.m. rather than expecting guests to infer whether 8:00 means morning or evening.
Grouping days can keep the schedule short when their hours match. For example, “Monday–Thursday: 11 a.m.–9 p.m.” is easier to scan than four identical lines. If Friday closes later, give it a separate line. Write “Sunday: Closed” instead of leaving Sunday out, which can make a guest wonder whether the schedule is incomplete.
Separate services when their hours differ. A dining room may close at 9 p.m. while pickup orders stop at 8:30 p.m. Label those as dining room hours and pickup hours. If delivery has its own cutoff, label that too. Do not let a general “Open until 9” message imply that every service is available until then.
Make exceptions specific. “Closed on July 4” is more useful than “Holiday hours may vary.” For a temporary change, include the affected date and the actual hours. Place the exception near the regular schedule so a guest does not have to find a separate announcement before making a trip.
Before buying or changing a site, decide who supplies and approves these details. The general manager might own the regular schedule, while each location manager confirms local exceptions. Give one named person responsibility for publishing changes and another for checking them. The important point is that a website editor should not have to guess which schedule is current.
Avoid using a photograph of a printed schedule as the only source. Guests who enlarge it may still see blurred text, and a screen reader may not receive the hours as readable text. If you use a graphic for promotion, keep the complete schedule in text on the page too.
Associate each location with its hours
Guests should know which restaurant a schedule belongs to before they read the first day. Put the location name and address immediately before its hours. If you have separate location pages, give each page a clear location heading and its own schedule. On a shared page, repeat the location heading and address for each schedule rather than placing several unlabeled lists together.
Consider this hypothetical example: a restaurant has a North Main Street location open Monday through Saturday, and a South Pine Avenue location also open on Sunday. Both offer pickup, but pickup ends 30 minutes before each dining room closes. A guest using a screen reader needs to hear the location heading, identify the address and then find both the dining room and pickup hours for that location. A guest zooming on a phone needs the same information without losing the day or service label off the side of the screen.
A compact list is often a good fit for a small number of locations. A table can be useful when the days and services make a list repetitive, but it needs clear row and column headings. On a narrow screen, check whether a guest can still tell which heading belongs to each time. If a wide table requires sideways scrolling, make sure that behavior is apparent and that the information remains usable at enlarged text sizes.
Ask a prospective website provider how staff edit each location independently and how the published page identifies it. Also ask whether hours shown alongside online ordering can differ from dining room hours, and how the two displays are updated. Treat those as questions to demonstrate, not assumptions about any particular system.
Check every place a guest might encounter the schedule: the location page, ordering entry point and any other listing your team maintains. Each may serve a different purpose, so the wording need not be identical, but the underlying dates and times should agree. Assign someone to update outside listings as well as the restaurant site.
Test mobile zoom and screen-reader navigation
Ask vendors to show a real, editable example before deciding. You can use the same checks on your current site. The aim is not to prove legal compliance with a quick inspection; it is to find practical barriers before guests run into them.
On a phone, open a location page and enlarge the content to 200% using the available browser or device controls. Read the whole schedule, including an exception. Look for clipped times, overlapping text and labels separated from their values. Try rotating the phone as an additional check. If content scrolls sideways, see whether you can follow each day and time without losing your place.
Next, use a screen reader on a phone or computer. Navigate by headings to find the location, then read through the hours in order. If the schedule is a table, use the screen reader’s table navigation and check whether the day and service headings make sense with each time. Also follow any link or control used to reveal hours: its name should explain what it does, and the revealed information should be reachable.
If your team is unfamiliar with screen readers, ask someone experienced with one to help. Test with people who use assistive technology when practical. A single device, browser or screen reader cannot represent every guest’s setup, so record what you used and repeat checks after significant site changes.
Use this hypothetical test sheet for the North Main Street location. Its regular hours are Monday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Sunday is closed. Pickup ends at 8:30 p.m. The location is closed July 4. These are example inputs, not a claim about any restaurant or website.
| Check | What to do | Acceptable result | If it fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location context | Navigate to the hours by headings. | North Main Street and its address are clear before the schedule. | Move or repeat the location label next to the hours. |
| Mobile enlargement | Read the schedule at 200% on a phone. | Days, times and service labels remain readable and associated. | Shorten the layout or change the table presentation. |
| Screen reader | Read the schedule in sequence and navigate any table. | Monday–Saturday, Sunday closure and pickup cutoff make sense when spoken. | Correct the reading order or use clearer text and headings. |
| Exception | Find the July 4 closure from the hours area. | The date and closure are clear without relying on color. | Place a text notice beside the regular schedule. |
The table sets a practical acceptance target for each check and a direction for fixing a failure. Record the actual device, browser, screen reader and result separately. If a vendor controls the page template, ask who will make a correction and how you can verify it after publication.
Review holiday updates before they matter
Accessible presentation only helps if the information is current. Set a recurring calendar reminder to collect holiday and special-event hours before the next busy period. Ask each location manager to confirm the date, services affected and replacement hours in writing. A temporary closure should say whether it affects the dining room, pickup, delivery or all services.
Before publishing an exception, preview it at normal size and enlarged on a phone. Read it with a screen reader if possible. Check that it appears beside the right location and does not leave contradictory text such as “Open today” next to a closure notice. After publication, open the live page as a guest and repeat the essential checks.
Set a removal or review date for temporary notices. A stale holiday message can cause as much uncertainty as a missing one. When regular hours change permanently, update the regular schedule rather than leaving a temporary banner to carry the information indefinitely.
When comparing vendors, ask who can edit hours, whether changes can be previewed, and how quickly a correction can be published. Ask for a demonstration using one location and one exception. Also ask what happens to the schedule if you keep your existing site and connect ordering with a link: your staff still need to know which system owns each display.
Review the restaurant website builder comparison for broader buying questions, and the domain ownership guide before changing providers. Then use the test sheet on your current setup and ask Fleksa about its restaurant website, including current US availability and a demonstration of the hours editing and display you need.
Frequently asked questions
Should restaurant hours be a list or a table?
Either can work. Use a list for a simple schedule; consider a table when it makes several services easier to compare. Check that headings, days and times remain clear at mobile zoom and with a screen reader.
Where should holiday hours appear?
Place the dated exception near the regular hours for the affected location. State which services are affected, update other guest-facing displays your team manages, and remove or revise the notice when it is no longer current.
Does one screen-reader test prove a page is accessible?
No. It can reveal useful problems, but results vary by device, browser and assistive technology. Record the setup you checked, involve experienced users when practical, and repeat checks after meaningful changes.
