Website legal requirements · for cafés, restaurants and caterers
Food sold from your website: what it must show.
For cafés, restaurants, takeaways and caterers that take orders online.
If people order food from your website, the information the law requires, including allergens, must be available before they complete the order, and all of it again when the food arrives. Calories on online menus are required only of businesses with 250 or more employees, in England. A website that only shows a menu, with no ordering, is covered by the general rules on the hub.
Chris Painter, founder of ThemeSmith · checked 28 October 2026 · every rule links to its source
The rules for cafés, restaurants and caterers
What the rules ask of your website.
Ordering online: the information before the order is placed.
For food sold at a distance, the mandatory food information (except the best-before or use-by date) must be available before the purchase is concluded, on the website or by another clearly identified means at no extra charge, and all mandatory information must be available at the moment of delivery.
Law · UK · Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 as retained, article 14(1)
Food made to order: allergens are the mandatory part.
For food that isn’t prepacked, such as dishes made in your kitchen, the allergen information is mandatory, and when it’s sold at a distance it must be given in the same way: before the order and on delivery.
Law · UK · Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 as retained, articles 14(2) and 44(1)(a)
Calories online: only for businesses with 250 or more employees.
A business with 250 or more employees on the first day of its financial year that sells food in England on a website or app must show the calories as part of the description of each item of food offered.
Law · England · Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021, regulations 6 and 7
Not on the list
What the rules don’t ask for.
Calories, for a small business.
Under 250 employees, the calorie rule doesn’t apply, online or off.
The three rules every business has still apply.
A price shown to the public includes VAT; a limited company shows its registered name, number and office; a site that takes enquiries says how it will use them. What every UK business website must show.
Questions
What cafés, restaurants and caterers ask.
Do I need allergen information on my website?
If customers order food from it, yes: the allergen information must be available before they complete the order and when the food is delivered. A menu with no ordering is covered by the general rules.
Do small restaurants have to show calories on their online menu?
No. The calorie rule in England applies to businesses with 250 or more employees.
Building the site
A website for cafés, restaurants and caterers, with this built in.
Other trades with a rule of their own: dentists · architects · physiotherapists · therapists and psychologists · estate agents · driving instructors · gas engineers.