— CASE STUDY · 518 DONUTS
518 Donuts: Website and marketing improvements that supported 41% more online orders.
A faster website, clearer location information, and easier mobile ordering helped 518 Donuts connect discovery with direct orders across its Albany-area locations.
Albany, NY Capital Region · Multiple locations · Website and growth marketing
+41%
Online order growth
Following the website rebuild
96/100
Mobile PageSpeed score
Up from 49 before the rebuild
— PROJECT OVERVIEW
| BRAND | 518 Donuts |
| FOOTPRINT | Multiple locations |
| MARKET | Albany, NY Capital Region |
SERVICES
Website design, search visibility, menu discovery, mobile ordering, and location launch support
— THE CHALLENGE
Great food. Too much friction online.
518 Donuts serves fresh donuts and gourmet fried chicken, with dedicated gluten-free options. Its old website made guests work to find the nearest location, explore the right menu, and place an order on mobile.
A slow, image-heavy homepage
Location information that was hard to find
Gluten-free options buried in the site
Mobile ordering that felt like an afterthought
Food photography that slowed page loads
A website that needed to support new locations
— HOW WE WORKED
Connecting the website to restaurant marketing
The work brought food presentation, location discovery, and ordering into one guest journey, with a scalable WordPress website as the foundation.
01
Website execution
Rebuilt the site on WordPress and optimized food photography to improve mobile speed while keeping the menu visually appealing.
02
Local discovery
Added a clear location finder to help guests reach the right menu and hours for their nearest restaurant.
03
Menu visibility
Made gluten-free options easy to find from the homepage, so guests could explore the menu before ordering.
04
Location launch support
Built a foundation that could serve multiple locations and support the opening of a new restaurant.
— WEBSITE AND MARKETING EXECUTION
Search and location discovery
A clear location finder connected guests with location-specific menus and hours. The project combined a faster site with clearer paths to the information guests need before visiting or ordering.
Location finder
Menu and hours
Search visibility
Organic search traffic
+27%
reported after the rebuild
— WEBSITE AND MARKETING EXECUTION
Direct ordering on mobile
Streamlined mobile ordering across locations so guests could move from browsing the food to placing an order with less friction.
Mobile ordering
Direct orders
Multiple locations
Online order growth
+41%
following the rebuild
— WEBSITE AND MARKETING EXECUTION
A foundation for new locations
The scalable WordPress build supported the brand across multiple locations. Principal Sam Clifford reported that the new site supported a new location opening without a glitch.
WordPress foundation
Location launch support
Restaurant footprint
Growth
one brand, multiple locations
— PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS
More orders, stronger discovery, faster pages
The results show improvements across online ordering, organic search traffic, and mobile website performance.
ONLINE ORDERS
+41%
Growth in online orders following the rebuild.
Ordering streamlined across locations.
ORGANIC SEARCH
+27%
Growth in organic search traffic.
A clearer path from discovery to location information.
MOBILE PERFORMANCE
96/100
Mobile PageSpeed improved from 49 to 96. Average load time fell from 4.4 seconds to 1.3 seconds.
Source: RICHMENU’s 518 Donuts case study. The published results do not specify a measurement period.
— THE OUTCOME
A clearer path from finding the restaurant to placing an order
518 Donuts brought its website and guest experience together: faster food photography, easier location discovery, visible gluten-free options, and simpler mobile ordering. Reported results include 41% online order growth, 27% organic search traffic growth, and a mobile PageSpeed score of 96, up from 49. The rebuilt site also supported a new location opening.
— Marketing in practice
Marketing in practice
Selected 518 Donuts creative: a cold brew offer and the website experience.
“The new site supported our new location opening perfectly — everything ran without a single glitch.”
Sam Clifford
Principal, 518 Donuts
— SERVICES APPLIED
Website and marketing work built around the guest journey.
— FOR RESTAURANTS READY TO GROW
Make it easier for guests to find you and order.
Review your website, local visibility, and ordering experience with The Digital Restaurant.
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