For many restaurants, private dining and events bring in some of the most valuable bookings of the year: a birthday dinner for twenty, a company celebration, a rehearsal dinner, a wake. Yet on many restaurant websites, private dining gets a single line at the bottom of the page: "For private hire, please contact us."
That line leaves the guest to do all the work. They do not know which rooms you have, how many people fit, what the menus look like or roughly what it costs. Many will send a vague email, wait for a reply and compare you with two other venues in the meantime. Some will not bother at all.
A proper private dining page changes that. This guide covers what it should include, from rooms and menus to an enquiry form that gives you everything you need to send a quote.
Why private dining needs its own page
A private dining page serves a different guest from your main site. Someone booking a table for two wants the menu, the hours and the reservation link. Someone organising an event for thirty wants to know:
- Which spaces you have and how many each holds
- Whether they can have the space to themselves
- What food and drink options there are
- Roughly what it will cost, or the minimum spend
- Which dates are available
- How to enquire and how quickly you will respond
People also search for this directly, with phrases such as "private dining room" or "restaurant for private party" plus a location. A dedicated page can be found in its own right.
Rooms, capacity and layouts
For each space you offer, show:
- The name of the space, such as the private room, the mezzanine, the chef's table or the whole restaurant
- Capacity, seated and standing, if they differ
- Layout options, such as one long table, several rounds or a reception
- Photos, set up as it would be for an event
- Features: natural light, a separate entrance, audio-visual equipment, accessibility
A guest planning an event will often decide on the space first. Clear capacity figures save you from enquiries that could never fit.
Menus and minimum spend
Show sample menus for private dining, even if every event is tailored. For example:
- A set menu or two at different price points
- A sharing or feasting option
- Canapés and drinks packages for receptions
- Dietary options and how you handle allergies
Pricing is where many restaurants hold back. You do not need to publish every detail, but giving an indication helps: a per-person price for each menu, or the minimum spend for each room on different days. Date any prices you publish, and say whether service charge is included.
If your minimum spend varies by day or season, say so. "Minimum spend from [amount] Sunday to Thursday, higher on Fridays and Saturdays and in December" is more helpful than no figure at all.
The enquiry form that gets you a quote-ready message
The most valuable part of the page is the enquiry form. A generic contact form produces vague messages that take several emails to resolve. A form designed for events gets you what you need in one go:
- Name, email and phone
- Type of event
- Preferred date, and whether the date is flexible
- Number of guests
- Preferred space, if known
- Budget or menu preference
- Dietary requirements
- Anything else they want you to know
Tell guests what happens next: "We will reply within one working day with availability and a proposal." Then do it.
Keep the form short enough to complete on a phone. Mark only the essential fields as required.
Events you host yourself
Many restaurants also run their own events: wine dinners, guest chef nights, supper clubs, seasonal menus. These can sit on the same page or their own:
- Date, time and price
- What is included
- How to book, with a link to tickets or reservations
- Past events, briefly, to show what you do
Guests who come to one of your events often come back to book a private one.
Photos and what to avoid
Show the spaces set up for real events: laid tables, the room at night, a long table ready for a group. Avoid:
- Empty, harshly lit rooms that look unused
- Photos of identifiable guests without their permission
- Stock photos that do not show your actual spaces
- Images that misrepresent capacity, such as a wide-angle shot that makes a small room look large
Accurate photos prevent disappointment and arguments on the day.
Setting it up in Late August or The Aubrey
Two getsites templates are built with private dining in mind.
Late August is a free Framer template for fine dining restaurants, chef-led kitchens, bistros and tasting menu rooms. It runs on service time: every section sits at its real hour, from 4:00 prep to 11:00 last cover, and the page darkens as the night goes on. It has 14 pages, including home, the full menu, reservations, private dining and events, the chef and kitchen story, a journal and contact. Its reservation form ships in demo mode, so point it at your own address before going live.
To set up private dining in Late August:
1. Rewrite the private dining page with your spaces, capacities and sample menus.
2. Add photos of your rooms set for events.
3. Connect the form to your events inbox and send a test.
4. Add your own events to the journal or events section.
The Aubrey ($49) is a dark, cinematic template for members' clubs, bars, restaurants and hospitality brands, with private dining among the uses listed on its page. It includes an Events collection on the CMS and a working invitation flow, which suits venues where events are a regular part of the business.
See Framer templates for restaurants for more options.
A private dining page does not need to be elaborate. It needs to show the spaces, give an idea of cost and make enquiring easy enough that the guest sends you everything you need to say yes.