My Story
Growing up, I was always in the kitchen helping my uncle cook. Watching him chop, sauté, and other things with food to create something so delicious has always amazed me. I grew up with a passion for cooking. As I made my way through culinary school, you would learn about French or Italian cuisine, your typical suspects when it comes to mainstream food. Though the techniques were helpful, I wanted to do my food I grew up with, Filipino food. Fresh out of culinary school, I was given an opportunity to start my own restaurant. The name, Tito’s Kusina (Uncle’s Kitchen) is to pay homage to my uncle who brought me down this path of cooking.
The Website
We wanted to spread the word about our restaurant and make it accessible to people. The answer was to create a website. Returning customers or those who are simply curious at what Tito’s Kusina has to offer can simply look us up on the internet. The website would tell the story of the restaurant and introduce the food we serve. Basic information, like address, hours, and phone number can also be found. The restaurant would offer online ordering and catering options. These elements were included to make sure we reach out to as many people and have them try our food. Showing delicious pictures of our dishes will surely grab the attention of anybody!
In designing the website, we wanted a simple, modern, rustic feel. The background is a light brown wood grain. This would create that rustic feel but with it being a light wood, it would give that bright inviting presence. The ascent color used for the logo, footer and menu was a dark red. This would offset the background and give contrast to the page. The logo of the restaurant is on the left-hand side. A navigation bar is present at the top right-hand corner of the page making every page easily accessible. The footer on each page detail the address, phone number and hours of operation. The whole reasoning for the layout of each page was to showcase the food. A simple design for each page allowed for that to be the case.
The first thing a customer’s eyes would be drawn to are the food showcased right on the home page. It tells a little bit about Filipino cuisine and basic information about the restaurant. The menu page is simple. Its layout had names of the dishes, price, and a small description of the dish. The typography was kept simple so that users can read clearly what the menu has to offer. Dark red was used as a background for the courses to easily distinguish them and it also made the layout more exciting with color. The catering page provided information about different catering options. It had some basic information a user might typically ask. A video at the bottom allows a user a small glimpse at what the other option for catering, boodle fight/kamayan has to offer. The order online page is like the menu. The gallery was added to show users what they would be ordering. A simple description from the menu does not give justice to the food. A small picture and caption are provided. A user can click on the picture to view at a larger scale. The contact page has a simple form for name, email, reason, and message. It has the phone number up top in case a customer wanted to receive a quicker response. The last page is the about. This is where the story of the restaurant and website reside. It lays out the story and some accompanying pictures just like in a book. Each page is structured to be clean and professional without adding extra frills and flare. We want the food to do the talking.
The Future
As the restaurant grows, we hope to expand our menu and our reach through social media. Adding icons for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for users to follow us and eventually share our food with others through their own social media. We also like to have a fully functional order online system. As of right now, it is a prototype. The gallery would need to be updated as the menu grows. If more time was allotted for the build of this website, a better, unique logo would have been designed. The current logo is generic and does not possess any character of its own. The next step to bettering the website is to make it responsive so anybody can view it on any platform whether it be a computer or a mobile device.
