What if the pictures on your online menu could drive a 35% increase in online orders for your restaurant?

In today’s online ordering and delivery-first world, visuals are more than decoration — they’re a conversion-tool.

In this article, we examine the evidence for revenue boosts from upgrading menu photos, explore why high-quality food photos work, and outline the specific “photo fixes” you can apply at your restaurant. By the end you’ll have a ready-to-go checklist to upgrade your photo-game and capture more online revenue.

When restaurants improve the visual presentation of their menu — especially in digital ordering contexts — the data paints a clear picture on the benefits:

• In a survey of over 600 restaurants, it was found that, “High-quality food photos can increase orders on restaurant delivery apps by 35%” (and menus with images can improve conversion rates by over 25%).
• That same survey found that viewing pictures was considered even more important than menu descriptions when ordering.
• A DoorDash study of 15,000 small restaurants found that “menus with item photos get up to 44% more monthly sales.”

The exact boost you can expect will vary, but it’s fair to say strong food photography is a must-have for any restaurant owner looking to succeed with online orders.

Why does improving your food photography reliably boost orders? Especially online?

1. Visual Appeal Triggers Appetite and Draws Attention

Humans process visual information far faster than text. According to one consumer-psychology summary, visuals can be processed “60,000× faster than text” in the brain. When a dish looks great in a photo, it sparks craving, recognition and desire — all before the customer reads a description.

2. Reduces Uncertainty and Risk in Online Ordering

When someone orders online they cannot physically inspect the dish. Good photos give a clear representation of portion size, presentation, and ingredients. For many diners, this reduces perceived risk that the food won’t match expectations. We all say, “what you see is what you get,” for a reason.

3. Improves Conversion and Average Order Value

Faster decision-making and increased confidence lead to more orders, and often those orders are bigger. As mentioned above, good food photos can improve conversion by over 25% and photos often lead diners to add extras or higher-value items because they visually stimulate appetite.

4. Better Results on Search Platforms 

On delivery platforms or directories, restaurants with high-quality visuals often gain an advantage in ranking, click-through, and impression share. Many restaurants still lack proper photos, which means this is an opportunity for your restaurant to stand out.

Here’s a practical checklist of photo improvements (“fixes”) that you can implement to lift your restaurant’s online presence and increase orders:

• High-quality food photography: Invest time, hire someone, or use digital tools to get photos with good lighting, appealing composition, clean backgrounds, and accurate representation of dishes. A blurry, dark or cluttered photo can hurt more than help (it makes your whole restaurant appear low-quality).
• Consistency across items and platforms: Use a cohesive style, color scheme, and photo approach so your brand looks unified. There should be unity across your website, any delivery apps you partner with, and social media.
• Ensure full menu covered: Make sure every major dish (especially high-margin or signature items) has a photo. Missing-photo items are missed opportunities.
• Optimize for platforms: Different apps/menus have different image size and aspect requirements, cropping behaviors, and display formats. Make sure your photos meet those specifications so they display well.
• Featured images for featured dishes: Highlight your best, most visually appealing, or highest-value items with standout “hero” photos. But remember, if the dish in the photo looks much better than what the customer actually receives, you risk negative reviews and diminished trust.
• Mobile-first optimization: Since many orders come via smartphones, photos must load quickly, look good on small screens, and display clearly in thumbnail/scroll view.

Update seasonally: If you change your menu, dishes, or presentation, update the photo accordingly so the visual reflects what the customer will actually get.

Before making photo upgrades, it’s a good idea to set a plan to measure and monitor the results. 

1. Define Your Baseline: Note your current monthly online orders (or revenue from online channels).
2. Set a Goal: Based on the data cited at the beginning of the article, a conservative boost might be ~15-25%. If you’re starting from a lower-quality photo baseline (or no photos at all), maybe aim for a more aggressive target of +30-35%.
3. Factor cost: Whatever boost you get, you’ll need to subtract the cost of photo updates to determine your “return on investment” (known as ROI, see next section).
4. Track all relevant metrics: Keep track of online menu conversion rates, order volume changes after photo updates, average order value, and compare items with/without photos.

As with just about any aspect of your business, the cost of improving your menu photos will depend on how you go about it.

Cost of Good Food Photos

• DIY (“Do It Yourself”): this could range from no-cost to low-cost. If you’ve got a smartphone that is less than a few years old then you already have a good enough camera. Lighting is important but natural lighting is often sufficient. If you don’t have a spot with consistent, natural lighting then it might be worth spending $40-$50 on simple lighting equipment.
• Professional food photography: Hiring a professional team (lighting, photographer can run in the $1,000s. Hourly rates vary from $35 per hour for beginners to $500+ per hour for experienced professionals. Some photographers charge per image and those rates range from $25 per photo to $200 per photo, with some offering packages (e.g. 15-image package for $2,000). As you can see, hiring professionals can get expensive.
• Ongoing costs: while the bulk of the cost will come upfront, keep in mind the need to update seasonal menu photos or photos for new menu items.

ROI on Menu Photo Upgrades

If photo improvements drive ~20-35% more online orders, the incremental revenue can pay for the photo investment in a short timeframe and then bring money in for months to come. This is particularly true for restaurants that rely heavily on digital ordering (which is most restaurants post-COVID).

For example:

• If your baseline online orders are ~$10k/month but after photo updates you gain +15%, that means an extra $1,500/month.

• Let’s say you go the DIY route and spend a total of $500 when you add up the time you spend, dishes prepared just for photos, and simple lighting equipment and backdrops. At +15%, not only will you make your money back in one month, but with an extra $1,000. And now you can expect an extra $1,500/month going forward.

The potential boost in revenue could mean that even hiring high-end professionals could be worth the money. But given how easy it is to get good DIY photos, and with exciting new AI tools like Plate Perfect that digitally improve low quality photos, we’d suggest skipping the high cost of hiring a professional. Either way, one thing should be clear by now: upgrading your photos is a must.

Simple Fixes Can Bring a Big Boost

In the online ordering era, first impressions often happen via scroll, tap, or in-app menu browsing — and your food photos are the most important part of that impression. The evidence makes it clear that better food photography can drive a meaningful boost in online orders and revenue, and high-quality photos are now easier than ever to achieve.

To review, here’s your quick-start checklist:

• Audit your current online photos (delivery apps, website, social) — how many dishes are missing photos? How “good” are the existing photos?
• Select your top 5-10 signature/high-margin dishes and update their photos first.
• Roll out full menu photography with consistent style and mobile-optimized format.
• Monitor your online ordering metrics (conversion rate, order count/value) for 4-8 weeks post-update to measure lift.
• Budget accordingly: photo investment is often one of the highest-ROI marketing moves in a restaurant’s digital strategy.

By committing to the “photo fixes” above, you give your restaurant a strong visual foundation that supports ordering behavior, platform ranking, customer confidence and ultimately revenue.