Is a Facebook page enough for a café, or does it need a website?

Cupán Studio sells café websites. We build them for cafés in Ireland, so we have an interest in the answer.

In our view a Facebook page is a fine place for a café to post, but a poor only home. Some people never open Facebook, and the complaint that started one Irish forum thread was that a login prompt stood between the poster and a business they wanted to support. A site of your own, with the menu, hours and contact as plain text, can be read by anyone. People in that thread disagreed, and I give both sides below.

Where the question came from

A poster asked it on boards.ie on 10 February 2024, in a thread titled "Businesses who still use Facebook as their website...". It ran to 50 replies by July 2024. The poster said there are "few things more annoying" than trying to find out about a business they want to support and "getting the Facebook login page telling me I can't read the information without signing up". They asked: "Surely there's a better platform in this day and age than exclusively using Facebook or Instagram for their annnouncements". The spelling is theirs.

Why do some people mind a café using only Facebook?

Some stop at the login page and go elsewhere, and some rule out a Facebook-only business as unprofessional. Two commenters said so. On 10 February 2024 one wrote "I think using Facebook looks less professional than using their own website" and "If I get the please sign up message I just move on go back the internet search and look for another company". On 19 March 2024 another wrote "that service only having a presence on Facebook immediately rules them out for me".

These are single comments, not a survey, and the thread is about businesses in general, not cafés. A café is not a gardener or an events company, but in our view the same thing can happen to a café: a customer who will not or cannot log in, or who reads Facebook-only as unprofessional, may look elsewhere.

What did people say in favour of Facebook?

Mostly cost, reach and convenience. On 10 February 2024 one commenter wrote "The cost of creating and running a website is large for a company, especially keeping updates etc. Facebook is a cheaper alternative and has instant chat etc". That comment also gave a figure for Facebook users in Ireland. A later commenter disputed it on 15 July 2024, and we have not checked it, so I do not repeat the number here.

On 15 July 2024 another commenter wrote that Facebook has become "a modern day golden pages", and that they had used it that day "to check for a phone number and get a feeling for a new dog groomer", from the recent posts, photos and reviews. A third, on 10 February 2024, made the point that a page shows its freshness: "at least you have a better idea of when a business updated its details on Facebook. With a website, the information can be out of date. There is no perfect solution."

I agree with that last point, and it is the fair risk of a site: if nobody updates it, it is worse than a page that is posted to.

Can people see a Facebook page without an account?

The thread disagreed, and we have not tested it, so I do not say which is right. On 15 July 2024 one commenter wrote "I can still view information on Facebook without an account". On 16 July 2024 another wrote that where a year earlier anyone could see a business's details, "now if you dont have a facebook account you dont get to see the business details", and gave a search for a gardener as the example, where clicking a Facebook result gave "a pop up 'Please log in to see this page'". The original poster had the same experience. I make no claim here about what Facebook does or why.

How many Dublin cafés point Google to Facebook?

Twelve of 77 in our count. On 20 September 2026 I read the Google listings of 77 independent Dublin cafés, roasters and coffee carts, a hand-built list that skews to the city centre, not a census. The website field held a Facebook page for 12, an Instagram profile for 15, nothing at all for 35, and a site of the shop's own for 15. The full count of 77 Dublin cafés has the method and its limits. For Instagram and Google Maps, I covered that question separately.

What can a café do instead?

In our view, keep Facebook for what it is good at and put the facts somewhere anyone can read them. Keep posting and answering messages there. Put the menu with prices, opening hours, address and phone on a page of your own as text, not a photo or a download. Then point the Google listing's website field at it. One commenter on 16 July 2024 put the bar low: "If you have a business, either have a decent contacts page or stay off the internet." If you want to know how a site you already have reads to a search tool, the free check runs the test on one.

Sources

• boards.ie, "Businesses who still use Facebook as their website...", 10 February to 16 July 2024, read 15 October 2026.
• Cupán Studio, Dublin café websites 2026, read 15 October 2026.

This is a summary of a public boards.ie thread (February to July 2024) read on 15 October 2026 and our own Dublin count of 20 September 2026, not advice for your shop. Cupán Studio builds websites for cafés in Ireland.