As with many template showcases I have here on Media Surgery, the imagery is a big part of the templates looking great. Images are critical to the success of a food site. As Squarespace works so well with images and makes it incredibly easy to add and edit your own images within the platform, it’s a great choice as a site builder. Once you have uploaded your chosen images, you can drag and drop them with Fluid Engine (Squarespace’s editing tool) till your heart's content. The block feature gives you almost unlimited options for displaying your images.
Below are 7 Squarespace templates related to food and drink, each with a culinary theme.
Crust
Up first is a beautiful template by the guys behind Ghost plugins, yes, they do templates too! The design is classy and has real energy flowing from it. The blue colour works well on the salmon-pink background. The typography has been thought about considerably, and the type is stunning. Delta Gothic is the main font, perfectly fitting this website's style. It has a modern look but with class, too. Crust is also incredibly affordable at only $99. An absolute bargain for the quality of the aesthetic.
Chuckwagon
Chuckwagon is a vibrant and energetic design by Stay Strong design (Love their logo btw). On the home page, an animation grabs attention when you land. The strong orange calls to action garner emphasis and make no mistake about the next thing to do. We did the same on our own Premium Coffee Shop Squarespace template. All the images on the site have animations, which adds to the quality feel. This template would suit a food or culinary-related business, such as a restaurant with a big personality.
Chimi
Station Seven are a small web design team with an impressive number of quality Squarespace templates. They are quality Squarespace designers too. Chimi is one of them, and it’s a cracker, beautiful images help a design, and they make this template stand out. Zesty and full of flavour is how Station Seven describe their template, and it’s hard to disagree. Great job by them, and this is definitely worth consideration if you have a food blog with character and a snap to your business.
Hester
The free templates by Squarespace are not to be dismissed. Honestly, it’s hard to beat them on aesthetics; they are stunning and well-built. The only issue with them is that they are so good and so well priced(they are free), they are very popular. It is too popular as the majority of Squarespace sites are based on free templates. That said, Hester is an example of a stunning food site with an e-commerce section built into it.
Cost free / Demo
Loam
Another free template is Loam, and it’s also a stunner. Loam is a fictitious bakery site, so if you are a bakery and don’t want extra expenses by paying for a third-party template, this could work very well for you. Loam has a classy, minimal feel backed with strong photography. You would need to swap out the photos for your own, but it’s a great template from which to work. As with all free built-in Squarespace templates, the problem is popularity. Many sites have based their website on Loam. Great option if you are on a very tight budget, though.
Cost free / Demo
Harvest
Harvest is our second featured template by the talented Ghost plugins guys. As we have come to expect from them, there is a high degree of quality at a very affordable price. It’s only $99 for this template! That’s an absolute snip at what you get. The side navigation won’t be for everyone, and it could be said that text like that is a user experience hazard, but on the plus side, it’s only five links. If you are to have additional links beyond the five, then this template could give users trouble using the navigation effortlessly. A strong template, but just be aware of the potential problems with the navigation.
Hvar
Last but not least, Coast Kit has produced this high-quality offering. It's one of these templates can be easily modified to cater (excuse the pun) to many different themed websites. The blog has extra attention and is very well put together. The colours are light yet warm, and this template style will never go out of fashion. It has a feminine feel, if you are saying a female food blogger, this could be an excellent choice.
I hope these templates have given you some food for thought! (last of the poor puns).
Comment on X / Twitter if you want to add anything or to feature your template.
Written by John Macpherson