Restaurant Business: Building a Market-Ready Media Platform On a Lean Budget
As part of National Media’s portfolio, Restaurant Business was launched as a new brand to connect Australia’s hospitality community with the information they need to succeed.
Restaurant Business aims to be Australia’s leading digital destination for hospitality and foodservice industry news. The publication delivers critical insights and trend analysis for restaurant owners and operators.
Restaurant Business came to The Code Company to build a market-ready MVP that was ready to be launched quickly and cost-effectively. Here’s how The Code Company delivered a site with WordPress’ full-site editor in 8 weeks.
The Challenge
Getting a market-ready platform launched fast.
Restaurant Business came to The Code Company with a clear brief: launch their new premium media platform quickly and cost-effectively.
The challenges were straightforward but demanding:
- Tight 8-week deadline to get to market
- The editorial team is ready to publish, but needs a functioning platform
- Multiple stakeholders require alignment on features and priorities
- Budget constraints require smart technology choices
- Need for industry-leading functionality and tools
Restaurant Business needed a platform that could compete from day one while staying within realistic time and budget parameters.
We had limited resources and an urgent timeline. We needed a partner who understood how to build a high-performing media platform efficiently without cutting corners on quality.
Brad Langton, CEO National Media/ Restaurant Business
The Solution
Strategic roadmapping and smart technology choices
Rather than diving straight into development, The Code Company created a clear roadmap to prevent scope creep and budget blowouts.
The Code Company recommended WordPress with full-site editing as the foundation. The team believed this would give Restaurant Business exactly what they needed: control over their website design and content publishing without relying on developer support. Full-site editing would allow their editorial team to modify layouts, update their website and publish content faster while maintaining flexibility over their platform’s appearance and functionality.
Key technical decisions:
- WordPress full-site editing for faster development and easier client management
- Kinsta hosting for enterprise-grade performance and reliability
- Advanced Ads Pro for granular ad placement control
The full-site editor allowed The Code Company to build a high-performing, fast and accessible website with best practices without the typical custom development overhead, reducing both build time and costs.
For Restaurant Business, this meant they received an industry-leading website with an intuitive interface they could manage independently without constant developer support and over-investing in a new product. The editor gave them the flexibility to compete with larger media companies that have dedicated tech teams, but without the associated complexity or ongoing maintenance costs.
A Rapid Risk-Managed Build
With time and budget constraints, precision project and risk management practices were critical to delivery.
With clear deliverables mapped out, The Code Company divided tasks efficiently between the engineering team and the Restaurant Business’s editorial team.
The full-site editor delivered immediate value by eliminating custom development overhead while maintaining complex functionality. This meant:
- Faster iteration on design elements
- Real-time feedback and adjustments during development
- Lower development costs without sacrificing quality
- Future-proof foundation that Restaurant Business could expand on
The level of support through videos and clear communication made all the difference. We understood exactly what was happening at every stage.
Clare Riley, Managing Editor Restaurant Business
Results
High performance, delivered on time and on budget
The new Restaurant Business website launched within the 8-week deadline and stayed within budget. But the real results came after launch:
Technical Performance:
- 98+ Google PageSpeed Insights scores on desktop at launch
- Optimised ad placement increases revenue potential
- Streamlined content management system for faster publishing
Business Impact
Increased editorial efficiency
- Editorial team can now create, format and publish content efficiently
- Full control over ad placements, driving immediate revenue improvements
- Simplified workflow, eliminating the need for constant developer support
- Foundation ready for “Phase Two” expansion plans
The combination of Kinsta’s caching and CDN, WordPress Performance Lab optimisations, delivered enterprise-grade speed that competes with much larger media companies.
The difference in how we work day-to-day has been huge. Our team can actually get things done without constantly relying on developers. The CMS is easy to use, and we’re publishing content faster than we ever could compared to other platforms we’d research.
Clare Riley, Managing Editor Restaurant Business
The Technology Multiplier Effect
Restaurant Business proves that the right technology choices multiply team effectiveness.
By choosing WordPress full-site editing over a custom rebuild, they got:
- Industry-leading functionality
- Editorial flexibility that lets them compete with bigger media companies
- A foundation that can grow with their business
- Independence from constant developer support
The result? A lean team now operates with the efficiency of a much larger organisation.
The Code Company are true WordPress specialists. They didn’t just build us a website, they engineered a platform that actually works for our business. Their level of expertise in media publishing on WordPress is hard to find.
Brad Langton, CEO National Media/ Restaurant Business
