The example: SUNDAY BEST, an ice cream counter in São Paulo
SUNDAY BEST is an ice cream counter in São Paulo we invented to show what we build for this trade — every page above works. Real-time 3D · scene over copy.
What an ice cream shop website has to do
Nobody plans ice cream a week ahead. Someone two streets away on a warm afternoon types your name, or ice cream near me, and decides in about ten seconds. Ice cream shop website design is built for those ten seconds: what is on the board today, whether you are open, how long the queue is, and how to get there.
Most dessert shop sites cannot answer any of it. The flavour list is a photograph from opening week. The hours forget the late Friday. The only colour on the page is a stock image of somebody else’s cone. The thing people would cross town for, the actual scoop, barely appears, and nothing on the page lets them order it.
So we start with the board. Today’s flavours with their price, what is in them and what they might react to, kept current by you. Hours, payments and the queue at a glance. Ordering built in where it earns its place. And when the product deserves it, a 3D scene that builds the order in front of the customer. SUNDAY BEST, above, is that version: a São Paulo counter where every scoop lands on the cone as you choose it.
Ice cream is the most searched-for dessert on Google Maps in the US.
Source: Google, 202280% of people who visit a food business’s website go there mainly to see the menu.
Source: Owner.com survey of 1,300 US diners, 2024
- 01
Today’s flavours, current today
Every flavour on the board with its price, a line on what it is and its allergens, changed by you before the doors open. Nobody should walk over for pistachio and find it finished on Tuesday.
- 02
An order you can see
Pick up to three flavours, cone or tub, and watch it built with the total beside it. The 3D version builds the cone on screen; a standard counter site shows the same order as a clear list.
- 03
Extras priced as they are picked
Dips, toppings, cone or tub, each with its price and added to the total the moment it is chosen. Add-ons are where the margin is, so they get a page of their own rather than a footnote.
- 04
The room and the hours
Photographs of the counter and the room, and the opening hours set out day by day, late nights included. People walk to a shop they can already picture, and arrive while it is open.
- 05
A story worth repeating
Where it started, who churns, and what was made this morning, batch by batch. Small-batch is the reason to pay more for a scoop, so show the batches rather than just saying the word.
- 06
The queue, before they join it
Address, the nearest station, the payments you take, and how long the queue usually runs at each hour of each day. Regulars come at the quiet times, and the busy hours stop surprising anyone.
The example, page by page
01The Counter
Six flavours, each with its price, a line of description and its allergens. Tap one and a scoop drops onto the 3D cone, up to three, with the running total kept beside it.
02Extras
Dip it in dark or white chocolate and watch it pour and drip down the top scoop; add sprinkles, pistachio, honeycomb or olive oil and salt and they land on it; swap the cone for a tub. Each extra adds its price as you choose.
03The Shop
The room behind the counter: photographs, six stools and a window onto the street, with the opening hours for every day of the week, late Fridays included.
04Our Story
From a tricycle freezer on car-free Sundays to a room on Rua Aspicuelta. This morning’s six batches are listed by time and litres, and the 3D tub changes to show each one.
05Visit
The address, the metro, how to pay, and how long the queue runs at each hour across the last eight weeks. Pick an hour and the scene builds what the queue usually orders.
Browsing into ordering
Built to move browsing into ordering. Building your own cone is the order, so the most-played part of the page is also the checkout — and a scene worth sharing does the counter’s marketing for it.
How we build it
- Day 1
The board
Flavours, prices, allergens, add-ons, hours and how you take orders, gathered in one call.
- Days 2–4
The look
Design and colour drawn from the product itself, so the page tastes of the shop before anyone reads a word.
- Days 5–7
The order
Ordering connected to your till and tested on phones, then live. A 3D scene adds about two weeks: authoring, tuning and fallbacks.
What an ice cream shop website costs
$1,700–$2,500
3–7 days to live · fixed price, agreed before we start · branding included
What moves the price
- How many shops, and how many menus
- Ordering for pickup on your own site
- Catering, parties and tubs to take home
- A real-time 3D scene, like the example
After launch, hosting, uptime, security and monthly reporting run from $250 a month: a monthly retainer, never a contract term.
SUNDAY BEST costs more than a counter site because of the 3D scene behind it: from $5,400 and 14–20 days. Without the scene, an ice cream shop site sits at $1,700–$2,500.
Questions we get asked
How much does ice cream shop website design cost?+
A counter site runs $1,700–$2,500: today’s flavours, prices and allergens, hours, the room, ordering, branding and two rounds of revisions, fixed before we start. The 3D ordering in SUNDAY BEST is a bigger build, from $5,400, because the scene has to be authored, tuned for phones and given a fallback. You see the exact number before you commit.
How long does it take?+
Three to seven days for a counter site, from the first call to live. With a 3D scene like SUNDAY BEST’s it is fourteen to twenty days, because the scene is built first and every page is then designed over it and tested on slower phones. The timeline depends on how quickly you send feedback, the flavour list and any photographs.
Can customers order online, and will it work with my till?+
Yes. Pickup ordering can run through the point of sale you already use, such as Square or Toast, so orders arrive where your staff already look and are paid the same way. If you deliver, the site links to the delivery partners you use, but pickup on your own site keeps the whole price of the scoop instead of paying an app commission.
Can I change the flavours every day?+
Yes, and the site is built around that. Flavours, prices, allergens and the sold-out flag are yours to edit from a phone in the morning, before the doors open. A flavour list that is wrong costs more than a missing one, because the customer who came for it does not come back. If you would rather not, we can make changes for you on a monthly plan.
Is 3D website design worth it for an ice cream shop?+
Sometimes. It earns its cost when the product is more beautiful than any photograph you have, or when you have no photography budget at all. The scene in the example only loads when it comes into view and pauses when you scroll away, and where 3D cannot run it falls back to a wash of the flavour colours while ordering keeps working.
Is SUNDAY BEST a real ice cream shop?+
No. SUNDAY BEST is an ice cream counter in São Paulo we invented to show what we build for ice cream and dessert shops. The flavours, the address and the queue times are made up. Every page works: tap flavours to stack up to three, swap the cone for a tub, add a dip and watch it pour, and watch the total change. Every scoop, cone and topping is modelled for the shop, not bought in. Nothing is sent or charged.
Can the menu show allergens and dairy-free flavours?+
Yes, and it should. Every flavour in the example lists its allergens, such as nuts, dairy or soy, and the sorbets say plainly that they contain no dairy. On your site those details sit on each flavour, are edited with it, and can be filtered on, so a parent with a nut allergy at home can check in seconds rather than asking at a busy counter.
Do you build for gelato shops and dessert bars too?+
Yes. Good ice cream website design carries straight over: a gelato shop website, a frozen yoghurt counter and a dessert bar all need today’s menu, hours that are right, the queue and a way to order. Dessert shop website design is mostly appetite and accuracy. If you also sell coffee, our coffee shop page shows how ordering ahead and a bean shop fit in.
