Uncle Pete's Pizza
Rescued and rebuilt a local pizza restaurant's online presence, transforming an outdated, slow-loading website into a modern, high-performance platform while preserving integration with their existing point-of-sale system.
Project Overview
Uncle Pete's Pizza had an existing website that was severely outdated, slow to load, and difficult to navigate. The business was losing potential customers due to poor online experience and needed a complete overhaul to compete in the modern digital landscape.
This website rescue project focused on three key areas: performance optimization, modern design, and seamless integration with their existing point-of-sale system. The goal was to create a fast, user-friendly platform without disrupting their established ordering workflow.
Key Improvements
The Challenge
The existing website suffered from multiple critical issues that were affecting the business:
- • Extremely slow page load times
- • Poor mobile responsiveness
- • Outdated technology stack
- • Security vulnerabilities
- • Difficult to update and maintain
- • High bounce rates from slow loading
- • Poor search engine rankings
- • Customers couldn't find menu or ordering
- • Lost revenue from frustrated customers
- • Negative brand perception
The Solution
A complete rebuild using modern web technologies, focusing on performance, user experience, and seamless integration with their existing point-of-sale system.
- • Built with Next.js for optimal speed
- • Image optimization and lazy loading
- • Code splitting and caching
- • Fast page transitions
- • Mobile-first responsive design
- • Clean, intuitive navigation
- • Streamlined menu browsing
- • Easy online ordering flow
- • Clear call-to-action buttons
- • Accessible design (WCAG compliant)
- • Integration with existing POS system
- • Preserved established ordering workflow
- • Menu customization options
- • Customer contact forms
- • Location and hours information
The Performance Crisis
The old site's performance was so poor that Google PageSpeed Insights couldn't even complete its analysis, timing out after 10+ seconds and reporting "Unable to resolve."
Real-World Loading Experience
Video demonstration of the old site's loading experience
PageSpeed Insights Timeout
Too slow to be measured by Google's testing tools
DevTools Network Analysis
Largest Contentful Paint: 14.59 seconds
Critical Business Impact
Studies show that 53% of mobile users abandon sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load. At 14+ seconds, Uncle Pete's was losing potential customers before they could even see the menu.
Landing Page Transformation
The landing page went from unusably slow to blazing fast, with a complete visual redesign that immediately communicates Uncle Pete's quality and heritage.
Complete visual and performance overhaul of the homepage
- • Accessibility: 100
- • Best Practices: 100
- • SEO: 100
- • Performance: 95-99
- • Next.js App Router
- • Image optimization
- • Code splitting
- • Lazy loading
- • Modern caching strategies
- • Clean, modern layout
- • Mobile-first design
- • Clear call-to-actions
- • Professional imagery
- • Improved readability
Menu Page Optimization
The menu went from a static photo slideshow (terrible for UX and SEO) to a fully functional, searchable, accessible menu system built with modern web technologies.
Before: Photo Slideshow
Menu items locked in images - invisible to search engines
After: Interactive Menu
Searchable menu with category navigation and item details
- • Images only - zero SEO value
- • Not accessible to screen readers
- • Can't search or filter items
- • Difficult to update pricing
- • Poor mobile experience
- • Semantic HTML for SEO
- • Fully accessible navigation
- • Category filtering
- • Easy content management
- • Responsive design
- • Mobile performance tuning
- • Image lazy loading refinement
- • Component render optimization
- • Target: 90+ mobile score
Results & Impact
Phase 1 of Uncle Pete's Pizza rescue has transformed a failing website into a fast, modern, SEO-friendly platform that properly serves their customers.
- • From untestable to 95-99 PageSpeed scores
- • 90%+ reduction in load times
- • Perfect accessibility scores
- • Eliminated customer frustration
- • Menu now searchable by Google
- • Perfect 100 SEO scores
- • Semantic HTML structure
- • Improved local search ranking
- • Clean, modern design
- • Intuitive menu navigation
- • Mobile-first responsive layout
- • Easy content updates
Phase 2: Potential Future Enhancements
If the business decides to modernize their ordering system in the future, potential improvements could include a streamlined checkout experience, real-time order tracking, and integrated payment processing. Currently, the site maintains integration with their existing POS solution.