Most restaurants have either six photos they use everywhere or three hundred they never sort through. Neither works. Here is a working number for each place your photos go, based on twenty years of shooting for restaurants in Orange County, Los Angeles and San Diego, and a refresh schedule that keeps them earning.
The short answer
A full launch set is roughly 60 to 120 images: every menu item once, your signature dishes from several angles, the room, the bar, the team and a bank of social content. After that, a quarterly refresh of 20 to 40 images keeps everything current. One half-day shoot produces more than a hundred usable images, so the launch set is usually one visit.
What each channel needs
Delivery apps (DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub). One clean photo of every item, consistent background and angle. Items with photos get noticeably more orders than items without. Count: the number of items on your delivery menu.
Printed menu and digital menu boards. Hero shots of eight to fifteen signature or high-margin dishes. More than that and the menu gets busy.
Website. Five to ten hero images for the homepage and menu page, plus the dining room, the bar, the exterior and one or two of the team. Vertical crops for mobile.
Google Business Profile. Twenty or more: food, interior, exterior, team and drinks. Google surfaces these in Maps and AI search results, and profiles with more recent photos get more engagement.
Social media. A bank of 30 to 60 images and 10 to 20 short videos per quarter covers a steady posting schedule without repeating yourself. Vertical reels of pours, plating and cheese pulls do the heavy lifting.
How often to refresh
Menu change: every time. A photo of a dish you no longer serve, or a plating you changed, costs you orders and reviews.
Seasonal: a quarterly shoot for specials, LTOs and social content is the rhythm most of my restaurant clients use.
Yearly: refresh the room, the team and the hero shots so the website does not look like an old version of the restaurant.
Delivery apps: update whenever portion, packaging or plating changes so the photo matches what arrives.
Signs your photos are overdue
The dish in the photo is plated differently from the dish on the pass.
Your delivery-app menu has items with no photo, or photos shot on a phone in the kitchen.
Your social feed is reposting the same six images.
The website shows a dining room before the last remodel.
How to get the most from one shoot
Shoot each dish from four or five angles so one plate gives you a menu hero, a delivery-app crop, a website horizontal, an Instagram vertical and a story. Shoot stills and reels in the same visit. Keep a simple folder structure by channel so the images actually get used. Because I charge flat rates with unlimited images, there is no reason to stop at six. See food photography pricing or get a quote.
Frequently asked questions
How many photos do I need for DoorDash and Uber Eats?
One consistent photo per menu item. Items with photos get significantly more orders, so aim for full coverage of the delivery menu rather than just the top sellers.
How often should a restaurant update its photos?
Every time the menu or plating changes, with a quarterly refresh for specials and social content and a yearly refresh of room, team and hero images.
How many photos does one shoot produce?
A half-day shoot with Plate to Pixel typically produces over a hundred usable images because every dish is shot from several angles, and all of them are included in the flat rate.
Should restaurant photos be vertical or horizontal?
Both. Delivery apps and websites want horizontals; Instagram, TikTok and mobile sites want verticals. Every dish is framed so it crops cleanly to either.