Is there an official technical standard a restaurant website has to meet?
Short answer: DOJ has no regulation setting a technical web standard for private businesses; its general ADA duties still apply. DOJ points to WCAG and the federal Section 508 standards as helpful guidance and leaves the method to you. WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the level DOJ chose for its state and local government rule, which in our view makes it the clearest public benchmark.
General information
What DOJ says. No DOJ regulation sets detailed web standards for businesses open to the public; businesses may choose how they make their online goods and services accessible, and WCAG and Section 508 are offered as helpful references (DOJ, March 18, 2022).
Why WCAG 2.1 AA. When DOJ did write a technical standard, for state and local governments, it chose WCAG 2.1 Levels A and AA (28 C.F.R. § 35.200).
And WCAG 2.2? W3C has published WCAG 2.2 as a Recommendation; content that meets 2.2 also meets 2.1 and 2.0 (W3C).
What DOJ names. Poor contrast, color used alone, missing text alternatives, videos without captions, forms without labels or error messages, and mouse-only navigation (DOJ). Menus posted as images or PDFs are a common way restaurant sites fail the same tests (our experience, not a DOJ finding).
This page is general information, not legal advice. Grafica is not a law firm.
How Grafica helps. We audit your site against WCAG 2.1 AA by hand, fix what fails, and give you the report.