Bánh Mì King
Website and local SEO for an Auckland CBD Vietnamese bánh mì shop — first in the Google map pack for "banh mi Auckland" within two months of launch.
Bánh Mì King opened on Queen Street in the Auckland CBD with a simple proposition: a proper Vietnamese bánh mì, made the traditional way, from a kitchen that turns out more than a hundred of them a day. What they did not have was any way for the thousands of people searching “banh mi Auckland” every month to find them. A new shop in a competitive food category needs to show up on Google on day one, and the site had to earn that as well as sell the sandwich.
We designed and built the site around the two things a hungry person wants: what is on the menu, and how fast can I get it. The home page leads with the food, full-bleed and appetising, with a call button and the menu one tap away on a phone. The menu page lays out the seven bánh mì fillings, the phở, vermicelli and rice paper rolls, and the Vietnamese iced coffee with prices that match the counter. The about page tells the story from the streets of Vietnam to Auckland, and the contact page carries the address, hours and a click-to-call number so the shop works as a listing as well as a website. Vietnamese phrases run through the copy where they belong, because the audience includes people who grew up with this food.
Underneath the design, every page was built for local search from the start: location-led titles and headings, structured data for the restaurant, its menu and its opening hours, a fast static build that scores well on Core Web Vitals, and a Google Business Profile wired to the site. Two months after launch, a search for “banh mi Auckland” shows Bánh Mì King first in the Google map pack, above every other bánh mì shop in the city, and fourth in the organic results, where the only pages above it are editorial round-ups from Eat It Auckland, Reddit and Urban List. It is the first restaurant website on the page for one of the most competitive food searches in Auckland, and it also sits on the first two pages nationally for “banh mi near me” and “best banh mi Auckland”. For a shop that sells lunch, that is the difference between being a secret and being busy.