Case Study
Thunder Road Bar & Grill
Custom Website and Admin System
Thunder Road Bar & Grill required a modern website that could clearly present its menu, load quickly on mobile, and be fully controlled by the business without relying on subscription platforms.
JAMARQ rebuilt the site from the ground up, delivering a fast public-facing experience paired with a purpose-built admin panel for managing menu items and weekly specials. The system replaces a vendor-controlled template with a fully owned React and PHP platform deployed on shared hosting.
The admin interface is designed around real restaurant workflows, allowing non-technical staff to update specials in minutes while preventing common errors. Layout stability, image delivery, and mobile performance were treated as first-class concerns throughout the build.
The result is a clear, fast, maintainable system that gives the owners full control of their digital presence.
Proof of traction was immediate: the team published new specials, menu updates, and job listings within the first week of launch without outside help.
Project Overview
Thunder Road Bar & Grill is a locally owned bar and restaurant in Midway, North Carolina. The business required a modern website that could clearly present its menu, reflect its identity, and allow staff to manage frequent updates without relying on third-party vendors or subscription platforms. JAMARQ rebuilt the entire site from scratch, replacing a restrictive vendor solution with a fully owned React and PHP system deployed on shared hosting. The result is a fast public site paired with a purpose-built admin panel designed around real operational workflows.
Client
Thunder Road Bar & Grill — Midway, NC
Project Type
Custom restaurant website and admin system
Timeline
Late 2025
Launch
November 2025
Screenshots
Operational Coverage
Structured proof covering PageSpeed captures, menu flows, admin tooling, and mobile parity.
Live Lighthouse proof before and after the rebuild, documenting the impact of responsive media, caching, and code cleanup.
Desktop PageSpeed results prior to optimization, reflecting uncompressed images, legacy asset handling, and limited caching.
Technical note
Pre-optimization performance reflects legacy image handling, lack of responsive variants, and missing long-lived cache headers.
Desktop PageSpeed results after optimization, showing improved performance, accessibility, and best-practice scores.
Technical note
Improvements achieved through responsive image generation, WebP delivery, and consistent static asset caching.
Mobile PageSpeed results before optimization, impacted by render-blocking assets and oversized images.
Technical note
Mobile performance was constrained by oversized images and render-blocking resources.
Mobile PageSpeed results after optimization, demonstrating improved real-world mobile performance.
Technical note
Mobile optimizations prioritize reduced payload size while preserving visual fidelity.
The Challenge
The previous website was controlled by a vendor platform with recurring fees and limited flexibility. Key issues included:
- •Slow load times, especially on mobile
- •Rigid templates that did not reflect the restaurant’s brand
- •Menu organization that was difficult for customers to scan
- •Weekly specials that required cumbersome updates
- •No true ownership of code or data
The site had become a bottleneck rather than a tool.
Objectives
- •Improve menu clarity and readability
- •Reduce weekly update time for specials
- •Optimize mobile performance for primary traffic
- •Reflect the restaurant’s red and black rustic bar identity
- •Deliver full ownership of code, data, and hosting
- •Ensure the system could be maintained by non-technical staff
Approach
Workflow-First Design: The owner’s actual weekly workflow was mapped before any UI decisions were made. The admin system was designed to support how updates really happen, not how a generic CMS assumes they should happen. This led to a minimal admin interface that prevents errors and reduces time spent per update.
User-First Navigation: The public site was restructured around how customers actually use restaurant websites:
Low-Maintenance Architecture: The technology stack was selected for durability and clarity rather than novelty: The system avoids unnecessary abstractions and favors explicit behavior.
Friction Removal: Every feature was evaluated through the lens of effort:
The Solution
Design System
- •Minimal layout using TRBG’s red and black palette
- •Typography tuned for low-light environments and quick scanning
- •Clear spacing and section dividers
- •Strong hierarchy for menu categories and prices
Site Structure
- •Home page with hero, hours, address, and calls to action
- •Menu section organized into clear, scannable categories
- •Weekly specials integrated into the menu workflow
- •Contact information with map and hours
- •Mobile-first navigation
Technical Implementation
- •Custom React frontend
- •PHP and MySQL backend for editable content
- •Purpose-built admin panel
- •Static hero assets for fast first paint
- •Responsive image variants with explicit sizing
- •Layout stability safeguards to prevent CLS
- •Mobile-first performance tuning
- •Basic SEO and structured metadata
- •Accessibility-aligned markup and contrast
Admin Capabilities
- •Menu category and item management
- •Weekly specials updates
- •Media uploads with enforced image variants
- •Live previews that match the public site
- •Clear save flows with visual confirmation
Results
Measured Results
- •Load time reduced from several seconds to approximately 1.5 seconds on mobile
- •Menu clarity improved through structure and spacing
- •Admin update time reduced dramatically
- •Owners gained full control of their digital presence
Before
- •Vendor-controlled platform
- •Slow performance
- •Confusing menu layout
- •Time-consuming updates
- •Ongoing subscription costs
After
- •Fully custom owned system
- •Fast load times on mobile
- •Clear, scannable menu
- •Five-minute weekly update workflow
- •No vendor lock-in
Key Takeaways
- •Shared hosting constrained certain caching strategies
- •Image optimization required strict pipeline enforcement
- •Layout stability relied on deliberate sizing and measurement logic
- •Performance tooling is primarily used during development rather than production
Want the Full Technical Deep Dive?
A detailed breakdown including architecture decisions, admin panel features, and technical implementation is available upon request.