Why is this downvoted? I'm a big fan of PHP, but I feel something like Netlify CMS + Jekyll on Netlify is appropriate for this. It would be super fast (statically generated and on Netlify CDN) and secure (no database or app scripts) and includes an editing interface.

With WordPress I don't worry about the PHP part, but for the tendency of people to bloat it by installing plugins and not updating it enough.

How does something like Netlify CMS work for an end user?

I mean how do you skip the "storing some sort of state in DB including a users table" step?

It is very typical for a small to medium business site client to want a minimal CMS and ability to add a few more users with edit rights.

With Netlify CMS it seems the build happens from a git repo so wouldn't it require for end user to learn git?

I love how fast and easy it is to publish static sites on Netlify but I do not see how one could host client sites on Netlify without requiring constant hand holding.

Netlify requires adding a few static assets to your site that handle authentication and CRUD actions. This then updates your git repo. The format of the posts are in Markdown, so it may not be the most user-friendly, but the end user would not have to learn git.

https://www.netlifycms.org/docs/add-to-your-site/

https://www.netlifycms.org/docs/add-to-your-site/

https://www.contentful.com/ works well for this.

Content, copy, even menu items, metadata etc can be edited by multiple normal people. Translations too

A static site can be set up to rebuild when someone updates content.

You could also fetch content with JavaScript on the page. That would work if it was just opening hours as in the parent example

Wordpress gets a hard pass for me specifically because (a) it has a plugin system that I've seen explode in practice far too often to trust, and (b) the task specifications provided by OP include marketing and management access to the editor. There is no stronger force behind pet features and rule breaking. I'd choose something easy to work with, but with an intentionally limited scope over anything with shiny bells and whistles in this specific case.

Netlify and Jekyll are kind of more oriented towards develoeprs, not Janine in reception.

Regarding WordPress and plugins:

    <?php define("DISALLOW_FILE_MODS", true);

I'd rather Janine ping me three times a year to change some string than deploy PHP with mysql.

Php with mysql is amazing. I don’t get the “i’d rather have Janine ping me three times an year”. What if you leave work? What if you are too busy with your next hobby project that you don’t give a shit about Janine? What if she wants to update brochures every now and then and your manager says you’re too expensive to help Janine.

Tech is about automation. Php + mysql still serves well in this era. Wikipedia still runs on it and it’s a pretty fantastic and responsive site. So does Facebook to some degree I suppose.

>What if you leave work?

Next dev will have easier time changing string in plain, straightforward code or static site generator than migrating plugins from PHP 5.3 or whatever.

>Tech is about automation.

Tech isn't about "automating" things that ultimately cause you to do more work to maintain status quo. Tech isn't about spending week to automate things that take you 1 minute three times a year.