How to Design and Sell Your Own Restaurant Merch Online

Restaurants are loved for their focus on providing memorable (and delicious) experiences for diners. What frequently isn’t prioritized is how to extend those experiences beyond the doors of the building once the meal is over. Quality restaurant merch is one great way of getting your fans to keep thinking about your amazing food and service long after they’re done eating.

When we see the word “merch” generic swag items like scratchy t-shirts or poorly fitted hats with simple logos are often what come to mind. That said, it’s not hard to create products that will last and that fans will be proud to buy to support you.

So, if you’re looking to start making restaurant merch for your brand or to step-up your product game, then we’ve got some practical tips and trends to share.

Budget Estimate for a Small Merch Campaign

Let’s break down a rough budget for launching a small-scale restaurant merch campaign to give you an idea of what to expect. It’s important to note that these numbers vary a lot depending on your location and choices, but they provide a ballpark figure.

Design Costs: $0 – $500

If you create designs yourself or get an artistic friend/family to help, you might not spend anything. Hiring a freelance graphic designer or artist can range from $100 for a simple design to $500 or more for multiple complex designs. (We have suggestions on how to source freelance help below.) You can also be creative when negotiating and offer comped meals or a percentage of merch sales, etc. But, be sure to fairly compensate artists, respect their terms, and not simply offer exposure.

Upfront Production Costs: ~$50 to $1,500 (Based on items, quantity, and production method)

As noted, this varies significantly depending on the type and number of items produced and the method you’re using for merch production. We’ve got unique merch ideas for you later in the article, but for purposes of a budget estimate let’s say you do indeed plan to sell hats and shirts.

With print-on-demand production, you have $0 upfront production cost (you’ll pay per item only when they sell). You might, however, incur some costs of $50-$100 on ordering samples from the POD service (which is a smart investment for quality checking). On the other hand, if you opt for bulk production at a local print shop, you’ll have to pay for your first batch of inventory. For example, 50 high-quality screen-printed t-shirts might cost around $15 each depending on the number of colors and shirt quality, so that’s $750. If you add 50 hats at $12 each, that’s another $600. You could decide to do a smaller run of 20 shirts at a slightly higher per-unit cost, though, to test the waters and figure out size demand, whereas the hats will be one-size and may be preferable to stock. Pick a quantity that fits your budget and estimated demand.

You can also consider taking pre-orders for your merch to gauge interest and avoid having excess inventory.

Platform/Store Setup: $0 – $300

If you sell on the Knife Shift Merch Marketplace, you won’t have upfront costs and can experience big savings and convenience. However, if you go with Shopify or another e-commerce solution on your own site, you might pay around $29/month for basic plans or ecommerce add-ons, plus maybe $10-$20 to buy a custom domain or theme extras. For a small campaign, let’s assume around $0 upfront when you choose our no-fee marketplace.

Marketing: $0 – $200

Promoting your merch can mostly be done with the tools you already have (social media, email, in-store signage). You might allocate a small budget for boosted posts on Instagram (even $50 can reach a lot of local people) or for printing some nice flyers/posters for your restaurant ($50-$100 at a local print shop). These aren’t strictly necessary, but a little marketing spend can help jumpstart sales. Also, you may want to spend a bit of budget on product photography for your items, though a few snaps from a quality phone camera in good lighting should do the job just fine to start.

Total Estimated Budget: If you opt for a print-on-demand approach, you could realistically launch with under $300 out-of-pocket (mostly design and sample costs, plus maybe some marketing). If you go the local print route with some inventory, you might be looking at around $2,000 to get a nice assortment of items and sizes in hand. It’s up to you how big or small you want to start. You can always scale up and use profits from the first batch of sales to fund the next round of production, making restaurant merch a self-sustaining revenue channel for you.

Now that we have a sense of budget, let’s get into how to make your campaign happen.

Step 1: Plan Your Merch Strategy and Pick Your Products

Before diving into designs, take a step back and plan out your merchandise strategy. Start by deciding what kind of merch makes sense for your restaurant’s brand and your customers. We know that basic apparel items (t-shirts, hoodies, caps) are usually go-to choices for merch, but the success of a campaign that relies on these items alone will often depend on the quality and style of the selections. 

As an example, consider if your customers are likely to prefer products with a fitted and sleek look, a streetwear appearance, a workwear feel, or maybe an athleisure style. Based on that, you can browse through catalogs from manufacturers of blank apparel to review the varieties of base model clothing or accessory items you could source for customization. Certain manufacturers, like Bella+Canvas, LA Apparel, and Independent Trading Co. (to name a few) produce a wide variety of options and likely carry styles that will suit what you decide is best.

Beyond the common items, we encourage you to think about other product categories that may match your vibe:

Less Common Apparel or Fits: Articles like jackets, shorts, cropped tops and hoodies, or accessories such as watch bands, sneakers, earrings, and pins can all be attention grabbing and unique.

Artwork: Commissioning original artwork for your food business and having prints, posters, or other art formats like printed ceramic tiles or framed menus made may be worthwhile.

Ceramics & Crafted Products: Custom pottery, glassware, and wood crafted items are all possible options to develop with local artists or craftspeople and produce in small-batches.

Thematic Goods: If your brand connects with nature or outdoor activities in some way then maybe gear like hiking socks, water bottles, bicycle jerseys, etc. could be a good fit. Similarly, if your brand is connected to something like skateboarding or surfing items, then streetwear, boardshorts, and products made from recycled boards could all make for solid matches to appeal to the cultures.

When choosing products, consider what your fans would actually use and love.

 

Step 2: Make Designs That Stand Out (Don’t Skimp on the Artwork)

Great merch needs great design. Once you know what items you want, focus on designing artwork that people will be excited to wear or display. This is where you should prioritize creativity and have fun.

A clever design can turn a simple t-shirt into a must-have item. Here’s how to tackle the design phase:

Use Your Brand Identity: Start with your restaurant’s existing branding. Do you have a fun slogan, catchy names for your dishes, or notable interior design that guests love? Brainstorm ways to remix or feature these on merch so your products display more than just your logo. Consistency with your restaurant’s look and feel is important, but you can have some fun, too, so that the items feel like their own thing and not just an ad.

Get Creative: Besides riffing on the official branding of your restaurant, think about the story behind your food business. What’s been important to you while you’ve built the business? Maybe you have a specific tattoo you got to commemorate some milestone along your business’ growth and you can spin off that design. Perhaps your business’ name comes from a memory that can spark a design idea. Or maybe your building’s location is especially meaningful to you and the community and can be captured in a piece.

Source a Talented Designer: If you’re not an artist yourself, we encourage you to try to work with someone nearby to have a personal connection during the process. It’s worth first asking your staff if anyone does design work. If not, you can reach out to community arts centers, chat with artists at tattoo shops, ask around print shops, or visit an art fair to see if anyone’s style catches your eye. Instagram and Reddit are great ways to find local artists, too, if you browse by location. Freelance platforms such as Fiverr, Upwork, and Contra are good sources of graphic designers with transparent rates and licensing terms, and allow you to work with a broader pool of people from around the world as well.

Review Technical Design Elements: Make sure to tell your designer about the product type, material, and color of items you want your design to appear on. This will dictate technical considerations for your design such as the light/dark contrasts chosen, number of colors used, thickness of lines, shading, and more. What may look good on a screen can feel wrong when it’s actually on t-shirts or hoodies of different sizes. Ask your designer to share mock-ups showing the artwork on the merch items, if possible. 

Avoid AI Tools: Fans appreciate authenticity and respect effort. That’s probably why they like your food and business so much. So, while AI generators can sometimes be useful to spark or workshop ideas, they often miss the mark for capturing your brand’s personality. They are also lacking when it comes to generating print-ready graphics.

Frontload the funds and effort to source quality artwork and you’ll set yourself up for making merch that practically sells itself.

Step 3: Choose Your Production Method 

With your items chosen and designs ready, it’s time to start producing your gear. For the scope of this article, we’re assuming that your restaurant merch campaign is focused on selling branded apparel. So we’ll cover common apparel customization options.

When it comes to apparel customization, there are different technologies to choose from, each suited for different needs:

Screen Printing: Ideal for larger orders (generally 25+ units) and simpler designs with fewer colors. Screen printing offers vibrant, long-lasting prints and benefits from economies of scale with lower costs per item when ordering in bulk.

Direct-to-Garment (DTG): Good for small runs or designs with many colors or intricate details. It’s a useful solution if you want to print a photo onto a garment, for example. For larger orders, DTG can be more expensive per piece compared to bulk screen printing but it is cost-effective for small batches or single-item orders.

Embroidery: An awesome option for hats, jackets, and heavier weight premium apparel. Embroidery is typically going to have relatively high per-unit costs and require simpler design elements. However, it provides an upscale look that makes it an ideal option for special items or limited collections.

Once you understand your customization options and confirm your designs are suitable for your chosen method with your designer, there are a couple of main ways to produce your restaurant merch: working with a local print shop or using a print-on-demand (POD) service.

Local Print Shops – Hands-On Quality:

Local print shops often offer screen printing and embroidery, and collaborating with them will allow you to do quality-control firsthand. You can touch fabrics, review samples of prints, and assess print clarity all right in your neighborhood.. 

They’re also an accessible source of knowledge, and can frequently guide you through their standard production processes and advise on what choices they find work well at different price points. Buying locally means that you will have inventory immediately available, support another local business, and develop a relationship for future print runs when sales go well. However, choosing a local print shop requires upfront investment in inventory, making it essential to choose designs and products you’re confident customers will love.

Print-On-Demand (POD) – Flexibility & Low Upfront Costs:

If upfront inventory investment or managing physical stock feels daunting, POD services (such as Printify or Gelato) provide flexibility. 

POD typically uses DTG or embroidery customization solutions and items are made and shipped directly to customers as orders come in, removing the risk of unsold inventory. That said, POD will likely result in higher per-item costs and potentially slower shipping, which could impact customer experience for your merch campaign. Additionally, because you can't inspect each product before shipping, obtaining test samples before listing your products is crucial to make sure the design comes out appropriately.

It's worth noting that many POD providers do offer minor bulk-order discounts. So, if you don't have a preferred local printer or want to take advantage of the benefits of DTG printing technology for your design with cost savings, you can still order inventory from your POD provider at reduced rates and have it shipped directly to your location. This hybrid model allows you some of the flexibility of POD services, with inventory on hand for quicker fulfillment or in-person sales.

Combined Approach for Different Products:

Many merchandisers find success combining these approaches. You might produce core apparel locally (like your bestselling t-shirts or embroidered hats) to maintain stock for immediate sales and ensure quality control. However, you can also use POD to handle products with designs better suited to DTG printing or to access base model items that your local shop doesn’t source.

Ultimately, review your options and designs to select the production method and printing technologies that align best with your budget, product strategy, and the customer experience you want to deliver. When in doubt, we suggest you at least drop by your local print-shop to have a conversation.

Step 4: Check Quality and Get Samples

No matter which production route you choose, always test the quality before you start selling your restaurant merch. The last thing you want is to find out your graphic fades after one wash or that the print came out off-center after you’ve put 20 items for sale. Avoid those headaches by reviewing samples or ordering a small first batch.

If You’re Using a Local Print Shop: It can be costly to request a single sample print from a local screenprinting shop due to the set-up involved for the technique. It’s more practical to ask to see samples from previous printing runs to get a sense of the shop’s consistency and execution. Many local printers have sample garments or test prints available so you can inspect the quality of their work. Additionally, some shops may allow you to visit on the actual printing day to approve the first printed item before they proceed with the full run. This approach lets you confirm print placement, colors, and quality without incurring excessive costs. You can also consider printing a smaller batch of items for the first run before committing to a larger number of items for subsequent print runs.

If You’re Using Print-On-Demand: Most POD services allow (and encourage) ordering samples at cost. It’s a great idea to do this for each design on each product type you plan to sell. It might take several days to receive the samples, but once they arrive, do the thorough quality check: printing clarity, color accuracy, material quality, etc. Try on the apparel to check the fit and feel, since you’ll want to be confident when customers ask “How do the sizes run?” Essentially, you’re conducting a mini quality control audit. If something is off, consider switching to a different product type or print provider on the service you’re using. There are lots of POD companies, so find one that meets the standard you’re happy with.

Taking the time to quality control your merch prevents negative customer experiences down the line and gives you confidence in the products you’re selling. You’ll feel proud to promote your merch knowing it’s up to par. Once you’re satisfied with the samples, you’re ready to start getting your gear out into the world.

Step 5: Set Up Your Online Store and Sales Channel

Now that you have your restaurant merch ready to go, you need a way to get it to customers. 

If you have a physical location for your business, then you can certainly sell items in person. That may require some effort to set up product listings in your POS system and build out an attractive display where customers can see the merchandise. Additionally, using floor or wall space for a display case may be impossible depending on your particular building. It could also be a poor brand fit based on the in-person hospitality experience you typically provide diners.

So, to reach a wider audience (and make it easy for anyone to buy), you’ll want to set up an appropriate way to sell restaurant merch online. There are a few options here.

Sell Merch on Your Website (Good Option but Room for Improvement):

Many businesses sell their restaurant merch on their own website. It’s a good option and can provide you with direct control over how products are presented and what the sales process looks like. But, the approach suffers from a few drawbacks.

First, selling restaurant merch is not your primary business or revenue driver. So, the main action you probably want website visitors to take is to make a reservation to dine with you or a booking for a special event. Any portion of your website meant to sell merch is going to be on a separate tab or page that’s  not especially emphasized. It can be challenging for fans to figure out where to go to buy products to support you, even if they’re specifically looking to do so.

Second, your business’ website may not be well suited for ecommerce or it could be costly to sell products on. Depending on the platform you use for your site, it may require significant time and money to have staff or a contractor create your digital merch campaign if the ecommerce interface isn’t intuitive to use. Additionally, ecommerce may be considered an add-on feature on certain website platforms. That means you’ll need to invest money to begin selling without knowing if the ROI will be worth it.

Third-Party Food Ordering Platforms (Subpar Option):

Another option we see food businesses using to sell restaurant merch online is to list it beside their menu items on third-party ordering platforms. For example, you may have a section for appetizers, main dishes, desserts, and then a portion of the menu listings specifically for Merch. 

This is a poor solution for a number of reasons.

Again, when customers are browsing these platforms looking to get food delivered they are very unlikely to also add a t-shirt or piece of merch alongside their meal order. It’s not what they’re searching for at the moment and so the listings would need to be especially compelling to get them to make an impulsive purchase.

Merch listings on delivery or ordering platforms do not frequently present well either. They usually have tiny thumbnail images and little-to-no description about the design, item quality, or story behind the merch. So this sales method doesn’t build emotional connection, which is the main reason customers want to buy merch in the first place. Take this listing for example…what’s the likelihood you would spend money on this t-shirt when placing your Uber Eats order?

Finally, the fees for sales made on these platforms can be as high as 30% and deeply cut into any profit margin you may have for the merchandise items sold. Of course, that can put a damper on the value of all the hard work and time you spent to launch your merch campaign.

 

Conclusion: Enable Your Fans to be Brand Ambassadors

Creating your own line of restaurant merch and selling online can seem daunting, but it’s very manageable when you take it one step at a time. To recap: plan out your merch line with items your customers will love, invest in great designs (and avoid shortcuts like generic AI art) to make your merch stand out, choose the production method that fits your budget and quality standards, and then sell it on a convenient platform (remember, Knife Shift can help get your shop up and running in no time). With a bit of promotion and a lot of enthusiasm, your loyal diners will proudly be repping your brand and turning heads with your great looks.

And, if you need any help, we’re always happy to weigh in and offer what support we can! Please feel free to contact us for a hand.