Starting a fast casual restaurant merch shop takes five steps and about an hour of setup time. Brand audit, storefront launch, staff uniform line, customer merch line, and growth. The same Pro Shops storefront covers both the staff uniform and the customer-facing brand merch. No inventory, no minimum order, $10 to $15 of margin per piece. Most restaurants see the first sale within a week of launch. Below is the step-by-step launch process.
Pull the brand assets together before signing up. Logo as a print-ready PNG with a transparent background. Secondary logo or icon if available. Primary brand color and the two-color secondary palette. Typography for any wordmark. One-paragraph brand voice that describes the concept.
If the brand assets do not exist, this is the time to create them. A restaurant brand without a clean logo and a defined color palette cannot run a merch line that reads professional.
Visit shops.beargrips.com and create the restaurant account. Three plan options:
For restaurants planning both staff uniform and customer merch, the Self-Service VIP plan is the right starting plan.
Add the staff uniform products as a private collection accessed via order code. Core five pieces:
Share the staff order code with each new hire. They click the link, pick their size, and the uniform ships in about a week.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.Add the customer-facing merch as a public-facing collection. Core five pieces:
Promote the storefront with a QR code at the counter, on every receipt, on the restaurant website navigation, and in social media posts.
The merch line scales across quarters with new drops:
Each new drop generates fresh marketing content, new customer orders, and ongoing revenue. The storefront stays open between drops for evergreen orders.
| Restaurant Size | Staff Uniform Margin | Customer Merch Margin | Annual Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single location, 12 staff | $400 | $800 to $1,800 | $1,200 to $2,200 |
| Single location, 25 staff, loyal customer base | $700 | $1,500 to $3,500 | $2,200 to $4,200 |
| Two locations, 40 staff, strong brand | $1,200 | $3,000 to $6,500 | $4,200 to $7,700 |
| Three locations, 60 staff, viral concept | $1,800 | $6,000 to $14,000 | $7,800 to $15,800 |
The staff uniform margin is modest but consistent. The customer merch margin scales with brand strength and customer engagement.
Every Pro Shops account includes an affiliate link. A restaurant owner who refers another restaurant (a fellow operator in the same market, a friend opening a new concept) earns ten percent of the referred restaurant subscription forever plus one dollar per unit the referred restaurant sells. Paid by Bear Grips. For owners active in the local restaurant operator community, the affiliate income often adds $500 to $2,000 per year.
Free signup, $10 to $15 margin per piece. Staff uniform and customer merch from one branded storefront.
Start FreeSign up at shops.beargrips.com. Upload the brand assets. Launch the staff uniform as a private collection. Launch the customer merch as a public collection. Promote the storefront with QR codes and social media. The launch takes about an hour.
No. The platform runs on print-on-demand. Each piece prints and ships when the customer or staff orders it. The restaurant holds zero stock.
A single-location restaurant with 12 staff and a modest customer base earns $1,200 to $2,200 of annual margin. A multi-location restaurant with strong brand engagement earns $4,000 to $15,000 or more. The customer merch margin scales with brand strength.
Free plan is zero per month. Self-Service VIP at $59 per month covers most restaurants with two hundred live products. Done-For-You VIP at $109 per month includes the full setup managed by an advisor.
Bear Grips Pro Shops