Shopify for Restaurants: Themes, Integrations & Apps That Drive Sales

Sid B
May 16, 2025
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The restaurant world has gone digital—and fast. Whether you’re a cozy brunch café, a fast-casual spot, or a multi-location cloud kitchen, diners now expect more than just delicious food. They want seamless online ordering, easy delivery or pickup options, and personalized experiences from start to finish.

That’s exactly where Shopify comes in. Once known as a platform for eCommerce brands, Shopify has quickly evolved into a powerful engine for food businesses. From building a beautiful digital menu to managing local delivery and tracking orders, Shopify makes it easier than ever for restaurants to go online—and grow online.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to launch or level up your restaurant store on Shopify:

  • The best restaurant-friendly Shopify themes
  • How to integrate POS and delivery platforms
  • Powerful apps from Skai Lama that can increase your average order value (AOV), improve customer retention, and more

Why Use Shopify for Restaurants?

Shopify isn’t just for product-based eCommerce brands anymore—it’s become a robust, scalable platform for restaurants of all sizes. Here’s why more food entrepreneurs and hospitality brands are choosing Shopify to power their digital storefronts:

Quick Setup with Minimal Tech Hassle

No need to hire a developer or wait weeks to go live. With Shopify, you can launch a fully functional restaurant website in a few hours—complete with a digital menu, local delivery options, and built-in checkout.

All-in-One Platform

Manage everything from a single dashboard: online orders, curbside pickups, table reservations, gift card campaigns, and even loyalty programs. Shopify’s ecosystem is designed to keep operations streamlined, whether you run a single location or multiple outlets.

Flexible Sales Channels

You can sell across multiple channels—your website, mobile, social media, and even in-person using Shopify POS. Perfect for restaurants offering takeout, delivery, catering, or even merchandise.

Built-In Marketing Tools

Shopify offers built-in SEO features, abandoned cart recovery, email marketing, and integrations with Google and Meta Ads. This makes it easier to get found by hungry local customers and convert them into regulars.

Restaurant-Friendly App Ecosystem

From online ordering to loyalty programs, the Shopify App Store is full of restaurant-specific apps—like Zapiet Eats, TableCheck, and Skai Lama’s suite—to help you optimize and grow.

Top 5 Shopify Restaurant Themes

Choosing the right Shopify theme is crucial—it’s your digital dining room. The look, feel, and functionality of your site shape how customers browse your menu and place their orders. Whether you're offering gourmet takeout or operating a multi-location eatery, these themes are designed with restaurants in mind:

1. Local (by Troop Themes)

Best for: Farm-to-table restaurants, neighborhood eateries
Why it works:

  • Clean, warm design with strong storytelling elements
  • Built-in support for local delivery & pickup
  • Great for showcasing food photography
  • Ideal for brands with a strong community presence

2. Crave (Free from Shopify)

Best for: Food trucks, fast-casual brands
Why it works:

  • Bold and colorful layout tailored for food & beverage
  • Optimized for mobile-first experiences
  • Features quick add-to-cart and intuitive menu browsing
  • Lightweight and performance-focused

3. Express (Free from Shopify)

Best for: Simple menus, takeaway orders
Why it works:

  • One-page layout perfect for quick orders
  • Speedy browsing and checkout
  • Ideal for single-location restaurants or cloud kitchens
  • Easily customizable without code

4. Flow (by Eight)

Best for: Upscale or modern restaurants
Why it works:

  • High-impact visuals and clean typography
  • Strong branding elements
  • Section-based layout great for storytelling
  • Built-in features for promotions and collections

5. Dawn (Free from Shopify)

Best for: Restaurants just starting out
Why it works:

  • Flexible, minimalist design that works for any cuisine
  • Easy drag-and-drop customization
  • Fast-loading and great for SEO
  • A solid starting point with room to grow

Each of these themes is fully responsive, fast-loading, and Shopify 2.0-ready, meaning you can customize without touching a single line of code. Choose one that reflects your brand's personality and menu style, then pair it with the right apps to maximize its potential.

Integrating Shopify with POS & Delivery Systems

A great restaurant experience doesn’t end at the kitchen—it’s powered by what happens behind the scenes. Shopify makes it easy to connect your online store with POS systems and delivery services, so orders are seamless, inventory is synced, and customers stay happy.

Shopify POS for Restaurants

Shopify POS is a game-changer for restaurants that want to unify in-store and online operations.

Key benefits:

  • Unified inventory across dine-in, takeaway, and delivery
  • Tipping support, both online and at checkout
  • On-the-go payments for pop-ups or food trucks
  • Integrates with Shopify’s backend, so customer data and order history stay in one place

Best for:
Cafés, fast-casual restaurants, multi-location chains, and food trucks

Delivery App Integrations

With rising demand for delivery, integrating the right platforms is critical. Shopify supports both native and third-party apps that make managing delivery effortless.

Recommended apps:

Zapiet: Eats – Food Delivery

  • Set delivery zones and fees
  • Offer scheduled deliveries
  • Manage local pickups
  • Real-time syncing with Shopify inventory

TableCheck & Orderlord

  • Reservation + table management
  • Kitchen routing and delivery tracking
  • Sync with POS and delivery apps like Uber Eats or DoorDash

POS System Integrations

Shopify integrates with popular restaurant POS platforms, including:

  • Square
  • Clover
  • Lightspeed
  • TouchBistro (via third-party middleware)

These integrations ensure:

  • Real-time updates across channels
  • Fewer manual entry errors
  • Consolidated reporting and insights

By connecting your store to delivery and POS systems, you're not just making your life easier—you’re delivering a better, faster experience to your customers.

How Skai Lama Apps Help Restaurant Stores on Shopify

Skai Lama’s suite of Shopify apps is built to help merchants increase average order value (AOV), streamline the checkout process, boost customer loyalty, and create memorable shopping experiences. For restaurants, these tools can be the secret ingredient to more efficient operations and higher revenue.

Here’s how each app fits into a restaurant’s Shopify toolkit:

Kite – Incentivize Bigger Orders with Smart Offers

Use Case: Offer a free drink or dessert when customers spend over a certain amount or add specific combos to their cart.
Example: “Spend $25 and get a free brownie!”
Great for: Upselling on minimum spend, promoting slow-moving items, boosting AOV.

Easy Bundles – Create Customizable Meal Bundles

Use Case: Let customers build their own meal combos—e.g., choose 1 main + 1 side + 1 drink.
Example: “Build Your Lunch Box” bundle
Great for: Meal kits, combo deals, and simplifying large orders.

Byte – Help Guests Choose with a Product Recommender Quiz

Use Case: Offer a fun quiz like “What should I eat today?” or “Find your perfect pasta pairing.”
Example: Byte suggests the best dishes based on preferences like vegetarian, spicy, low-carb, etc.
Great for: New visitors, dietary-specific menus, improving UX.

Checkout Wizard – Upsell at the Finish Line

Use Case: Add a “Make it a combo” or “Add dipping sauce” option right before checkout.
Example: “Would you like to add fries for $2?”
Great for: Last-minute add-ons, extra toppings, sauces, and desserts.

Giftkart – Drive Repeat Orders with Store Credits & Gift Cards

Use Case: Sell digital gift cards or reward repeat customers with cashback/store credit.
Example: “Get $5 store credit when you order 3 times this month.”
Great for: Loyalty rewards, holiday promos, or corporate gifting.

GiftLab – Personalize the Gifting Experience

Use Case: Let customers include custom messages or gift-wrap meals for delivery.
Example: “Add a handwritten note for a birthday meal order.”
Great for: Special occasions, family orders, or meal gifting.

Fly Bundles – Recommend Frequently Ordered Combos

Use Case: Automatically show “Customers also ordered…” style suggestions.
Example: “Most people who ordered Margherita Pizza also got Garlic Bread.”
Great for: Cross-selling, boosting order size with smart suggestions.

Together, these apps help you turn a basic online ordering system into a full-fledged digital restaurant experience—optimized for conversions, retention, and delight.

Marketing Your Restaurant with Shopify

Building your restaurant’s online store is just the beginning. To keep orders rolling in and customers coming back, you’ll need a strong marketing game. Fortunately, Shopify offers powerful tools and integrations to help you grow your reach, drive more sales, and turn casual diners into loyal fans.

1. SEO for Local Discovery

Optimize your site so it ranks when hungry customers search for:

  • “Best sushi delivery in Austin”
  • “Vegan burgers near me”
  • “Order tacos online in Brooklyn”

Tips:

  • Use local keywords in product titles and meta descriptions
  • Add schema for location and hours
  • Create content-rich pages or blogs around local food trends

Bonus: Skai Lama’s apps like Byte and Easy Bundles enhance content and UX—factors that boost SEO.

2. Email & SMS Marketing

Use customer data to send:

  • Order confirmations with upsell suggestions
  • Promo codes for returning customers
  • Reminders to reorder based on behavior

Tools:

  • Shopify Email
  • Klaviyo
  • Postscript (for SMS)

Pair with: Giftkart to offer cashback incentives via email campaigns.

3. Loyalty & Retention Programs

Build customer loyalty with:

  • Digital punch cards or store credits
  • Birthday rewards or VIP perks
  • Referral incentives

App to use:
Giftkart – Store credit campaigns that drive repeat orders

4. Social Media & Influencer Collabs

Sync your Shopify store with:

  • Instagram Shopping: Let people order directly from your post
  • TikTok Shop: Feature menu specials
  • Meta Ads: Target locals with your most popular dishes

5. Retargeting Ads

Use Facebook Pixel or Google Ads to bring visitors back to your store with:

  • Reminder ads (“Still craving Pad Thai?”)
  • Time-sensitive discounts (“Free dessert if you order in 2 hours!”)

6. Seasonal Campaigns

Create quick-turn campaigns with Kite or Checkout Wizard:

  • Valentine’s Day “Dinner for Two” bundle
  • Mother’s Day dessert add-ons
  • Back-to-school lunchbox deals

Marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Start with simple strategies and layer on tools as you grow. Shopify gives you the platform—Skai Lama gives you the edge.

Common Challenges (and How Shopify Solves Them)

Running a restaurant isn’t just about great food—it’s about juggling operations, managing staff, keeping orders flowing, and making sure the tech doesn’t crash during peak hours. Shopify, along with powerful apps like those from Skai Lama, helps you tackle these real-world challenges head-on.

Challenge #1: Managing Order Spikes

The Problem: During lunch rush or dinner hours, order volumes can skyrocket, leading to slowdowns or missed tickets.

The Solution:

  • Shopify’s infrastructure scales effortlessly, even during peak times.
  • Shopify POS syncs real-time orders from dine-in, takeaway, and delivery.
  • Zapiet Eats ensures scheduled orders don’t overwhelm the kitchen.

Challenge #2: Inventory Syncing

The Problem: Items sell out, but the menu doesn’t update fast enough, frustrating customers.

The Solution:

  • Shopify automatically updates inventory across channels.
  • Fly Bundles and Easy Bundles pull from the same inventory pool to avoid overselling.
  • Integration with POS systems like Square or Clover ensures all stock is synced.

Challenge #3: Low Margins and AOV

The Problem: Restaurants often run on thin margins and need to increase the average ticket size to stay profitable.

The Solution:

  • Use Kite to offer spend-based rewards (e.g., “Free soda on $20+ orders”).
  • Checkout Wizard helps you upsell extras like toppings or drinks.
  • Fly Bundles suggest “frequently ordered together” combos to boost AOV.

Challenge #4: Multi-Channel Delivery Management

The Problem: Managing in-house, third-party, and local delivery logistics can be chaotic.

The Solution:

  • Zapiet Eats lets you manage local delivery zones, fees, and pickup windows.
  • Third-party integrations with UberEats, DoorDash, and more keep everything in sync.
  • Shopify's order dashboard gives you full visibility across all channels.

Challenge #5: Customer Retention

The Problem: It’s easier to get a first-time order than to turn that customer into a regular.

The Solution:

  • Giftkart helps you run store credit and cashback campaigns
  • Launch loyalty perks (e.g., “Order 5 times, get $10 off”)
  • Pair with Byte to personalize the menu experience and make diners feel understood

Whether you’re a food truck, a gourmet kitchen, or a ghost kitchen, Shopify + Skai Lama gives you the tools to solve challenges that would otherwise eat into your profits.

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Another popular Shopify checkout app is Checkout Promotions. The app comes with the ability to leverage a collection of highly robust visibility rules that help show customers one-click post purchase upsell promotions after an order payment has been made. Some of its key features include:

Features

AI recommended and manual recommendations for upselling.

Complete branding control.

Checkout Upsell for increasing AOV.

AI recommended and manual recommendations for upselling.

Pricing

Development

Free

Monthly Plan

$99/ month

Plus Plan

$99/ month

Plus Plan

$99/ month

FAQs about Using Shopify for Restaurants

1. Can I use Shopify for dine-in and delivery restaurants?
2. What’s the best Shopify theme for restaurants with large menus?
3. How do I integrate delivery apps like Uber Eats or DoorDash with Shopify?
4. Which Skai Lama apps work best for food & beverage stores?
5. Can I set up tipping or pickup options on Shopify?
6. Do I need coding skills to set up a restaurant store on Shopify?
Sid B

Sid B

Sid is the founder of Skai Lama and The Indian Dream Podcast. He is passionate about building SaaS and talks about eCommerce Growth, 0-1 Startups, Building Businesses and Brands, and Shopify.
Boost Sales on Your Shopify Store
Boost Sales on Your Shopify Store
Bundle Solution for Fixed Bundles, Volume Bundles & Frequently Bought Together
Create Bundles, Quantity Breaks & Upsells
Seamlessly Works in Your Shopify Admin
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The Smartest Bundle App for Shopify
Turn product pages into revenue drivers with Fly’s Bundles, Tiered Discounts, and FBT combos—plus seamless inventory sync and easy onboarding.
Turn product pages into revenue drivers with Fly’s Bundles, Tiered Discounts, and FBT combos—plus seamless inventory sync and easy onboarding.
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