How to Use Shopify for Restaurants
How to Use Shopify for Restaurants: A Practical UK Guide
Shopify POS is primarily an e-commerce and retail platform, so it's worth being honest upfront: it is not a full restaurant management system. It won't handle table layouts, kitchen display screens, or split bills out of the box. However, for UK restaurant owners who want to sell products online, run click-and-collect orders, or shift merchandise alongside their in-person service, Shopify POS at £89/month can genuinely earn its place.
Where Shopify POS Actually Makes Sense for Restaurants
The strongest use cases are hybrid revenue streams that go beyond the dining room. Think meal kits, bottled sauces, branded merchandise, gift vouchers, and pre-ordered food boxes — all things you can sell online and fulfil in-house. If your restaurant is purely table service with no retail or online angle, Shopify is probably not the right fit and you'd be better served by a hospitality-focused system.
Where it does shine is connecting your online shop with a physical till. The Shopify POS app runs on iOS and Android, is quick to learn, and keeps your online and in-person inventory in sync automatically — a real practical benefit if you're selling, say, a limited batch of homemade chutney both in the restaurant and on your website.
What to Actually Sell Online
Here are realistic products and services UK restaurant owners are using Shopify to sell:
- Click-and-collect meal kits — customers order and pay online, collect at a set time. Works especially well for Friday evening collections or special seasonal menus.
- Gift vouchers — Shopify has built-in digital gift card functionality, letting customers buy and redeem vouchers seamlessly. Great for boosting cash flow ahead of quieter periods.
- Branded merchandise — tote bags, mugs, aprons, cookbooks. Low volume but high margin, and good for brand loyalty.
- Bottled products and pantry items — if you produce your own hot sauce, preserves, or coffee blends, Shopify handles stock, payments, and shipping cleanly.
- Pre-paid dining experiences — ticketed supper clubs or tasting menus sold as fixed-price bookings via your online store.
Setting It Up for Your Restaurant
Start by building your Shopify online store, adding your products with clear photos and descriptions. For click-and-collect, use Shopify's built-in local pickup option at checkout — customers choose their collection slot and you receive the order notification directly. Keep the process simple and confirm orders by email or SMS.
Install the Shopify POS app on a tablet or smartphone at your front-of-house. Staff training is minimal; the interface is clean and intuitive. Use it primarily for processing retail sales or voucher redemptions in-person, not as your main table-service till — that's not what it's designed for.
For taking payments in-person, Shopify has its own card reader, though if your team already uses Zettle or SumUp for card payments, it's worth noting these won't integrate natively with Shopify POS. Shopify works best with its own payments hardware in this regard.
Connecting Your Accounts and Back-Office Tools
For accounting, Xero (from £15/month) integrates directly with Shopify and is Making Tax Digital compliant, pulling your sales data through automatically to simplify your VAT returns. Sage Accounting (also from £15/month) is another solid MTD-compliant option with strong UK bank integrations if you prefer it. Either will save you significant time at quarter-end.
If you run table bookings separately — which most restaurants will — ResDiary at £69/month is worth considering alongside Shopify. The two don't integrate directly, but they serve very different purposes: Shopify handles your online sales and retail, ResDiary manages covers and reservations. Keep them separate and each does its job well.
For staff scheduling around click-and-collect peak times, Deputy (from £6/month per user) integrates with UK payroll and helps you plan shifts without overcomplicating your rota. If you're sending marketing emails to customers who've bought online, Mailchimp's free tier connects to Shopify and includes GDPR consent tools, which matters for any UK business collecting customer data.
The Honest Verdict
For most UK restaurants, Shopify POS will not replace your core hospitality system — and it shouldn't try to. But if you have a genuine retail or online sales component, it is one of the cleanest platforms for managing that side of the business. The unified inventory across online and in-person sales alone can save meaningful admin time each week.
Start with a clear idea of what you're actually selling online and whether your volume justifies £89/month. If you're just getting started with click-and-collect or online gift vouchers, it may well do exactly what you need — just go in with realistic expectations about what it won't do at the table.