California’s new social currency is hard-to-get restaurant merch

In 2022, Bell’s, a Michelin-starred French bistro in the low-key Santa Ynez Valley town of Los Alamos, released a playful royal-blue sweatshirt emblazoned with hot-pink block letters. The sweatshirt asked simply, “C’est bon?” on the front, meaning, “It’s good?” and answered proudly, “C’est bon!” on the back. Inspired by the typography of the restaurant Vivant in Paris, a favorite of the owners, the humble item is now long gone — but not forgotten.

“People still ask about it all the time,” says Greg Ryan, who co-owns Bell’s with his wife, Daisy Ryan, a 2020 Food & Wine Best New Chef winner. “It’s been GOAT’ed, as our son would say.”

The “C’est bon” sweatshirt is just one coveted item of merch that the 8-year-old restaurant has released over the years — and its mental and emotional staying power with customers is indicative of how California bar and restaurant merchandise has gone from simply a T-shirt or hat with a logo slapped on it to truly bespoke pieces that diners covet. What became a lifeline during the pandemic, when restaurants were desperate to sell quite simply anything amidst multiple closures, has become something bigger.

In other words, gone are the days of collecting restaurant pens. It’s all about buying merch now.

According to strategist and “Brandy” podcast co-host Reilly Newman, whose Paso Robles-based branding and design company Motif Brands has worked with restaurants, bars and food brands, merch can be a powerful restaurant tool, but first and foremost, it needs to be thoughtful to be effective.

“What really bad merch does is just put a logo on a shirt,” Newman says. “We need it to feel lifestyle, to be something people want to wear on the weekends when they’re playing pickleball or out with friends. Restaurants and bars are already in the lifestyle lane. They need to think about it as a brand extension.” 

It seems like restaurant merch is suddenly everywhere, from TV shows to the secondhand vintage market. Some items, like the trucker hats from Manhattan Beach sports bar Shellback Tavern, have become status symbols. Even a casual poll on Instagram had people spouting off their favorites, from fine-dining LA restaurant Camphor’s Indian Wells tennis tournament tees to the light-hearted weed-themed gear at High St. Deli in San Luis Obispo. One thing is clear: Great merch makes diners feel like they’re part of a club, akin to golf fanatics who obsess over getting the right course’s pro shop merch.    

For Ryan’s restaurant group Companion Hospitality, the merchandise Bell’s and its sister properties have sold over the years — such as a “au poivre”-themed collaboration with Los Angeles-based hat company Mister Parmesan, a T-shirt saying “Oui Got This” during the pandemic and an “A California connection” hat with LA menswear store Brother Brother — has clearly tapped into diners’ psyches. More recent drops include a Bell’s hat with a simple drawing of a snail on the front, and a “Weekend Wine Club” tote at the wine bar Bodega.

Ultimately, the merchandise doesn’t really move the bottom line, but it has certainly helped to build the community around Bell’s.

“One year we did $50,000 in merchandise, which is nothing to scoff at. That’s about a week of sales for us,” Ryan says. “But ultimately it’s for marketing.”

He adds, “I got a text from a friend this morning saying they saw someone wearing a Bell’s hat in Minnesota.”

Other restaurant and bar owners see the value in merchandise and how it can project a restaurant’s brand far and wide. Lily Rosenthal is the co-owner of new LA diner sensation Max & Helen’s, along with her father (Netflix star Phil Rosenthal), her husband (chef Mason Royal) and iconic chef Nancy Silverton. Rosenthal oversaw the development of sweatshirts, hats, tees and heavy diner mugs emblazoned with the charming Max & Helen’s logo, a drawing of her paternal grandparents for whom the restaurant is named.

“There’s truly nothing better than good restaurant merch. It’s cooler to me to have niche restaurant merch than concert merch,” Rosenthal says.

According to Rosenthal, Max & Helen’s sells around 60 shirts and 40 hats a week and is about to release baby tees and tank tops for summer. The team worked with a design firm to make everything feel classic but not “too on the nose of being an old-school diner.” 

“You don’t have to physically be at the restaurant to rep the restaurant,” she says. “Our neighborhood wants to rep us, and we really appreciate that.”

Even more-established institutions are getting in on the game. Up in San Francisco, 57-year-old legend Perry’s, which started in Cow Hollow and now has four Bay Area locations, has long been making branded T-shirts for staff. According to Aldy Butler, son of founder Perry Butler, it was about “seven or eight” years ago that the restaurant really started to focus on merch with customers in mind, instead of simply creating uniforms.

“We have a Pride shirt, an Americana-themed Fourth of July shirt, a Warriors-themed shirt, a Giants opening game day shirt,” Butler says. “People will come in and see one of the hosts wearing one and want to buy it.”

Perry’s has also teamed up with renowned artist (and restaurant regular) Michael Schwab on a series of limited-edition posters. The most recent one is of the iconic Perry’s martini.

“We printed just 10 of the first-run edition and had them signed by Michael and Perry to create this really premium limited item,” Butler says. “We just ordered another 100 to be printed.” 

Nearby on Union Street, the 126-year-old SF watering hole the Bus Stop Saloon has been leaning heavily into merch of late, especially since Joseph Wallace and Robert Lemons took ownership in 2021.

“Honestly, it was one of the first things I was excited to do when we took over the bar,” Wallace says.

They’ve done sweatshirts, T-shirts, button-down shirts and hats, including limited-edition drops like a hat for last year’s NBA All-Star game in San Francisco, as well as one for this year’s Masters Tournament. (“My mom called me and said, ‘I need one of those hats,’” Wallace says of the latter.)

Wallace has seen an uptick in operators across California doing more thoughtful merchandise. “There’s definitely this attraction to owning something that represents the bar you love, or the restaurant you love,” he says. “What we tapped into was creating high-quality merch that people can get excited about.”

Back down in Los Angeles, Belle’s Bagels, Delicatessen & Bar in Highland Park also recently debuted new deli-themed T-shirts and totes, a collaboration with musician Jeremiah Chiu and illustrator Clay Hickson. There are also a couple of “bagel” hats, which simply say “plain” or “everything.” Aside from their obvious tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, the new items also fuel a more significant purpose for owners J.D. Rocchio and Nick Schreiber.

“A little higher up for us is the deli preservation project aspect of Belle’s,” Rocchio says. “People are losing delis everywhere. We thought maybe we could pay homage to some of those spots that have closed.”

For operators like Ryan of Companion Hospitality, there’s still a simpler reason to make merch: to give their customers a tangible memento of their meal.

“We’re obviously a remote destination,” Ryan says of Bell’s, tucked into wine country almost halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. “When we started, we were just trying to find an opportunity to offer guests something to take with them.”