🕒 6.5 min read

 You’re already familiar with the countless ways to support restaurants, bars, cafes, bakeries, breweries and other food/drink businesses right now: Order takeout/delivery whenever you can (order directly from the eatery’s website when possible; even better, pick up the phone), pack your pantry/fridge/freezer with luscious restaurant fare, skip the LCBO and shop local bottle shops, purchase gift cards, post photos of your orders, etc.

Another way to show your love and appreciation: merch. Much like your beloved concert tees and jackets, apparel from your favourite dive bar, burger joint, and date night haunt, is a fun, fab way to support these places while keeping your fit game on point. 

Branded clothing and accessories used to be a costly and largely ineffective way to market a hospitality biz, but time’s have changed, and out of the ashes of the pandemic has risen a movement of unwavering support from the public for theses cornerstones of our communities, our lives.

The days of pricey garb made of flimsy material in unflattering hues with logos that barely hung in after a few washes are long gone, replaced with quality, fashion-forward items that complement your carefully curated closet. Think stretchy tees that go with everything, slick hoodies you want to live in, dope toques and snapbacks in heavy rotation, stylish totes that do triple duty (because wine, books, and takeout won’t carry themselves).

Take a look:

Shop fresh tops from heavy hitters such as Beast, Donna’s, The Federal, and Paradise on Bloor/Osteria Rialto, as well as the Toronto Restaurant Workers Relief Fund, from the comfort of home at Off Menu. The restaurant apparel co. produces the items for these small independents, sells them on their site, then donates 100 per cent of the profits to each business. No joke, no loopholes, it’s the real deal. You buy a sweet item, the restaurant benefits. Win-win.

Brunette is another one-stop shop for cool clothes from Montreal institutions such as St-Viateur Bagel and Joe Beef, as well as Toronto’s own Dreyfus and Sanagan’s Meat Locker.

See You Soon Toronto’s crewnecks, premium tees, hoodies and other threads might not be from any eateries, but money from your purchase is used to buy meals from Toronto restaurants at full price, which are then donated to frontline and essential workers across the city, so your purchases do benefit local eateries directly.

Many establishments have set up online stores on their own websites - Antler Kitchen + Bar, El Rey, Maderas Café, The Real Jerk, The Rex Hotel Jazz and Blues Bar, Saulter Street Brewery, White Lily Diner - while others prefer you message before dropping by to pick up your gear - hats and hoodies from The Heartbreak Chef, Rasta Pasta t-shirts, snapbacks from Square Boy, for instance.

Resto attire isn’t limited to just tops and caps, though you’re going to want to cram your closet full with these items, as many are available for a limited-time. Up your mask game with face coverings from Frank’s Pizza House, Horseshoe Tavern, and The Pilot. Fill out your wardrobe with stellar totes from Burdock Brewery, Contra Café, and Paris Paris, a coach jacket from Matty’s Patty’s Burger Club, Islas Filipino BBQ & Bar sweatpants, flip flops and fanny packs from Farside. There’s even motorcycle gear (Black Road Coffee Roasters) and dog collar (The Indie Alehouse).

And since we’re spending so much time indoors, it’s time to spruce up the joint with some new housewares. Shop covetable home goods such as glassware from Bandit Brewery and Birreria Volo, ceramic mugs from FIKA, travel tumblers from Propeller Coffee, insulated growlers from Junction Craft Brewery, camp mugs from Morning Parade Coffee Bar, drink koozies from Sneaky Dee’s, and wine opener from Union. There’s home décor too, by way of cool “essentials” like prayer candles from The Vatican Gift Shop and hand thrown catch all from Baddies.

Of course it goes without saying, all this swag makes sensational gifts for family, friends, and colleagues. Just keep in mind that many items are available in limited editions and often for a limited time, so act fast. (At Christmas, King’s Noodle put up some of their dinnerware for sale. It’s rare that a restaurant’s plateware is up for grabs, so I leapt at the chance to get a piece of Toronto history. Nine pieces, actually.)

This is just the beginning. Ask your neighbourhood spots what they’ve got in stock. Don’t do merch, they say? Maybe enough interest will spur a few limited runs to test the waters. Let’s turn the streets into runways featuring levelled up fits by our local hangs and favourite watering holes and support them through this crisis.

The fact that we look good while we’re at it? Yet another reason we love these people and places so damn much.

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Discover more ideas in Outstanding Gifts for Food Lovers.

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