Creating an authority site around the topic of restaurants might not seem like a great idea, right?
After all, how much can you say about a restaurant or franchise before running out of ideas?
Not a whole lot, and definitely not without repeating yourself.
But this is a niche you can make money in – the supply aspect of the restaurant industry alone is worth US$44 billion per year.
So, what we’re going to take a look at are the companies that supply and support restaurants.
This isn’t a roundup of the best restaurant affiliate programs as you might expect it to be.
But we did find some real gems for you.
And some can be easily utilized across multiple niches.
You’ll see what we mean a little later.
Restaurant Affiliate Programs
- Restaurant.com Affiliate Program
- Unicreamer Affiliate Program
- Giftcard Mall Affiliate Program
- Olma Caviar Affiliate Program
- Revo Coolers Affiliate Program
- Napkins Affiliate Program
- Katom Restaurant Supply Affiliate Program
- Indestructible Shoes Affiliate Program
- Living Social Affiliate Program
- LolliCup Store Affiliate Program
- Zwilling Group Affiliate Program
- 360 Training Restaurant Affiliate Program
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Restaurant.com
Restaurant.com is for those of you who like to dine out but don’t want to pay top dollar for doing that.
Instead, you can buy your meal in advance by purchasing a gift certificate for the restaurant, but the cool part is that you can save up to 60% on the regular price.
We did a quick search and found $100 restaurant certificates selling for just $40.
So your entire night out in your favorite restaurant could cost you a little more than a pizza and a few sodas.
What’s in it for the restaurant?
They increase their odds of having full occupancy even on slow nights, which decreases their odds of running at a loss for prolonged periods of time.
Plus, are you more likely to want to dine in a restaurant that’s constantly full or one that’s almost always empty?
Exactly – you assume the empty restaurant either has bad food or bad service.
When it’s usually nothing more than bad marketing on their part.
They say the devil is in the details, and that’s very true when it comes to commission rates.
Affiliates will earn a 15% commission on all standard sales, with the exception of their ‘Specials’, which only pay 3%.
You’ve been warned.
- URL: Restaurant.com affiliate program
- Commission: Up to 15%
- EPC: $4.42
- Cookie duration: 45 days
Unicreamer
Some people like their coffee as black as their soul (me), while others prefer a little something to take the edge off the taste.
But there’s a growing number of people who can’t or won’t use dairy products, including milk, for ethical reasons.
Unicreamer is for vegan coffee fans that miss using milk in their cuppa Joe.
This product is plant-based, using pea protein and MCT (Medium-chain triglyceride) oil to mimic the look, taste, and consistency of traditional creamer.
And they manage to do all that without using a single drop of dairy, soy, or gluten which makes it ideal for any restaurant business with a very health-focused clientele.
So, how much money/commission can you make promoting this program?
Quite a bit – this affiliate offer pays 25% commission per sale, and they have a remarkably high Earnings Per Click (EPC) metric for a company selling a single product.
Combined, these stats make this a program worthy of your consideration.
- URL: Unicreamer affiliate program
- Commission: 25%
- EPC: $42.77
- Cookie duration: 200 days
Giftcard Mall
What’s better than going out to enjoy a great meal in your favorite restaurant?
Doing it for free.
Which is exactly the gift people can give to their family or friends thanks to Giftcard Mall.
They sell gift cards for over 300 different restaurants, including everything from fast food eateries to Olive Garden, Red Lobster, etc.
And you can get gift cards ranging in value from $25 to $500, so you can pay for your entire meal in advance.
One area of concern for this program is that Giftcard Mall products are available from 180,000 different retail outlets across the US.
And the 5% commission rate isn’t exactly exciting.
But they have a staggering EPC of $343.31 and an average online order value of $250, putting them well ahead of most other restaurant affiliate programs in this roundup.
So their brick-and-mortar stores appear to have zero impact on affiliate sales.
- URL: Giftcard Mall affiliate program
- Commission: Up to 5%
- EPC: $343.31
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Olma Caviar
Olma has supplied its customers throughout the United States with the finest caviar since 2001, including restaurants and other food service providers.
Their products are sourced from Russia, Alaska, South Korea, Israel, and Italy, but all meet U.S. standards and regulations, and they also sell truffles, Foie Gras, and an entire range of seafood products.
They only ship within the continental United States, so international sales are out.
But this program is well worth promoting within the stated territories.
Their program pays a 5% commission on all sales referred through your affiliate links, which is worth about $6 a pop to you.
But they also convert 22% of incoming traffic into sales, so you stand to make a lot of money if you can send them a relatively high volume of warm traffic.
So you should pre-sell your little heart out here.
- URL: Olma Food affiliate program
- Commission: 5%
- EPC: $87.32
- Cookie duration: 15 days
Revo Coolers
At first glance, the Revo Cooler is just another drinks cooler.
But remember the last time you had to bury your arm up to the elbow in freezing ice to find that beer or beverage you wanted?
The Revo Cooler solves that problem by design – drinks are held upright in a single tier instead of just tossed into a bucket of ice.
It was also created with entertainment in mind, so it can hold 40 beers or 20 bottles of wine for restaurant guests.
You can even insert condiment/snack trays into the cooler, so both your drinks and snacks are kept cool.
Each Revo Cooler comes with a 5-year warranty and is manufactured in the United States.
Both of these are useful pre-sells if the bulk of your incoming traffic is North American.
This program pays 10% per sale sent through your affiliate links, and you have up to 30 days for your referred traffic to actually buy something.
Each of these coolers retails for around $150, so you can expect a $15 commission on each sale.
- URL: Revo Coolers affiliate program
- Commission: 10%
- EPC: $59.17
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Napkins
Tableware and tablecloths probably aren’t the first things that spring to mind when you think about restaurant affiliate programs.
They don’t sound very exciting or profitable, do they?
But you’d be missing a trick, and missing out on Napkins.com.
Yes, high-ticket restaurants have linen table cloths and crystal glasses, but 99% of other restaurants don’t.
In fact, they need everything from disposable cups and plates, to bowls, napkins, straws, and balloons.
And Napkins.com has all of those, and much more besides, with free shipping on orders worth $100+.
By the way, if you’re running a site around baby showers or birthdays, then Napkins.com could be a great fit for either.
Selling disposable restaurant tableware might not sound exciting, but let’s see how well it pays.
Affiliates receive a 13% commission on every sale they refer, which makes an average customer order worth $11.
And they have almost 7,000 products for you to sell on their behalf.
- URL: Napkins.com affiliate program
- Commission: 13%
- EPC: $72.44
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Katom Restaurant
And at the complete other end of the restaurant supply spectrum, we find KaTom – they supply commercial kitchen and restaurant equipment.
The actual hardware a restaurant needs to cook their meals on.
KaTom was started in the 1980s by two restaurant owners who bought their own catering equipment direct, and put their spares in storage. Then they started selling their spares, and the rest is history.
They stock over 50,000 items, including deep fryers, steam trays, ice makers, refrigerators, work tables, serveware, and even the dining booths and other furniture you need to start a restaurant business.
Basically, all of the actual food preparation equipment the average restaurant needs.
Now, before we continue, bear in mind that a commercial deep fryer can cost up to $43,000, but even the more typical units cost around $2,000 each.
The KaTom program only pays 2% sales commission, so you might initially think, “Bummer. Pass!”
But 2% commission on a $43,000 sale is $860.
Hell, even 2% of a $2,000 sale is $40.
Just to give you a bit of perspective, plus with an average order value of $697, the very least you should make per sale is $13.
- URL: Katom affiliate program
- Commission: 2%
- EPC: $262.19
- Cookie duration: 15 days
Indestructible Shoes
Working in a restaurant can be a dangerous job – there are lots of sharp objects and hot liquids waiting for an accident to happen.
Now, most restaurant staff wear safety shoes, but they’re best described as ugly as sin, and don’t look very comfortable.
And the truth is that most “work” shoes suck, usually because they’re too heavy and clunky to be worn for hours on end.
Indestructible Shoes has come up with a range of…well…you guessed it, shoes that are indestructible.
But they’re stylish enough to pass for regular sneakers, and also comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
So servers and chefs get the best of both worlds when wearing these safety shoes.
This is one of those random programs you never expect to find when doing research, but actually turns out to be a hidden nugget of gold.
Affiliates will get 10% sales commission on each referral, which results in an average payout of $6 per sale.
That’s not a huge amount of money but their EPC and ‘Power Rank’ clearly indicate that affiliates promoting these shoes are making money every single month.
Plus, you’re way better off getting $6 from 100 people each month than $50 from 10.
- URL: Indestructible Shoes affiliate program
- Commission: 7%
- EPC: $87.00
- Cookie duration: 30 days
Living Social
You could spend countless hours trying to find coupon codes or special offers for your favorite restaurant.
Or you could just head on over to Living Social, click on their ‘Food and Drink’ category, or search by ZIP code, and find a meal deal near you.
And these aren’t your usual corny “10% off a meal we marked up by 10%” but discounts of up to 50% for a given restaurant.
The most annoying thing about using most of other coupon sites is that 99% of the offers have expired…including all the “fake” ones listed for clickbait.
So maybe it’s time to introduce Living Social, and their hundreds of restaurant discounts, to your audience.
And for doing that you’ll get paid a commission of anywhere from 1% to 6% of the sale.
How this works is you get a 6% cut of all “local” meal deals you refer – the other commission rates apply to deals on travel, etc.
Yes, the 3-day cookie might seem to be annoying.
But these are impulse buys, so this duration kind of makes sense.
You’ll probably never hear me say that ever again about a cookie, so enjoy the moment.
- URL: Living Social affiliate program
- Commission: Up to 6%
- EPC: $33.47
- Cookie duration: 3 days
LolliCup Store
LollicupStore has been supplying restaurants and other food service providers with a range of serveware, beverages, appliances, and general accessories since the year 2000.
It’s funny how we say, “…the year 2000”, but nobody ever says, “the year 2001”.
But I digress- they’re currently a leading supplier of disposable food service items.
What makes Lollicup Store different from other restaurant supply companies is the breadth of their product range, but their forté would seem to be beverages and sauces.
Their compostable utensils and food containers are worth a special mention because they’re one of the few companies selling them at wholesale.
And they also offer a custom printing service, so you can take your business to the next level with your very own range of branded cups and cup jackets.
Promoting this affiliate program will net you a 7% commission on all sales.
Now, their ‘Network Earnings’ score would normally keep them out of an Authority Hacker roundup.
But they have an EPC of $142, so although they don’t have a ton of active affiliate, the ones they do have are making a lot of money.
This is one of those programs you have to test to see if it works with your audience or not.
The results will speak for themselves.
- URL: Lollicup Store affiliate program
- Commission: 7%
- EPC: $147.24
- Cookie duration: 45 days
Zwilling Group
Zwilling opened its first store in Berlin, Germany in 1818, but the company trademark was registered in 1731.
Those aren’t typos either – they’ve been in business for 289 years, which makes them older than some countries that exist today.
Anyways, Zwilling are best known for their knives, which can cost up to $500 each, if you’re buying a professional chef’s knife that is.
But the majority of their knives are far more affordable, costing $99 on average.
Zwilling also manufactures a range of high-end cookware suitable for use at home or in a restaurant kitchen, including skillets, pans, ceramic dishes, crock pots, and woks.
So, what we’re getting at here is that Zwilling products are for an audience that’s either rabid about cooking and/or has the kind of disposable income to purchase a pan that costs $150.
Their products are worth every cent, but you need to promote them to a very specific audience.
Now we come to the meat of the program – what affiliates can make for sending new customers their way.
They offer a 4% commission rate on all sales, and an average order value of $140 means you’ll make about $5 per referral.
So this isn’t retirement money we’re talking about, but their brand name should make pre-selling them a piece of cake.
- URL: Zwilling affiliate program
- Commission: 4%
- EPC: $31.45
- Cookie duration: 30 days
360 Training
So far we’ve covered every other aspect of the restaurant industry except one very important one – training.
360 Training was already featured in our post on job affiliate offers, but they’re equally relevant when discussing restaurant affiliate programs.
Getting a job in the food service industry now often requires that you hold multiple certifications – some states even have their own specific training requirements for anyone selling or serving alcohol.
But 360 Training also provides courses on everything from food handling, and retail store training, all the way up to a certification in food safety management.
So you get the training you need, but you can learn from the comfort of your own home or office – all their courses are online-only, but are fully ANSI accredited.
The jobs market in food services is only going to become more competitive as automation becomes more common.
You’ll need every advantage you can get.
There’s a whole lot of affiliate activity around this program, making it one of the most popular affiliate programs on ShareASale with a ‘Power Rank’ score of 213.
Each referred sale should bring in an order worth an average of $67, so your 15% cut of that will be around $11.
But do bear in mind that some of their courses can cost thousands of dollars, which means a bigger commission for you.
- URL: 360 Training affiliate program
- Commission: 15%
- EPC: $58.37
- Cookie duration: 60 days
Over to You
As you can see we took a few sudden left turns in researching all of the different restaurant affiliate programs out there.
But there’s always a method to our madness.
And in this case, it’s to illustrate that there are multiple ways to monetize any given niche.
👉 Check out our Step-By-Step Guide on How to Start a Food Blog
So, you could build a site just around safety gear for restaurant staff, for example.
Or, you could go in the opposite direction and build a site around commercial restaurant equipment programs.
Hint: Both of the above have very little competition.
Look, we know that choosing what topic to build your authority site around can be difficult.
So, we’d like to help you get over that mental hurdle.
How?
An affiliate marketing training session with us, showing you in the ins and outs of getting your first affiliate site off the ground.
Or you could sit there, binge Netflix, and feel bad about where your life is.
But if you decide to join us, let us know what email address to send your invite to.
And if you think this blog post added value to your day, do us a solid and share it on social media.
