Just to complicate matters, some stores have restaurants inside them, and some restaurants have stores in them. Stores sell products, and restaurants sell prepared foods.

In the US we usually use the two words differently. Restaurants exclusively for places you eat prepared foods that are ready to eat, while stores sell everything else.

To confuse it more, most Americans don’t use the word restaurant for fast food places, but they are restaurants.

Restaurant sales are included in retail sales figures.

When I worked in various types of hospitality (a long time ago), inside the industry we referred to the places as “stores”. There was a sameness to the tax designations as well.

I agree with all of the above.

They are stores simply because of their buyer / consumer mode of business,
But let’s hope they don’t ‘store’ the food too long.

In a Long John Silvers seafood place, I once heard a little child, about three, say, “More people come to Long John Silvers than any other store. MAYBE it’s because—they like the Long John Silvers’ FOOD!”

Duh.

I think they are.