If you are involved in human resources or management for a restaurant business, you may be tasked with choosing the most suitable workwear for staff. With so many different options to choose from, you may be at a loss as to how best to approach your challenge.
The best starting point is to separate the list of employees into their specific areas of work. This could be kitchen staff, waiting staff, bar staff, and front of house. You may also want to order workwear for the employees that are not based in the restaurant, such as marketing and administration departments or high-street promotional staff.
Kitchen staff
Within the kitchen there is likely to be a number of different employees at various levels of seniority. The most senior is likely to be the head chef, who will require workwear that sets them apart from others. A professional-looking chefs jacket could be the answer. Another consideration for kitchen staff is that clothing must be lightweight, as it can get very hot while cooking is taking place.
Waiting staff
Your waiting staff are the people who spend the most time with the customer during their visit to your restaurant and are often the basis for how customer service performance is judged. As such, it’s crucial that they make a fantastic impression throughout the experience. One way to do this is with the clothing they wear. Formal shirts or blouses in black or white are popular choices, however, it’s important that you think about what best suits your restaurant culture and branding.
Bar staff
Consistency among your customer-facing staff will obviously be important, although that may not mean the same workwear for everyone. Your bar staff, for example, may be better suited to polo shirts rather than formal attire. In either instance, it will be important to include your branding on the clothing. Through embroidered workwear, you can include your restaurant’s logo or website details on the clothing, the latter of which can help promote engagement beyond their visit.
Front of house
First impressions go a long way. You want your visiting customers to be impressed from the moment they walk in, so it’s important to choose professional-looking workwear for your front of house team. As with waiting staff, this is a role where more formal clothing choices may be appropriate – but only if you feel it fits with the culture of the restaurant.
Promotional staff
If you employee people to promote the restaurant out and about, perhaps on the high-street, then you may want to use promotional T shirts that are fully branded and carry messages about special offers or new menus. You can find cheap T shirt printing deals that do not compromise on quality, which means you can raise awareness of your restaurant for relatively little expense.
