Dressing For The Occasion: From Fine Dining to Bar Staff

When it comes to your restaurant or eatery business, dressing your employees in the right style is crucial. Nobody wants to show up for a quick pint to find that your bar manager is dressed in a suit and tie. Likewise, it might be inappropriate to dress your diner staff in bikinis!

This article aims to examine exactly how you ought to dress your employees depending upon what your business is and does. Getting the level of formality right can be tricky, so these pointers ought to help. 

How to Dress Employees in the World of Catering

Dressing your employees in the right kind of uniform will accurately reflect the nature of your business while also increasing your brand’s reach. Here are top tips on how to do so, without getting it wrong. 

How to Dress Your Fine Dining Servers

When selecting fine dining server outfits, you want to opt for a fabric that looks rich and thick. You also ought to consider a higher level of formality than other restaurants and eateries. This is because you want to convey an elegant, professional image which aligns with the high-end atmosphere you want to portray through your daily operations. 

Consider using these guidelines to help yourself choose the right uniform:

• Choose formal attire – find dining servers should wear formal clothing such as a well-fitted suit, a white tailored shirt, and a tie for men. 
• Consider accessories – a white towel over the arm is considered gentile, a properly laundered, fresh, clean apron can add to the look. 
• Think footwear – smart, not casual. Remember too that some countries make protective footwear a legal requirement for restaurant workers.

How to Dress Kitchen Workers

The staff in your kitchen play an even bigger role in your restaurant, regardless of what type of establishment you own. Kitchen staff must have protective clothing, usually in the form of chef jackets, thick aprons, and appropriate footwear. 

A common restaurant trick is to give your chefs multiple uniforms, then to ask them to always keep one uniform clean and on the premises. When your fine dining customers want to thank the chef with a round of applause, they can then change into that pristine jacket before they leave the kitchen. Cooking gets dirty, it is an unfortunate fact of life. 

Kitchen workers must have:

• The chef’s uniform to protect them from spills and burns. 
• Nonslip, steel toed boots – in case a knife falls on them.
• Hair restraints – your chefs must either wear a hat or a hair net, there is no choice.

How to Dress Your Café and Diner Workers

Cafés and diners have a more relaxed and casual feel than fine dining establishments. They have less pressure to achieve the same level of formality and can therefore save on washing, pressing, and purchasing uniforms. To reflect the ambience appropriately, try dressing your employees in the following ways:

• Choose smart-casual – this type of attire opens the uniform up to some civilian clothes. For example, everyone has a polo shirt and may wear black trousers or jeans.
• Comfortable shoes – again, they may be holding knives, but since your café workers do both kitchen work and front-of-housework, casual shoes are acceptable.
• Consider accessories – Aprons, hats, and food gloves are all the kind of uniform accessories you can splurge on for café and diner staff.

How to Dress Your Bar Staff

Bar staff typically work in a laid-back setting, but not always. If you have a fine dining restaurant, your bar staff might also wear a shirt and tie. However, if your business is within a bar, a staff t-shirt or tee shirt which advertises one of your suppliers or your own brand. When it comes to dressing bar staff, consider the following things:

• Branded attire – wearing tee shirts with your logo on them is perfectly normal.
• Shirts over dress shirts – if you put a bar person in a pub with a shirt on, you might draw the wrong kind of attention.
• Comfortable footwear – there is no need for steel toe caps behind a bar.

The Right Uniform Means The Right Guests

Uniform should accurately reflect the brand, status, and formality your business entails. Whether you are prepping vegetables or getting ready for opening night, your priority should always be to put that best foot forward to thereby encourage new clientele to come to your business. Uniformity is the key way to promote yourself, your brand, and encourage team spirit from employees who will undoubtedly work hard on your behalf. When uniforms bring camaraderie and brand exposure to your business, what more could you ask for?

Category: Food.Fun.Stuff.