Restaurant Uniforms

When you walk into a restaurant you can’t but notice the different uniforms that the different job skilled personnel will wear.  It is actually quite an exercise in the hierarchy of a corporation.  It is a heck of a lot of fun to try to figure out what the  short white hat means instead of the tall white hat, but taken all together and you can identify every single position within the walls of that restaurant.  Restaurant uniforms are big, big business.  Every restaurant has a dress code.  It is almost impossible for you to walk into a restaurant (unless it is a Mom and Pop), and not run into the vast amount of uniforms that they will have on hand.

If you start in the front of the restaurant (which means all the public areas excluding of course the kitchen) you will run into three or four different uniforms that the personnel will be wearing.  The servers will usually all have the same basic uniform.  In some cases the top is provided and the employee has to provide the pants (usually a given color).  Sometimes both the top and the bottom of restaurant uniforms are provided for.  In most cases the servers will be dressed different that the bus boys so you can tell them apart. 

The hostess will be dressed in a different type of uniform.  For a very fancy restaurant the restaurant uniforms will often be a tuxedo or a dress but in most cases it will be fairly dressy but functional (like a suit jacket).  The bartender will also be dressed differently than all the rest.  Vest tops are often used for these positions but not always.  And if there are any cleaning people on the floor they will usually be dressed in either a polo shirt or a tee shirt with the name of the restaurant on it.

Moving to the back of the restaurant you have all your cooks, chefs and assistants.  In almost all cases they will be in white cook’s outfits.  In many cases the hat that they wear will determine the level of cook or chef that they are.  A rule of thumb that is true most of the time is the taller the hat the more important the role.  Restaurant uniforms almost always offer the hat accessories as part of the deal since the hat in the kitchen personnel is so important for them.

For the service industry the restaurant is one of the most uniform rich businesses you can possibly find.  Restaurant uniforms can be obtained through any number of ways but in many cases the restaurant will have the vendor that they do business with as the main point of contact.  The restaurant will often provide laundering services for certain personnel as well as just about all aprons.  This will allow for the quickest turn around for getting these back.   If you are going to work in a restaurant you will find that you will have your own uniform assigned to you.  Depending on what you do in the restaurant your uniform will match.