Cooking Up The Perfect Restaurant Uniforms

If you hang around restaurants long enough, you will probably hear a patron dispense with some form of this adage: “I come for the food but I stay for the service”. In this sentiment, you can find a pretty powerful business principle – namely, that your product can only do so much to attract customers. In order to retain customers, turn them into repeat customers and leverage that relationship for referrals, you need to offer genuine, attentive and professional service.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that every restaurant needs to become a “bowtie on the server” kind of place. In fact, almost the opposite. It means that you should offer great service but still present yourself in a manner consistent with your brand. Presenting professionalism while reinforcing your brand is something that uniforms can help with. R&P Prints – everyone’s favourite screen printing services in Toronto – can help with that by offering you a wide range of options, from printed t-shirts for food truck employees, to embroidered button-ups for hotel restaurant servers. And everything in between!

Branded Restaurant Uniforms

Whether you’ve started your own restaurant or are a franchisee, it’s a great idea to get your employees into a branded uniform. You might not think it’s important, but it has numerous and far-reaching benefits. Not convinced? Off the top, here are a few benefits of branded restaurant uniforms:

• Uniforms help the staff feel like equals. Without uniforms, those employees with more money can flaunt and potentially shame other employees.
• They turn the staff into a team. Uniforms promote togetherness, which can do wonders for teambuilding.
• Uniforms are a great opportunity for branding. The more you get your logo out there, the more it will stick in people’s minds. Reinforcing your brand with every employee creates a solid, unified and recognizable brand.
• Uniforms help customers quickly and easily pinpoint employees, making their experience faster and easier.
• Uniforms can be optimized for the style of work. For example, in a hot kitchen you want something breathable, but which is durable enough to protect from flames and cuts.

There is an abundance of great reasons to get your restaurant staff into uniforms, whether it’s custom printed hoodies or custom embroidered vests. But what should you shop for? Below is a short run-down of common branded apparel items for both the front and back of house.

Front Of House

You will often see more branded apparel in the front of house, for the simple reason that the front of house employees are oftentimes the only visible workers. Branded apparel might include (depending on formality/informality) t-shirts, polo shirts, button-up, long-sleeve shirts, hats, toques, vests and waist aprons. All of these items can be screen printed with your restaurant’s name and logo, projecting a unified, professional front to your customers.

Back Of House

Some restaurateurs don’t bother with branded back of house apparel, since no one ever sees the chefs and cooks. Others however – open concept kitchens, food trucks and fast food restaurants – should absolutely brand their back of house uniforms. Consider a screen printed or embroidered apron, or a t-shirt. Whether you need a t shirt printing company in Ottawa Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg… really anywhere in Canada, we’ve got your back.

Restaurants have always been as much about customer service as about the food (not saying that’s a good thing necessarily, but that’s the way it is). Give your customer service and your branding a bump with custom printed uniforms. Get those Yelp ratings up, start reinforcing your brand and watch as your satisfied customers turn into satisfied regulars.