Dress to Impress in Your Restaurant

Dress to Impress in Your Restaurant

by Paul Katsch

It's often been said that you need to “dress as you want to be addressed”, and when it comes to your wait staff this affects the way your whole brand is perceived. Some restaurants opt for a mandatory uniform for all of their employees, while others choose a less consistent attire. How do you make this choice for your restaurant, and how does that affect your guest's opinion of your establishment? The answer may differ by the style, prestige, and location of your restaurant, but here are some things to consider.

FUNCTIONALITY

- Name Tags: While you may not see every waiter in a 5 star establishment with a name tag, in general it's a great idea to differentiate your staff with a professional name tag. One consideration is that this can make it easier for your guests to identify their waiter, or another staff member if they need assistance. It sets the mindset, “if they're wearing a name tag, they work here.” Additionally, it makes it easier for your guest to remember and address their server by name. Hopefully this sparks an energized conversation and establishes a relationship between your customers and wait staff, which encourages repeat business.

- Identifiable: Similar to name tags, having a consistent style, color, or other commonality between your staff makes it easier for your customers to identify them. If there is too much variety, or the staff's attire doesn't stand out from your customers', your customers may find it difficult to find someone to help them. Depending on the busyness of the establishment, your customers may find this very frustrating, and it could negatively affect your repeat business.

Photo credit Jeff Kubina via Flickr

MANDATORY & IDENTITICAL UNIFORMS

- Company Tops & Compliant Bottoms: A common practice I've notice is for establishments to issue a company shirt, while allowing the employees to purchase their own bottoms such as a black or khaki pants. Depending on the style of the restaurant, the shirts range from t-shirts to long-sleeved collared shirts. One benefit of this is the ability to place your company's logo on the shirt, or other marketing promotions and featured products. Additionally, this is the easiest way to maintain a close to identical appearance within your staff. However, there are some problems to anticipate. The first is the cost associated with ordering the shirts, and making sure your staff are properly equipped, with a few stashed away in case of emergency. Some establishments only issue one shirt, but in the mind of cleanliness it would probably be best to provide them with a few alternates so they have the time to clean them before their next shift. Additionally, the quality and fit of the shirt is important to help your staff maintain a well kept look. So maybe a uniform works for you, but if it doesn't, what are your other options?

UNIFORM, BUT NOT IDENTICAL

- Pick a Color: If you decide you're not going to use a uniform, I think the first thing to consider is if you're going to have a mandatory color pairing, and what color that will be. Some restaurants go for black as an easily matched color, but depending on your restaurant this could add a level of class or make it difficult for your patrons to spot your staff. Other restaurants go with a bright color, like red, or the company colors. In addition to the shirt, you should consider what is acceptable for the bottoms. Traditionally, black and khaki are the go-to colors as they are easy to find and match if you have a large staff shopping for their work attire at a number of locations.

- Pick a Style: Again, it's very important that your attire matches your company's intended branded image. Some restaurants require collared long-sleeves and pants all year round, while others vary depending on season, and others offer more variety at the whim of the employees. In a casual dining restaurant it may be adequate for your rustic BBQ to have your wait staff in jeans, but in many establishments there's a “no-jean” rule for staff. Will you require pants, or allow skirts? If you do allow skirts, what is the minimum length? Or do you find cargo pants more in line with your brand? With the top, will they be allowed to wear a t-shirt, and if so will you mandate no logos or offensive language/images? Will everyone be required to wear a collared long-sleeve shirt, or would a collared short-sleeve suffice? Will your female employees be able to wear business-casual blouses, and if so what will be the company policy on the neckline? These are all things you need to consider and evaluate. Not just from the perspective of what your employees prefer, or how you'd like to dress, but for your level of establishment is your professionalism adequately being displayed?

Whereas it's not critical to have a uniform in the formal sense of the word, uniformity is very important for your brand image and your staff's easy identification. How do you decide what your staff is allowed to wear?