There’s nothing we at Caterer like less than seeing a waiter baking in some nasty polyester number. While choosing the right style of staff uniform is a tricky matter for any boss, there’s never an excuse for rubbish clothes. Uniforms should rock.
The high street is a good place to seek inspiration, especially if you’re on a budget. The team at London restaurant Plateau are decked out in outfits from Whistles, while Conran’s London Spanish tapas bar Meza in Soho sees staff in shirts from Zara and shoes from Camper, and waitresses in the Parlour at Sketch wear H&M.
But if you have a bigger budget, splashing out on designer gear is always a winner, and front-of-house staff must be smiling in their Emporio Armani suits at the Metropolitan and the Halkin hotels in London. London’s Nobu Berkeley staff wear a variety of Adidas Y3, Chomone dresses and Spencer Hart suits.
Albannach Scottish bar and restaurant in London gives its staff kilts, with its lion emblem embossed on tweed, pinstripe or denim outfits. The kilts, designed by Nicholas Oakwell, of NO Uniform, are extremely popular with customers, especially women.
Oakwell has also designed uniforms for London’s Great Eastern hotel, Myhotels Chelsea and Bloomsbury, Destino restaurant and Brown’s hotel in London, and Geisha and World Service, both in Nottingham. He says it’s important to catch the spirit of each venue in the uniform, looking at the interior and what it offers customers.
Providing a good uniform means you’ll reap rewards. “Uniforms show that the company is investing in its staff, so they in turn will give something back,” Oakwell explains. “At one hotel, a girl told me she only took the job because of the uniform!”