But why are employee uniforms so important?
They reflect your brand.
Your brand should be visible in every aspect of your restaurant—your food, your menus, your decor, and your employee uniforms! Uniforms are just another way to show customers what your restaurant is all about. Whether you’re a casual restaurant with silly sayings on the backs of t-shirts or an upscale restaurant where servers wear ties, uniforms help set the tone.
They instill pride in employees.
When uniforms look great and fit well, they make employees feel proud of their jobs. This is one reason to make sure your uniforms aren’t embarrassing or ill-fitting. After all, who feels good when they’re wearing baggy shirts or goofy-looking hats? If your employees know they look great and professional, they’re more likely to feel proud to work at your restaurant.
They create a professional environment.
Your employees probably have very different backgrounds and lifestyles, but when they put their uniforms on they’re all part of the same team. Uniforms can help create a professional environment and can help employees get in the right frame of mind to do a great job.
They inspire customer confidence.
Your food and your service might be great, but for many customers, the appearance of servers makes a big difference. Simply put, uniforms make your employees look reliable and trustworthy. This lets customers know that they can count on your employees to do their jobs right.
So what about personal grooming?
What sort of standards should you hold your employees to? Some of the most basic ones are pretty obvious…hair that’s styled or held back so that it doesn’t get into customers’ food, neat and trimmed nails, and no dangling jewelry. These are all important because they influence the food and the quality of service. Customers feel better about being served by people who are visibly clean. However, there are also some standards that will vary by restaurant. How do you feel about visible tattoos and piercings? This probably depends on your restaurant! If you’re a casual restaurant, you might not care if your employees have unique tattoos and piercings. However, a fine dining restaurant might have a different opinion. It all depends on your brand and the message you want to send to your customers.
Although uniforms look different at each restaurant, there’s no denying that appearances are important! The right uniforms—and the right grooming—can define your brand, mark employees, inspire employee pride, create a professional environment, and inspire customer confidence.
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