Dress for the kitchen

When starting a restaurant, you need to consider what uniform or dress code is necessary. In most cases, your waiters and waitresses may be able to get away with more freedom as to what they can wear, but chefs need to dress appropriately as a matter of safety. If chefs were to wear regular street clothes it could encourage injuries and contamination of food.

But just what kind of features of clothing are important when working in a professional kitchen?

1. Safety: items like steel capped rubber soled boots and heatproof gloves provide safety for the employee

2. Hygeine: hats or hairnets, plastic gloves and full length shirts and pants/trousers prevent hair, skin and other contaminants from falling into food

3. Professsionalism and equality: a tidy, white or black, gender-neutral uniform indicates cleanliness and ensures female identifying team members are not treated differently to male identifying team members.