Catering Uniforms and Laundry

The uniforms that your catering staff wear, will reflect the professionalism of your business and should therefore be kept in pristine order and look clean at all times. Dirty scruffy clothes will give a bad impression of your business and could affect future bookings. Laundry should be a major consideration when purchasing clothing for your staff.

Catering Uniforms

Catering uniforms are a big part of your company’s image. From waiting staff to kitchen staff all members of your team should look and be clean and presentable. Staff should have access to fresh clothes and facilities to change into when at work. It is possible to hire catering clothing and this option should be looked into. However over a long term this could prove costly to your catering business.

Laundry

You have to decide how your staffs clothing is to be cleaned. It is not down to them to launder their own work wear. You should take responsibility to see that everything is cleaned properly and hygienically. If your staff wear suits for front of house duties, either give an allowance for dry cleaning or arrange an account with a dry cleaner so that staff can afford to keep their work clothes clean. There are industrial laundry companies that will collect and launder your kitchen staffs clothing along with tablecloths and other material items. Clothing will have to be labelled so that is can be identified as belonging to your company.

Laundry Staff

You may prefer to hire someone who will come into your premises and wash and iron your staff’s uniforms. This would provide a job to someone and also mean that your company’s property does not have to leave the building - being more readily available.

Laundry products too can be chosen by you so that if you prefer environmental products or specific laundry products this can be done. Laundry products can be purchased from your wholesalers when collecting other goods for your catering business.

Stock

You must keep a suitable selection of catering uniforms so that there is enough clothing for your staff to wear while items are being laundered. There should also be a stock of different sizes for both male and female staff. Remember also that some staff require specially designed uniforms either for religious reasons or for pregnancy wear. You also need to have somewhere for staff to change into their catering uniforms and somewhere to leave clothing for the laundry. A stock book should be kept so that catering clothing can be tracked at all times.

Property

Catering uniforms are expensive and must be kept clean. Never allow staff to wear their catering uniforms home. Items can go astray and be costly to replace. Also, by wearing clothes on public transport and outside the kitchen it is possible to bring contamination into your kitchen even unwittingly. Staff must be responsible for their uniforms and should sign for every item they are given. A clause to this effect should be put into every staff member’s contract and if clothing is lost they should have to pay for a replacement.