We’ve all seen Top Chef, Hell’s Kitchen or one of the many great cooking shows on the Food Network. Due to the popularity of these shows, chefs have now reached a celebrity status in the public eye. The wide variety of reality food shows has transformed many chefs into full-blown “rock stars”. But being a chef involves more than just working hard over a hot oven all night while managing a restaurant staff. Today’s chefs are expected to get out and mingle with customers and be the face of the establishment and the brand. “There’s an aura in food service for the chef like there never was 10 years ago,” says Janice Henry, VP of Design for Superior Uniform.
Restaurants are starting to use the chef mystique to breath new life into their business and brand with innovative and stylish restaurant apparel. It’s not even unusual these days for a chef to have two or three different chef coats. Some wear one to cook in, one for greeting the customers and one for transitional purposes.
The chef wear industry is als
o seeing an influx of great new colors, designs and fabric technology, as well as corporate branding. However, the traditional white chef coat will always remain a standard in an industry that prides itself on tradition. Some restaurants are actually changing the traditional boundaries by converting formal chef coat styles into apparel worn by front of the house servers that give the impression of chef apparel. The new use of color is another change from traditional to modern as an outlet for expression. Manufacturers of chef wear, while keeping the traditional muted tones, have begun adding colors such as brown, black, denim, light green and red jackets. Chefs love color, but they want to be reserved with color, so it’s traditional with a twist. Choosing a clean color palette allows chefs to maintain a level of professionalism while expressing their individual style. Color will also work great with branded uniform programs, where the color of the chef coat goes with the logo.