Opening a Restaurant: When to Order the Uniforms

Order restaurant uniforms about three weeks before opening: one sample first to check the stitch and fabric, then the full run against your actual hired roster. Ready to start? custom restaurant uniforms.

Why three weeks and not one?

Because you need two orders, not one. The first is a single piece to inspect - fabric weight, apron length, how the colour reads under your actual lighting. The second is the run, placed once you have confirmed both the garment and your final roster. Production and shipping run five to nine business days each time, and hiring is rarely finished as early as anyone plans.

What should be ordered first?

Aprons and front-of-house polos. Those are the pieces guests see and the pieces washed hardest, so getting them right matters most. Kitchen tees and outerwear can follow in a second order without anyone noticing they arrived a week later.

What catches new operators on sizing?

Apron length and polo fit across a mixed team. Aprons in particular read very differently on different heights, and ordering one length for everyone is a common regret. Since every size prints to order with no minimum per size, there is no reason to standardise on a single option.

A three-week runway

• Week 1 - finalise the logo and order one apron and one polo to inspect
• Week 2 - confirm roster and collect real sizes
• Week 3 - place the full order
• After opening - reorder single pieces as staff turns over

How long does it take to arrive?

Every order is made to order and ships in five to nine business days, and that window covers a single piece and a two-hundred-piece run alike - there is no separate multi-week queue for larger orders. Our fastest verified US delivery was three days on real carrier tracking, and our fastest verified international delivery was Latvia to New York in five days. For an event, order about two weeks ahead so there is room to check the first piece and distribute sizes.

Is there really no minimum order?

None. One piece is a real order at normal pricing with no small-order surcharge. Traditional printers set minimums because screen printing and machine embroidery both carry a fixed per-job setup cost that has to be spread across enough pieces to be worth doing. Print-on-demand production has no per-job setup, so the reason for the minimum simply does not exist - which is why ordering one to check it before committing the budget is the standard advice here.

Where to go next

Hospitality turnover is high, which makes single-piece reordering more useful here than in almost any other business. See what survives commercial laundering.

See the merch in real life

Real garments, printed and embroidered to order.