Professional uniforms shape how guests perceive your restaurant before anyone takes their order. Good custom food service apparel builds team confidence, keeps staff comfortable during long shifts, and signals that you run a well-managed operation. The wrong uniforms wear out fast and reflect poorly on your brand.
This list covers six companies that produce branded restaurant apparel at scale—bulk production partners that handle screen printing, sublimation, and fulfillment for multi-location operators.
What Is Custom Food Service Apparel?
Custom food service apparel includes branded clothing designed for restaurant and hospitality work: polos, t-shirts, work shirts, hoodies, and hats that your team wears daily. Quality food service apparel is durable, easy to clean, comfortable for long shifts, and reflects your brand through logo placement and consistent colors across locations.
How This List Was Curated
This list includes companies that meet specific criteria for serving restaurant and food service operations:
- Bulk production capability: Each company handles large orders with consistent quality across runs.
- Customization options: All listed suppliers support logo placement through screen printing, sublimation, or embroidery.
- Multi-location support: Companies were selected based on their ability to serve franchise groups and restaurant chains with coordinated fulfillment.
- Apparel focus: This list covers branded uniform production partners, not chef wear manufacturers or uniform rental services.
1) Scrappy Apparel Company
Scrappy Apparel Company produces custom food service apparel with retail-quality finishes for restaurants, QSR chains, and franchise groups. They specialize in screen printing and sublimation on polos, t-shirts, and work shirts designed for front-of-house and back-of-house teams.
What sets them apart: Scrappy specs food service apparel for movement and durability, with consistent colors across locations. Uniforms arrive packed by role and size, reducing chaos during openings, promotions, and seasonal hiring. They keep specs and screens on file for easy reorders, and their fulfillment services handle warehousing and distribution for multi-location operators. They offer screen printing for bold cotton basics or sublimation for breathable polyester sets with edge-to-edge artwork.
Best for: Multi-location restaurants, franchise groups, and QSR operators needing high-quality branded apparel with coordinated fulfillment across sites.
2) Righteous Company (RCHQ)
Righteous Company provides custom restaurant uniform programs for multi-unit operators, with clients including Dave & Buster’s, Pancheros Mexican Grill, Red Robin, and Papa Murphy’s. They handle polos, t-shirts, and workwear with centralized online ordering platforms.
What sets them apart: Their ordering platform allows restaurant managers to order directly for their location, centralize ordering at the corporate level, or let individual employees order their own uniforms. They support embroidery, screen printing, and heat transfer across their product line.
Best for: Restaurant chains and franchise groups wanting centralized ordering platforms with flexible workflows.
3) Thrive Screen Printing
Thrive Screen Printing operates a 40,000-square-foot facility in Phoenix, Arizona, producing up to 20,000 prints in an eight-hour shift. They focus on wholesale and contract screen printing for brands, agencies, and multi-location businesses.
What sets them apart: Thrive provides retail-ready finishing, including custom labels, polybagging, and branded packaging. Their high-volume capacity makes them a fit for restaurant groups needing large runs with consistent quality and fast turnaround.
Best for: High-volume orders, restaurant groups needing retail-ready finishing, and operators prioritizing production capacity.
4) Threadbird
Threadbird handles screen printing, embroidery, and fulfillment from its Jacksonville, Florida, facility. They produce custom polos, t-shirts, and workwear with pick-and-pack services for ongoing uniform programs.
What sets them apart: Threadbird’s fulfillment platform integrates with Shopify and other e-commerce systems, making them a strong choice for restaurants with online merch stores alongside staff uniform programs. They support discharge, water-based, and plastisol inks.
Best for: Restaurant groups needing branded apparel production plus inventory management and e-commerce fulfillment.
5) Real Thread
Real Thread produces premium screen-printed apparel using water-based inks for a soft hand feel. They serve corporate and hospitality clients with retail-quality t-shirts, polos, and sweatshirts.
What sets them apart: Real Thread’s water-based printing techniques create prints that absorb into the fabric rather than sitting on top, resulting in comfortable uniforms staff will actually want to wear. They emphasize quality-tested garments with satisfaction guarantees.
Best for: Restaurants wanting soft, comfortable, branded apparel that looks and feels retail-quality.
6) Darter Specialties
Darter Specialties provides branded apparel and uniform programs specifically for the franchise industry. They handle embroidery, screen printing, and thermal transfers with branded web stores for each client.
What sets them apart: Darter’s franchise-focused model includes branded web stores, no minimum quantities on apparel, and a 1-3 business day turnaround on thousands of items. Their account management approach supports multi-location restaurant groups with ongoing uniform needs.
Best for: Franchise operators wanting dedicated web stores and fast turnaround on reorders.
What Makes Quality Food Service Apparel
Fabric durability. Restaurant uniforms face grease, spills, and industrial washing cycles. Look for reinforced stitching and fabrics rated for commercial laundering.
Comfort for long shifts. Staff wearing uncomfortable uniforms get distracted and fatigued. Breathable fabrics and proper sizing keep teams focused during 8-12-hour shifts.
Consistent branding. Your logo should look the same on every shirt, every time you reorder. Work with suppliers who can Pantone match colors and maintain print consistency across production runs.
Easy care requirements. Uniforms that require special handling create extra work. Choose pieces that withstand standard commercial washing without fading, shrinking, or losing shape.
Scalable supply. Growing restaurants need partners who can handle reorders, new location rollouts, and seasonal hiring without starting from scratch each time.
Conclusion
Custom food service apparel shapes how your team looks and performs every shift. The companies above represent different approaches to bulk production, customization, and multi-location fulfillment. Match your choice to your operation size, timeline, and quality expectations, and your uniforms become a brand asset rather than a recurring headache.
