A Better Dressed McDonald's in the UK

[DanielJones]

Project McDonald's: Designer 'De-Americanizes' Fast Food Uniform
Wayne Hemingway has gone where no high fashion designer has gone before: McDonald's.
Eighteen months ago, the man behind HemingwayDesign and the award-winning street style label Red or Dead, was tasked with revamping the fast food giant's burger-colored (that's being kind) uniforms.
The new look still takes its cue from the kitchen: pickle green and mustard yellow polo shirts at the counter. Mustard-colored skinny ties and belts for managers. Lettuce green pants for customer service assistants. But the condiments cues are the only reminder of the old get-ups.
"We've taken some of the Americanism out of the uniforms," the British-born Hemingway told Yahoo! Shine in an interview Monday, just a few weeks before the uniforms are rolled out at four Olympic park restaurants in London...

http://shine.yahoo.com/fashion/proj...americanizes-fast-food-uniform-224000434.html

One can only hope that this trend will catch on on this side of the pond.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[Edward]

Sounded interesting until I heard Hemmingway was involved. I'll pass on that, thanks.

 

[dhermann1]

The originals looked like crap, literally. The new ones look pretty much like contemporary kids in typical slovenly modern dress. With the same ugly color palate. Not impressed.

 

[HoundstoothLuke]

I don't see the point in "de-Americanising" the clothes. McDonald's is such a recognisably American brand after all, up their with Hollywood and Coca-Cola.

And as for this line "eating out isn't a sport, it's a luxury "....

It's McDonalds, changing the uniforms won't make it quality food.

 

[Edward]

Hemingway is a self-proclaimed authority on "Britishness", "popular culture", and "vintage". I'm not convinced, but hey, opinions, right?

I don't think he's done anything particularly interesting with time either. Fit for an Emperor, an' aw that...

 

[William Stratford]

Short-sleeved shirts and a tie? Maybe in Mission Control at the Kennedy Space Centre....but please, nowhere else! Get long-sleeved shirts and roll the sleeves up; it looks immeasurably better.

 

[Rathdown]

How utterly ghastly. It looks as though people just wandered in off the street and started messing about in the kitchen. UGH! I wouldn't have thought it possible to dumb down McDonalds, but Hemingway has managed to do just that.

 

[dhermann1]

Yes, of all the things these garments AREN'T, they sure don't look particularly British to me. Yes, very early 60's-ish.

 

[Edward]

Short-sleeved shirts and a tie? Maybe in Mission Control at the Kennedy Space Centre....but please, nowhere else! Get long-sleeved shirts and roll the sleeves up; it looks immeasurably better.

The main reason I originally turned against wearing a tie with a short sleeve shirt was exactly the connotation of it being 'fast food uniform'. Not that I look down on anyone thus gainfully employed - far from it - but I don't wish to dress like I am at work in such an establishment if I am, in fact, not.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's pretty much the original fast-food-uniform look. Rolled sleeves were frowned upon in fry-cook situations because they collected grease and grime and were unsanitary. Prior to McDonalds, behind a grill is one of the few places you were likely to see a t-shirt worn by a grown man in public -- McD's wanted a more professional image than that, hence the dress-type shirts.

Around here, of course, wearing a short sleeve shirt with a tie means only one thing: you work in municipal government.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

This is how fast food service should look, if you ask me.

These 'uniforms' look way less professional than the current ones, if you ask me. While the current ones aren't flattering, I find them to be more professional, minus the ball caps, which I have never liked.

 

[William Stratford]

Rolled sleeves were frowned upon in fry-cook situations because they collected grease and grime and were unsanitary.

A fair point, although would they not prefer to keep their sleeves rolled down when cooking (to protect their arms from splashing fat)? I know that certainly do when frying food.

 

[Flicka]

The main reason I originally turned against wearing a tie with a short sleeve shirt was exactly the connotation of it being 'fast food uniform'. Not that I look down on anyone thus gainfully employed - far from it - but I don't wish to dress like I am at work in such an establishment if I am, in fact, not.

It's never fun to have random strangers ask you to refill the napkins or clean up the milkshake, right?

 

[LizzieMaine]

A fair point, although would they not prefer to keep their sleeves rolled down when cooking (to protect their arms from splashing fat)? I know that certainly do when frying food.

I'd imagine it'd be too hot behind the grill for long sleeves -- I know when my brother worked as a fry cook, he never stopped complaining about the heat.

I've been working for six years around a corn popper, and my arms are covered with scars from burns and hot oil spatters -- it's sort of a badge of honor for those of us in the service industry, like military tattoos.

 

[rene_writer]

The new uniforms are heinous. How many people can pull off a tucked-in at the hips plaid shirt, or a mustard-yellow color? Wearing a tie in the fast food industry is silly unless they've figured out some way not to get it into people's burgers or in the deep-friers. I can't tell, but I think the shirts are still polyester, which I can tell you from experience is miserable. The kitchen where I currently work is the scene of a couple of heat-strokes a year in cotton shirts.

Above all, this is not going to make the food taste better so I can't see how it will increase the buisness.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The original uniform wore a starched cotton apron over the tie, keeping it out of the mustard-squirter or the fry well. Even better, though, would be bow ties, which were part of the uniform at White Castle, the granddaddy of the fast-food industry, in the 1920s.

The worst part of these new outfits, though, is the colors. The only thing in the world that should be "mustard yellow" is mustard.

 

[William Stratford]

The worst part of these new outfits, though, is the colors. The only thing in the world that should be "mustard yellow" is mustard.

The only reason that they call it "mustard yellow" is because "dysentery beige" might put people off their food.

 

[rene_writer]

The original uniform wore a starched cotton apron over the tie

Now I see. That seems practical enough. Now the only trouble is teaching people to starch and iron.

Though, I agree: Who cares about a tie when we are talking mustard yellow?

 

[sheeplady]

It's McDonalds, changing the uniforms won't make it quality food.

Lipstick on a pig. Or in McDonald's case, lipstick on pig by-products and pink slime.

This is how fast food service should look, if you ask me.

I wish more employees wore white uniforms. You know the gentleman in the picture is wearing clean clothes when he is cooking your food. I always wonder with black uniforms what they are covering up. Of course, there's some places white uniforms don't make sense, but in food preparation I like the idea that the uniform gets bleached once in a while.

 

[Edward]

A fair point, although would they not prefer to keep their sleeves rolled down when cooking (to protect their arms from splashing fat)? I know that certainly do when frying food.

From the employer's point of view, probably better a burn on the arm than dirty grease stains on the sleeves of their smart uniform...

It's never fun to have random strangers ask you to refill the napkins or clean up the milkshake, right?

Yes, I prefer to stick to being asked "Is that a real hat?", "Are you in a play?", "Are you Jewish / a Nazi?", etc..... lol

I get them involving Hemmingway as he is a fashion designed who has made a lot of publicity capital out of being "into vintage". What makes no sense is why anyone would want to try to make the whole thing less American. Surely it's like trying to make a croissant less French?