How do chefs keep their uniforms so white in a fast-paced professional kitchen?

Quora Answers

"Easy, they don’t. The work clothing by cooks and chefs (the chef is the head of the kitchen, so he or she is the least likely to get dirty) is dirty by the end of the service, and it must get washed daily."  - Alice Twain

"Side towels and aprons. Side towels perform many tasks which involve cleaning and preventing burns to the hands. The aprons tend to take the sacrifice for pan splatters and spills. I own a couple of sets of whites and a stack of aprons and side towels.

Whites don’t tend to get hit too much except for the heat. There is an illusion of whites from TV that they are gleaming and well pressed. Often not so. They are clean, protect the person and protect the food. As long as they are clean, then white is maybe an off white. There is no excuse to wipe your hands on the front of your uniform if you first have a cleaning station, then a side towel, then an apron."- Ross Boardman

"We don’t. My dad’s apron,tunic thing was smeared with stains at the end of a busy Friday night. He was legendary in that alone he could manage 6 Chinese cooker hobs alone.

What he DID do however was whenever he made an appearance at the front of house he’d quickly change to a clean one wipe down his face with a few wet wipes then go and say hello."- Le Pengii

"When I work, I generally wear black combat style chef pants, white jacket (lots of other colours available but I'm traditional. Now, the key to keeping that white tunic as clean as possible, is wearing a butchers bib apron to cover up a majority of my jacket and trousers.

When they get covered in crap as they always do, you make sure if you launder them yourselves you use a hot hot hot wash and decent laundry jizz.

If you also buy decent quality whites they're also fairly water, oil and grime retardant. That diminishes with age and multiple washes though." - Dale Turner

"They change them for the white and clean when a photo has to be taken or a movie made." -

Władysław Łoś