Nobody in the dining room has ever seen the door you come in through. It's around the side, past the dumpsters, and the sign over it doesn't say anything charming — it says what the room is for. That's this shirt: SERVICE ENTRANCE / Back of House / NIGHTS · WEEKENDS · HOLIDAYS. Hand-lettered with the weight of a sign that's been screwed to a wall since 1954, in the trade's own words, explaining itself to nobody.
That bottom line is the whole thing. It isn't a complaint — it's posted hours. You worked Thanksgiving. You'll work New Year's. Everyone else's day off is your Saturday, and stating it flat, like an operating notice, says more than any joke about it could.
Printed on the Bella+Canvas 3001 — the soft, well-fitting staple tee, not a boxy promo blank — in three flat inks: bone script, a hard jade drop shadow, amber bands. Direct-to-garment printed so the ink sits in the fabric rather than on top of it, in thirteen dark colorways: navy, black, oxblood black, maroon, forest, heather midnight navy, brown, cardinal, dark grey, heather emerald, dark grey heather, military green and heather forest. Black is the kitchen's own uniform colour, so the whole range leads dark on purpose.
Chefs: this is the one the brigade wears, and it's the rare piece of kitchen merch that isn't aimed at somebody who's never been in the weeds. It lands under a tree, and it lands at a culinary-school graduation — the only shirt at the ceremony that knows what the job actually is.
Made to order and printed in about 3–7 business days before it ships. Wash cold, tumble dry low, and skip ironing directly on the print.
Heard, chef.
