Savour Foods: a winter uniform for the busiest pulao kitchens in Pakistan
Savour Foods started on Gordon College Road in Rawalpindi in 1980 and became the place the twin cities go for chicken pulao and shami kebab — and then Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi did too. Its dining halls turn over a crowd from lunch until late, the kitchens run at full heat all day, and the staff who serve it are on their feet for whole shifts. Their winter uniform is a crewneck sweatshirt we make in our own factory in Lahore, in the brand's dark magenta, with the Savour mark in appliqué embroidery on the front and the back.
- 1980
- The year the first outlet opened
- 5
- Cities with Savour outlets
- 320
- GSM polyester fleece
- Front + back
- Appliqué embroidery
Who they are
A family restaurant business that has become an institution: Savour Foods is what people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad mean when they say pulao, and its branches in Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi carry the same menu, the same crowd and the same pace. It is a volume business — plates by the thousand, a queue at the counter, a dining hall that never quite empties — run with the discipline that scale demands, down to its own rice plant. A uniform for that business has to be as consistent as the food.
The brief
A winter garment for front-of-house and service staff across every branch, in the brand's colour, carrying the Savour mark so that a customer sees it from across the hall. It had to survive the restaurant laundry — hot washes, every day or two, for a whole season — without fading, shrinking or losing its shape, and it had to look identical in Karachi and in Rawalpindi. And it had to be comfortable for people who move fast between a hot kitchen and a cold doorway.
What was made
| Winter staff sweatshirt | |
|---|---|
| Garment | Crewneck sweatshirt, relaxed fit |
| Fabric | 320 gsm polyester fleece |
| Rib | 1×1 polyester-lycra rib at the neck, cuffs and hem |
| Colour | Dark magenta — the brand's own |
| Decoration | Appliqué embroidery, front and back |
| What it had to survive | Daily hot washing, kitchen heat, a winter of double shifts, five cities of scrutiny |
Why polyester fleece, not cotton
Cotton fleece is the softer garment, and for a hoodie sold in a shop it is what we recommend. A restaurant uniform is a different problem. It goes through a hot wash every day or two, it dries on a line in a back yard or in a dryer, and it has to come out the same colour and the same size two hundred washes later. Polyester fleece does that: it does not shrink, it dries fast, it holds a dyed colour through hot washing that would fade cotton, and at 320 gsm it is warm enough for a Rawalpindi winter without being heavy on a busy shift. A polyester-lycra rib at the neck, cuffs and hem keeps its snap after cotton rib would have gone slack.
The Savour mark is appliqué embroidery — the shape cut from fabric and stitched down with a dense satin edge — rather than a print, because print on a garment washed this often is the first thing to go. Appliqué gives a large, bold mark with a fraction of the stitches solid embroidery would need, so the sweatshirt stays soft where the logo sits, and it survives laundering indefinitely. Front and back, so the brand is read whichever way a server is facing.
How it lives now
The same sweatshirt, in the same magenta, on the floor of every branch through the winter — and reordered from the specification on file when the season comes round again, when a branch opens, when the roster grows. The embroidery files, the colour reference and the size grading stay with us, so the garment a new server is handed in Peshawar is the one the team in Rawalpindi has been wearing all along.
Get this for your own restaurant chain
Restaurant uniforms — winter sweatshirts, polos, tees, aprons, caps — from a uniform manufacturer in Lahore, Pakistan that cuts, sews and embroiders under one roof, for one outlet or fifty. This is how the order runs.
Tell us the roles and the headcount
Which roles wear what, roughly how many people, and whether there are several branches. A colour-coded system needs about two minutes to describe and is most of the brief.
We propose garments, colours and decoration
Crewnecks, quarter-zips, polos, tees — from our own range of premium blanks or cut and sewn to your pattern, in stock colours or a colour of your own from a 300-piece dye lot. A digital mockup on the real garment comes back with the quote, usually within 24 hours.
Sample, then production
A pre-production sample is free with any production order once the deposit is received; nothing is cut before you approve it in writing. Decorated stock garments run as fast as 7–10 days; cut-and-sew 10–14 working days; a large programme is scheduled in batches by role.
Delivery, and every reorder after
Nationwide across Pakistan, and by air or sea to the UK, the US, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia and Germany with duties quoted up front. Your specification, embroidery files and size grading stay on file, so a new store or a new hire gets the same garment.
Restaurant uniforms — questions this case study raises
- What is the best fabric for restaurant uniforms that are washed every day?
- For winter, polyester fleece — it does not shrink, dries fast and holds colour through hot washing. For summer, poly-cotton or polyester mesh polos and tees. Pure cotton is for guest-facing roles with a gentler laundry.
- Why appliqué embroidery rather than print for a restaurant logo?
- Because it survives industrial laundering indefinitely. Print on a garment washed daily is the first thing to fail; appliqué gives a large, bold mark that outlasts the garment.
- Can you match our brand colour on a sweatshirt?
- From our stock colours, matched as closely as possible and shown on a swatch; a colour of your own is a custom dye lot of 300 pieces, matched to your Pantone with a lab dip and held on file for reorders.
- What is the minimum order for restaurant staff sweatshirts?
- 50 pieces per design, mixed sizes freely, with 30 per stock colour. Sizes Small to 3XL as standard.
- How long does a restaurant uniform order take?
- As fast as 7–10 days for decorated stock garments and 10–14 working days for cut-and-sew, from approved sample; a chain-wide order is scheduled in batches so the first branches are dressed before the last are finished.
- Do you supply restaurant uniforms in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Karachi?
- Yes — nationwide delivery from Lahore to every city, and export to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK, the US, Canada and Australia with duties quoted up front.
What Savour Foods used
Workwear and uniforms
Staff apparel for restaurant groups, colour-coded and laundry-rated.
Restaurant and café uniforms
Fabrics and methods for people who work in heat and wash daily.
Uniforms for a restaurant chain?
Tell us the roles, the branches and how the garments are washed. We will specify a fabric and a decoration that survive your laundry, and show you the garment before anything is made.
Get a quote