This post is part of the Reporter's Notebook blog.
Pizza Hut just got a change of crew uniforms, and the company made sure it was something the team members were comfortable with — and in.
Employees will now be able to wear soft-style T-shirts, jeans and their favorite sneakers.
Kara Barry, Pizza Hut’s director of internal engagement, told NRN the Plano, Texas-based division of Yum! Brands Inc. worked with crew members to style the new uniforms.
“It was really important to us to make sure that if we were going to redesign our uniforms, that it would reflect our employees' style, preferences and the current trends,” Barry said. “We want them to feel good about what they wear at work, so we started by simply asking them what they liked and did not like about the former uniforms.”
The new designs were actually decided upon by the team, the company said.
“We even partnered with a former contestant on [television reality show] Project Runway to help us narrow down the choices from the design contest,” Barry said, “and then once we had the finalists, we put it back out to team members to be the final judge.”
The company had polled workers on what they wanted in a new work uniform before the process began, Berry added.
“When we surveyed the team members for their input, the top 3 things that came back that they wanted in their uniforms were: color, comfort, casual. And jeans,” she said. “They REALLY wanted to wear jeans.”
The team also made a bow to heritage. “We wanted a combination of vintage designs and fun, modern designs,” Berry said. “It really is a reflection of the brand — we are so proud of our heritage but we’re also a really fun place to work today. The No. 1 voted on T-shirt design by team members was with the vintage Pizza Hut logo.”
Pizza Hut’s public relations team put together the above timeline to show how the brand’s uniforms have changed through the years, and what the new togs look like.
We probably all can agree than we’re glad it’s not 1983 anymore.
Correction: Oct. 27, 2015 An earlier version of this article misspelled Kara Barry's name.
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