Best Custom Shirt Printing for Restaurants

Last Updated on April 23, 2026 by Ewen Finser

We attended a special Viking festival in a tourist town known for its Swedish roots. The main restaurant was always our first stop. Each year, they made shirts, hats, and sweatshirts.

But when I asked for a small, they were out. Completely. They had done a single order of around 10 of each size and item, respectively, and never restocked. I was told, “We keep meaning to order more,” but that didn’t help me get a new shirt.

The real bummer was that all five members of our party wanted shirts, and they didn’t have anyone’s size, color, or style. We desperately wanted to throw our money at them, no questions asked, but instead we threw our money at cocktails.

So, for any restaurant and bar owners evaluating custom shirt printing vendors for staff uniforms or branded merch who don’t want to be the ones apologizing to customers for an empty rack, here are my top picks based on:

• Fast restocking when staff turns over, or items are sold
• Consistent print quality across repeat orders
• Embroidery options for a more polished, front-of-house look
• Pricing that works at the quantities a restaurant actually needs

Vendor	Best for…	Why it Works for Restaurants	Restocking Speed	Embroidery Options
BlueCotton	Overall best pick	Fast (same day options available or standard 10-day)	You get real-time pricing and no minimum	Yes
Rush Order Tees	Last-Minute Needs	They have extremely fast turnarounds if you have staff turnover and need shirts	Very Fast (You can get expedited same or next day in some cities)	Yes
Custom Ink	Mid-Size Teams	They offer intuitive DIY design tools if your restaurant lacks a logo designer	Moderate	Yes
UberPrints	Self-Serve Merchandise	They are best for outdoor bars/parties that need high-performance gear for staff	Fast (shipping within 7 days)	Yes
Good Ink	Brand Image	They have a focus on “modern retail fits” like Bella + Canvas–very comfy	Moderate	Yes
Salty Printing	Durability and UV Protection	They are best for outdoor bars/parties that need high performance gear for staff	Moderate	Yes

1. BlueCotton: Best for Overall Consistency and Quality

BlueCotton is my top recommendation for restaurants because they handle everything in-house. That means consistent color and print quality on repeat orders, which is critical when you need staff shirts that always match.

This is especially important for established restaurants with long-term branding needs. If you run a lakefront restaurant that has been open for 14 summers, you need to know that the beach grass green you ordered three years ago will be the exact same shade when you reorder next season.

Because design, embroidery, and printing never leave their facility, you get tighter quality control than most competitors can offer. Nothing gets outsourced to third-party print shops, and nothing gets lost in translation between vendors. 

Another thing I absolutely love is the customer service. It is in-house, in the same building as the print floor, which means if you have an issue, you get a real person who can physically walk over and check on your order. It is genuinely the most refreshing customer service experience I have encountered in this industry.

One thing to be aware of is the difference between “online speed” and “local reliability”, especially for long-term uniforms. Basically, if you plan on designing a uniform that you will return to every time you hire new employees or open a new location, you don’t want a custom printing company that might give you fast shipping from different printers across the US or even around the world because the quality won’t necessarily be the same from one order to the next.

That’s one of the areas where BlueCotton really stands out because they handle all production in-house, which means if you hire for staff members and need to add four uniforms a year from now, you can return to the same templates you have used, pick the same quality shirts, and trust that everything will look exactly the same as any veteran employees.

Top Features

• Restocking and Pricing: Zero middleman markups and strong bulk pricing make restocking affordable, especially for hospitality teams of 50 to 100.
• Front-of-House Quality: A nine-step quality control process with real human oversight means every item, whether a basic tee or an embroidered polo, meets retail-level standards.

Bummers

• Minimums: They have a minimum order quantity of six, so if you are trying to test a new product, or new merchandise, or a new logo because of a change in management, you can’t order a single copy to make sure everything works well. 

2. Rush Order Tees: Best for High Turnover

Rush Order Tees is best for any restaurant experiencing high turnover or in sudden need of ensembles. If you are experiencing a sudden hiring surge, your business is expanding, or you have a lot of seasonal employees, this is a great way to get an immediate print job for staff members.

This can be an essential resource for custom printing of a new opening or a seasonal hire, where, for example, you might need 20 shirts by Friday. They are really supportive of getting your job done quickly, sometimes as soon as a few days, so if you need emergency restocking, it’s good to have this option in your back pocket. 

Just know that that emergency is going to cost you, just like when there is a plumbing problem on a Sunday morning – sure, you’re grateful that the plumber is there to offer an emergency service, but the price certainly knocks the wind out of you. 

Top Features

• Restocking Speed: Rush Order Tees prides itself on offering lightning-fast turnovers, and they can handle rush jobs within a few days, if not the next day, depending on where you are located. This even extends to embroidery for polished uniforms.

Bummers

• Price: Rush Order Tees is really well known for speed, but unfortunately, that speed comes at a cost. If you are trying to top up your order, maybe adding just five shirts for the new seasonal staff members, you’re going to face significantly higher rates compared to a bulk order.

3. Custom Ink: Best for Beginners

Custom Ink is a household name and a solid starting point for restaurants that are new to branded merch or do not have a logo designer on staff. They offer a Design Lab that’s pretty intuitive so you can create professional-looking logos or choose from stock images that might fit your particular restaurant, and this gets combined with a wide selection of retail-quality garments. 

Custom Ink has prices listed on all of their retail items, like polo shirts. The price always seems very affordable, and after you click on that item, the website directs you to the Design Lab, where you can upload an image or create an image yourself. 

But the problem is, the price that was displayed initially is usually one that’s based on a substantial quantity or bulk discount, and they don’t reveal the actual price for the quantity you want until after you have spent the time creating your design and are ready to check out. 

So, it can feel a little bit like a bait and switch when you go through the design lab, set up your beachfront Tiki Bar logo, and go to print eight shirts for your eight seasonal staff members, only to find that the price has effectively tripled compared to what was advertised when you first started designing.

Top Features

• Re-Orders: Custom Ink has a “re-order” feature in the dashboard so you can easily save a custom design and order it again later. Plus, they come with a robust embroidery program so you can get a professional, classic look for your staff members.

Bummers

• Outsourcing: Custom Ink outsources print jobs to third-party vendors, which means that any restaurant ordering different batches at different times runs the risk of quality variations.

4. UberPrints: Best for Simple Merch or Small Batches

UberPrints is ideal for restaurants that only need to order a handful of shirts or other restaurant merch, especially for things like specific events. They have a straightforward, DIY platform, and unlike BlueCotton, there is no minimum. This means you can create an easy, one-off design for, say, a Viking event in town, then order a few items to sell or divvy among staff members without committing to 50+ shirts. 

They have a very easy online designer, but it doesn’t have the same consulting services as Custom Ink or BlueCotton, both of which offer things like quality control checks and graphic designer support, which means it’s entirely up to you and your team to make sure the final product looks good. So hopefully you know what you are doing. 

They work really well if you need somewhere between 25 and 50 items, especially basic digital prints rather than embroidery. 

While they offer embroidery for higher-end uniforms, they require a minimum of 12 pieces for embroidery or screen printing, so replacing one or two embroidered pillows for new front-of-house staff means you have to order more shirts than you need, or you are stuck with a digital print that might not match the high-end look or texture of your existing uniforms.

Similarly, they have a very restricted color palette. If you order fewer than 12 items, your restaurant gets stuck with a limited color catalog, and you only get the premium color palettes if you order bulk items, which means that if your brand relies on a non-standard color in the logo, you’re not going to be able to order one or two replacement shirts in that exact shade.

Top Features

• Consistency: UberPrints has an easy online designer with consistent production. 

Bummers

• Print Quality: If you are ordering a small restock, with 12 items or fewer, they use digital printing. This means that you might have slight breakage, visible print lines, or muted colors, and this can be a big problem if you need your staff to look uniform, and your restocked items have a visibly poorer quality print to them as compared to your order items.

5. Good Ink: Best for Popular Brands

For staff gear, embroidery on high-quality blends like Bella + Canvas really do provide superior results. What your staff wears reflects your business, so screen printing is certainly cheaper, especially on large volumes, but the embroidered look for a name or logo is more durable for daily-wear uniforms. 

Good Ink does really well here, providing high-quality popular shirts like Bella + Canvas, combined with embroidery for your restaurant. Their bread and butter is trendy, high-end fits, especially popular among craft breweries or modern cafes. 

One of the downsides is that Good Ink could just as easily be called “The Opposite of Rush Order Tees” because their average turnaround time is 3 weeks, especially on embroidery. They won’t start any production until the invoice is paid in full, so if you have a tight weekly cash flow, paying 100% upfront for a large bulk order that doesn’t arrive for almost a month can be a logistical nightmare. 

Plus, if you need new front-of-house staff with a crisp, polished uniform the week your restaurant opens for the season, or for their critical training, make sure you order months in advance.

The alternative? 

Good Ink up charges 25% if you want to get your production finished in 5 days. 

Top Features

• Modern Branding: Their lineup has trendy offerings that staff would be comfortable wearing outside of work, too. 

Bummer

• Longer Turnaround Times: Good Ink might provide high-quality staff gear, but they have some pretty slow lead times and a lot of bottlenecks. It can take an average of 15 business days, and that doesn’t even start until your invoice has been paid in full. It can take an average of 3 weeks for embroidery as well. 

6. Salty Printing: Best for Outdoor or High-Performance Environments

Salty Printing is based in Florida, and that’s why they specialize in performance clothing, making them the best choice for venues that have to deal with a lot of heat or moisture, designed to withstand industrial laundering but still be cost-effective.

If you need high volume, breathable cotton that goes through frequent laundering, the shifts from Salty Printing are a great fit. That’s why they are ideal for places like rooftop patios, beach bars, or BOH staff in hot kitchens, all of whom need performance fabrics that don’t fade under heavy heat or sun exposure, and can stand up to regular washing.

They specialize in performance gear designed for intense sun, including catalogs of UPF 50 plus sun protection shirts and 100% moisture wicking polyester dry fit options that don’t fade. This makes them a popular choice for outdoor venues and Waterfront venues.

Even if you don’t have a restaurant on the beach, they provide long-sleeve hoodies and mesh piqué polos that are better suited for BOH staff, providing your kitchen staff with protection against high heat. 

Staff uniforms are just one part of what they offer; you can order high-quality apparel to sell to tourists and other customers as well, saving your designs for easy reordering when things are low in stock. 

Top Features

• Batch Reordering: They provide company reorder portals, so if you are an established client with them, your managers can replace specific staff uniforms using existing designs.
• Performance Gear: I’ve set it already, but their bread and butter really is specialized performance gear, so it’s ideal for outdoor and waterfront venues or high-heat kitchen rolls.

Bummer

• Printing: They are going to be best for screen printing, so even though they offer embroidery, the types of high-performance gear they offer is best with a screen print. 

Which Site Should You Try?

Honestly, for most restaurants, BlueCotton is the clear overall winner thanks to in-house production, reorder reliability, and customer service that actually picks up the phone. 

If you need inventory yesterday, Rush Order Tees can get it done fast, just be prepared to pay for that speed. And if your staff is working outdoors in the heat, Salty Printing is built exactly for that environment.

By the way, the Viking festival restaurant never did restock those shirts. Don’t be that restaurant.