Here’s another reason to leave a generous tip the next time you dine out. It’s widely known that many food service workers make well below the federal minimum wage before tips, that only 32% of restaurant workers have health coverage through their jobs, and that job security is far from guaranteed.To add another challenge to the pile, hospitality jobs often require employees to provide their own uniforms and supplies. We asked a few industry vets to talk us through this financial responsibility and to help us understand why (and whether) it’s worth the investment.Restaurant workers often need to supply their own footwear and uniforms.Most restaurants have a dress code of sorts, which requires front-of-house and back-of-house employees to wear clothing and shoes that ensure their safety. “A few years back, after just moving to a new state, I started working as a server in a chain restaurant, and I was required to purchase non-slip shoes and black work shirts that had to be made of a wicking material,” Cassandra Wheeler, a former restaurant server and current marketing specialist from Colorado, gave us by way of example. Wheeler pointed out that purchasing these items “was a requirement and we were not reimbursed.” In past decades, restaurant employees could often write expenses (like work clothing) off on their taxes. However, a 2017 law removed that possibility for federal taxes (some states, like California, still allow restaurant workers to write items off on their state taxes).Maskot via Getty ImagesKnives aren’t an easy investment for aspiring chefs; professional chef’s knives typically sell for over $100 and can even extend into near-$500 territory.“While I understand the shoes were for safety reasons, since the kitchen can be slick and the shoes offered better support, they were fairly expensive for someone working in the restaurant industry,” Wheeler told us. Industry groups on social media, such as the r/serverlife subreddit, are filled with current and past restaurant employees describing their need to invest in specialized footwear. The Dansko clogs, which many servers consider the gold standard for restaurant shoes, retail for $140.Safety aside, when restaurants ask employees to wear specific garments for aesthetic reasons (such as fine dining servers being told to wear black slacks and white button-down shirts), these “uniforms” can take a toll on the server’s not particularly high income, especially in the early days of their employment.Wheeler says that the wicking shirts that her former restaurant job required may have been “sensible for a busy environment, but [it felt like] a strangely specific request, and these shirts were also not the cheapest of clothing items. I had just moved and was already tight on money, but I needed the job, and so I had to surrender my own funds to obtain these requirements.”Wheeler allows that, for small independent restaurants operating on very tight margins, expecting the business to absorb uniform costs may not be reasonable or realistic. However, when it comes to large chain restaurants, Wheeler added, “I would think the company could afford to reimburse these purchases. There was no option to decline, and while the tips were decent [at my] job, the pay was much too low to make sense of it. The uniform requirement was only discussed once I started, never in the interview process, and was set up as an expectation with no opportunity for rebuttal.”Even when restaurants provide uniforms to employees, the workers sometimes need to pay for these clothing items.Speaking of chain restaurants, many of these establishments tell servers to wear shirts, vests or other garments that are branded with the business’s colors and logos. Frequently, this means employees need to pay the restaurant for the use of these clothing items, which they won’t be able to use in other life scenarios.Commenter kingthien on the r/serverlife Reddit group spoke about this issue: “I’ve worked in many different restaurants, but this is a first for me. There is a new uniform that requires the servers to pay for it. Like wtf? Usually, the first one is free. [But here,] it’s $25 PLUS I have to go out and buy a white polo to wear under it.”The good news here is that, according to employment attorney Nick Norris, a partner with Watson & Norris, PLLC in Mississippi, ”Under federal law, employers generally cannot require employees to purchase work items if it drops their pay below minimum wage. I’ve successfully recovered thousands for servers who were forced to buy expensive non-slip shoes, aprons, or specific branded shirts. One case involved a Jackson steakhouse requiring bartenders to purchase $200 wine tools — we got full reimbursement plus damages.”If you want to contest your restaurant employer’s policies on employee-provided supplies and garments, Norris said, “document everything — receipts, texts about required purchases, and pay stubs showing your hourly rate. The math is simple: if required work expenses push you below minimum wage for any pay period, you have a valid claim. Many workers don’t realize they’re entitled to reimbursement plus potential penalties.”Bartenders and chefs frequently provide their own knives and bar kits.For front-of-house employees, the supplies they must purchase out of pocket usually fall into the clothing category. One possible exception is a bartender’s “bar kit,” which might include a shaker, measuring jiggers, bar spoons, muddlers or strainers. Most restaurants will supply kits for their bartenders, but because skilled bartenders often have specific preferences where their tools are concerned, it’s not uncommon for these mixologists to carry their own supplies into work. Chefs and line cooks tend to share a similar sentiment about their kitchen knives. Again, many restaurants will supply knives where needed, but the general expectation is that cooks should bring their own.“The basics would be a chef’s knife, pairing knife and bread knife. I had more because I like knives. You don’t come to your position without your knives ready, nice and sharp. No knives could get you laughed out the kitchen, [as] that is bad form. Is the painter without a brush an artist? A cook without their knives is not a cook,” George Blackwell Smith IV, an experienced former chef and current owner of Lucky Cajun Seasonings, explained.For chefs, selecting their own knives and having the opportunity to practice with them offers a sense of familiarity that translates to their back-of-house skills at a restaurant. “I think having your own kitchen tools is essential. You need to learn how to use them well. That takes practice. Additionally, having high-quality tools demonstrates your pride in your work, and they can be utilized in other settings. Cooking can happen anywhere at anytime,” Smith said. He also pointed out that, by buying his own knives, “I got to buy the knives I wanted, and I still have many of them today.” Admittedly, knives aren’t an easy investment for aspiring chefs; professional chefs’ knives typically sell for over $100 and can even extend into near-$500 territory. But if you’re hoping to become a career chef, Smith and other pros advise finding a knife that fits your hand well and allows you to work smoothly and efficiently. With proper maintenance (like thorough cleaning and regular sharpening,” a chef’s knife can last a lifetime. Wheeler told us that the industry-wide expectation on hospitality workers to supply their own work clothing and tools may prevent restaurants from attracting and retaining excellent workers. “If they could pay for the necessary items for their employees,” Wheeler said, “it would offer a much bigger incentive to stick around for the long haul and retain invaluable workers who know the job inside and out.”