While white may seem like a challenging color for a uniform that is a likely recipient of spills from wine and attacks from sauces and grease, the color was historically chosen by Georges Auguste Escoffier to signify a position of cleanliness and perfection. Despite the daily polychromatic scenarios testing your ability to keep your whites truly white, here are some tips to keep your clothes clean and you looking brilliant.


Pre-Treat
Treating stains as soon as possible is the key to keeping whites white. It’s important to note that not all stains are the same. As a result, there are different methods to help treat the stain before you pre-soak and wash.

Red Wine - Pour white wine over the soiled area. If you prefer not to add more wine to the equation, products like Wine Away, will almost magically remove a red wine stain.
Tomato Sauce - Treat the area with white vinegar.
Blood - Hydrogen peroxide is the best way to get rid of bloodstains; apply a small amount directly to the stain, then rinse with cold water.
Fats - Use warm water and Dawn dish detergent to help break down the fats in the stain.

Wash Promptly and Often
The sooner you can wash the garment, the better chance you’ll have at removing those treated stains and keep you from having to throw away your whites. Even if your white clothes aren’t visibly dirty, whites should be washed after one use, helping to keep sweat from building up and preventing them from turning a dingy yellow.


Separate Your Laundry
When washing colored clothes, the dyes from the garments may transfer onto lighter fabrics. To keep white fabric from slowly dulling in appearance, separate out your whites into their own load.


Opt for Warm Water
While there are many opinions in the debate over the ideal water temperature for lifting stains from (instead of baking them into) clothing fibers, in general, washing your clothes often, pretreating stains, rinsing properly and using warm water will suffice.


Avoid Overloading
The rinse cycle is designed to keep the dirty water from soaking back into your whites. Keeping your laundry loads small will allow your machine to properly rinse the dirt and detergent from your clothes. If you have the option, run your whites through a second rinse cycle to make sure everything has been washed away.


Hang Dry
Extreme heat from the dryer can set stains deeply into the fabric; hang dry your whites whenever possible. Before allowing your clothes to dry make sure all stains have been removed. If the stains are still present repeat soaking and washing.


Hide Stains
If all else fails, remember that chef coats have a double-breasted design, so you can quickly switch the stained side to an alternate clean side when meeting guests.


Keep a Spare
If you have room (and the budget), keep a backup handy for when you need to go onto the floor and/or if a particular stain situation has gone awry.