Dishing Up Hot Togs.

GOURMET GEAR HAS CONCOCTED A BRAND NEW RECIPE FOR CHEF'S WEAR THAT'S POPPING UP IN THE MOST POPULAR RESTAURANTS

A mini fashion revolution is taking place, and it's not on the runways of Paris or Milan. It's in restaurant kitchens. Gourmet chefs across the country these days are shunning those traditional black-and-white houndstooth polyester pants and wearing wild-looking cotton apparel with designs as creative as some of the dishes they whip up.

They're sporting pants covered with red-hot chili peppers, purple and green grapes or colorful tropical flowers. They're even wearing matching toques and double-breasted chef's jackets done in chambray blue, harvest brown and midnight black.

The splash of fashion is coming from companies like Gourmet Gear Inc., a Los Angeles firm that nine years ago got its start by taking something very simple - chef's pants -- and spinning them into togs with a twist.

Ever since, sales have sprouted, reaching $2.9 million last year, according to company officials, and a projected $3.5 million this year.

"We have so much loyalty," said Gourmet Gear's 34-year-old owner Marcee Katz. "People really stay true to us."

Katz's company got its start in a rather haphazard manner. In the late 1980s, just after graduating from UCLA, Katz was working as director of marketing for Platinum Everywhere, a local company that made exotic-looking baggy pants and sweatshirts for bodybuilders. A friend of Katz was a chef who worked with celebrity restaurateur Wolfgang Puck and started wearing those baggy pants in his kitchen. Puck took notice and immediately wanted to buy 200 pairs.

"It grew like wildfire," Katz recalled.

Family affair

With orders piling up, Katz and her chef friend began a company together, But a year later, they parted was after a disagreement. Katz then launched Gourmet Gear.

It started out as a family business, with Marcee's mother, Judith Katz, working as the executive secretary until she passed away five years ago. Marcee's father, Norton Katz, helped with design and marketing after working for years in sales for Farrah slacks. He was eager to take his knowledge of the apparel industry and mix it with his artistic flair to create fun culinary clothing.

Norton came up with bright designs that incorporated images of pasta, seafood, vegetables, olives, grapes, red chili peppers and chefs on unicycles. There were also subtle designs featuring white stripes on navy blue pants or red stripes on black pants.

There were a few bombs along the way. Norton had a penchant for taking some of his favorite items such as cheese, deli food and micro-brewed beer, and applying them to his creative endeavors. Clothing featuring those images didn't take off.

At one time, the company offered togs in 36 patterns. Today, the chef's pants come in 22 different designs.

One of Gourmet Gear's first clients was Arizona-based P.F. Chang's, which started ordering chef's clothing when the Chinese restaurant had only three eateries in its chain. Today, with more than 52 restaurants throughout the country, P.F. Chang's is the culinary apparel company's No. 1 customer.

In fact, Gourmet Gear took the design of a Chinese mural hanging at the P.F. Chang's in Manhattan Beach and put it on one of the company's newest lines of chef's pants.

"Gourmet Gear is especially innovative and different," said Paul Muller, P.F. Chang's corporate executive chef. "Their quality of uniforms is very high. And the cost of the actual garment is well below what others are charging, by maybe 10 to 15 percent. Marcee's company was small when we were small and we grew at the same time."

Other commercial clients include Houlihan's, Houston's, California Pizza Kitchen, and Sam Choy's in Hawaii.

Made in America

While professional chefs make up the bulk of Gourmet Gear's business, the company also sells its merchandise to the public via its Internet site, Gourmetgear.com, and by catalog. All items are manufactured in South El Monte. "I pride myself that we do everything here in the United States," Marcee said.

Chef's pants, which retail for about $33 a pair, are Gourmet Gear's No. 1 seller, at 30,000 pairs a year. Chef's jackets, which retail for $15 to $80, are the next most popular item, at 15,000 units a year. Other items include bistro aprons, kitchen hats, toques, ties, neckerchiefs and clogs.

For a while, Gourmet Gear entered the gift basket arena. For the 1997 holiday season, Marcee and her employees put together 9,000 baskets that were sold at Bristol Farms stores in Southern California. But it was a quick way to lose money.

"Being in the basket business is the most labor-intensive thing," the Gourmet Gear owner said. "You think you're making money, but you're not."

So Marcee has stuck with culinary gear. She also has two new business partners who are providing an infusion of cash. Marcee declined to say how much her partners, Ira Ritter, the founder of Playgirl magazine, and Tom Harnsberger, an attorney with Riordan & Mckenzie, are investing.

Under the new partnership, Gourmet Gear will move its local shipping operations from Venice to a fulfillment center in Tustin. It will also start a new line of women's chef togs with the help of Ingrid Croce, the, wife of singer Jim Croce who owns three restaurants in San Diego.

The women's line will feature chef's jackets that are more fitted to a woman's body. Other projects include an agreement with American Linen Co. for its representatives to sell the chef's apparel to restaurants and hotels. The deal is expected to add $200,000 to sales next year.

Gourmet Gear Inc.

Year Founded: 1991

Care Business: Manufacturing and selling chef's apparel

Revenue in 1985: $1.8 million

Revenue in 1999: $2.9 million

Revenue in 2000: $3.5 million (projected)

Employees in 1995: 5

Employees in 2000: 13

Goat: To become the No. 1 culinary apparel company in the country

Driving Force: Demand for quality, colorful, fashionable clothing to be worn in restaurant kitchens