20 Chefs Answer: The Best Shoes for 12 Hour Shifts

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The shoes I wear are this, Dansko.

I'm fully a Dansko convert.

I wear Dansko. Danskos.

Dansko. Danskos.

Danskos because I'm really 5'9.

Real estate, you just build up, up, up, up, up

like all our shelves are insanely high.

This helps me reach the things I need to reach.

I like 'em 'cause they're comfortable

and they have an arc and they're not slick.

They've got this nice Velcro strap which I really like.

They're not quite as tall as regular Danskos

which I also like

but most importantly, they are very squishy.

I've never had less back pain with any other shoe.

They're notoriously known as ankle breakers.

The heel's very high so if you roll it over,

it tends to fall all the way down.

I don't wear Danskos 'cause I think they're terrifying.

I wear Birkenstock Tokio Super Grips

because they're like ninja slippers.

Very low, you can move around a lot in them

and not feel like you're ever gonna roll your ankle

which is great 'cause rolling your ankle sucks.

The shoes I wear in the kitchen are Tokio Birkenstock

'cause they're super comfortable, quite durable.

They just work for me.

The shoes I wear in the kitchen are Birkenstocks.

They are the most comfortable shoes

especially for women with high arches.

My experience with Birkenstocks, they're comfortable

but then especially when you throw water on the floor

when you're cleaning, they get ruined easily.

The worst shoe that I've used are the Birkis

that come in all the different colors.

They were awful and I think I threw them out

after like maybe six months.

I don't wear the Birkens or whatever.

[Speaker] Why not?

Why not, It's too German for me.

I don't like it.

We love Gucci really because they're vintage

and they feel like slippers, nice leather

and the most important is my feet don't smell.

So the shoes I wear are the kitchen always

are the freaking Scapadels, you see?

These are Scapadels.

If you don't know what Scapadels are,

wake up and die, right?

Go read a book, do something, comb me your hair.

I don't know, you gotta do something with yourself

but maybe it's something to Google.

The shoes I've been wearing inside the kitchen

are made by MISE.

They last a little bit longer than Birkenstocks

so that's good for me.

And the inserts, they kind of come out just like this.

Kinda just run the whole thing through the dish machine

actually like I've done it before.

It works really well.

And then these inserts,

I can just throw in the washing machine.

Well, I wear Dr. Scholl's with extra inlays

'cause I'm flatfooted

and the long hours really kinda catch up with you.

As chef de cuisine here, I'm generally on my feet

for anywhere between 12 to 14 hours a day.

I'm usually on my feet no less than 10 hours.

It could range from eight to 12 hours.

12 hours a day.

The shoes I wear in the kitchen at Cozy

are these Brooks Adrenalines.

The truth is that I've worn

a lot of different types of shoes.

I'm in the kitchen three or four days a week,

mostly in the expo line,

so I'm not super worried about liquids or anything

but my feet are like flat, archless

so I tried the Dansko thing.

Not comfortable.

I was on HOKAs for a while.

Right now, these are the answer.

As general manager here at L'industrie Pizzeria,

I like to wear my HOKAs.

First of all, I got it at a discount.

Secondly, they're super duper comfortable.

This is actually my second pair

and when I wear them, it gives me an extra inch.

I wear two different kinds of shoes in the kitchens,

HOKA and Birkenstocks.

My HOKAs are like my everyday

if I'm bouncing in and out of the kitchen.

My Birkenstocks is if I'm planted

and I'll be in the kitchen for a long period of time,

I'll put those on.

I just started wearing my Blundstones in the kitchen

and I love them so much that I wear them every day.

They can go through puddles,

they can go through kitchen slop.

They're sturdy as hell, they're waterproof

and they're comfortable.

They're so comfortable.

Another pair of shoes I've tried

which I sometimes still wear are my Blundstones.

They're boots I got for when I was farming and they're okay.

The kitchen shoes I wear at Sobre Masa

are the slip resistant Vans.

I actually normally use Blundstones

but I thought it'd be fun to change it up.

Who knows, I think I might be going back to Blundstones.

I miss the boots

and also, sometimes these two get a little bit wet

which is an inconvenience.

These are the shoes that I wear in the kitchen, my Nikes

and then right before service,

I like to switch 'em out into my Converse

just because standing on your feet for 15 hours,

I like a midpoint

where I just jump into like a relatively newer pair

to just give me like a refresher.

As the head chef of Wenwen, these are the shoes I wear.

They're the New Balance Arishis.

When I first needed like a new pair of kitchen shoes

a few years ago, I kind of just searched

like women's kitchen shoes

and this is one of the first ones that popped up

but I really, really like them.

They're like super, super light.

They're really breathable and they're obviously non-slip.

I would say the one downside though, the breathability.

I did spill hot soup on it once and it did burn my foot

but that does prove that it's very breathable.

I used to wear Doc Martens for a while

but the sole actually split after a few months

because whenever I kneel down to like pick,

to like turn on something or anything,

eventually it just kind of broke

and seems not like an everyday kitchen shoe.

Prior to being introduced to Birkenstocks by my daughters,

I was wearing Crocs.

Yeah, that was a lot of back pain and a lot of hurt.

I hate Crocs.

I'm sorry.

I tried Crocs before, I don't like 'em.

They're not as comfortable.

They're cute but they're not comfortable.

Crocs sent me to the chiropractor so those weren't great.

Usually when you wear like Crocs

and other types of shoes, it's not really good for stability

'cause it's like kind of flat feet.

The shoes I wear in the kitchen are Sports Crocs

but the real answer to the shoes I wear in the kitchen

is that I finally threw away my 10-year-old white clogs

about a month ago, maybe more

because they were gone and it was time.

So I might be converted to Crocs.

I really love these.

I got them off of eBay because I liked these colors

and then realized that they only had them in Japan.

I normally would not try to reach so far but I love them.

They're super comfy, non-slip, no notes.

I went away from Danskos because my friend Chris Crawford

has incredible style and she had these

and I was like, that's so cool and so I was imitating her.

I resewed them probably twice.

The good thing is like even if I have splash of oil

going into the leather, it makes it even more shiny.

I think why I like to wear them

because they go with everything I wear.

I do own a pair of like rubber Birkenstocks as well

because Danskos in shorts just looks crazy

so I try not to do that look too often

but now it's cold again, it's wintertime

so long pants and Danskos is a okay look for me

but with the shorts, I just couldn't do it.

These last me about like six months or so

but I got Scapadels up to the wazoo.

I got 'em like up to the ceiling at my place.

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