Restaurant owners have a duty to ensure that their premises are clean and sanitized at all times. This includes not only the kitchen area but also the front of the house. A clean restaurant (along with good food and service) will encourage a loyal customer following and ensure that your business has a good reputation. But how do you make sure that your restaurant is cleaned to perfection?
Well aside from hiring professionals to take care of your business cleaning, there are a number of steps you can follow to make sure the job is done properly. The experts at All Pro Cleaning Systems (allprocleaningsystems.com) say that cleaning your restaurant doesn’t have to be a massive headache, provided you establish a routine and use the right products. To that end, below are a few tips for cleaning a restaurant correctly.
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Get the Right Products
If you are going to take care of the cleaning yourself, it is important that you have the right equipment and supplies. You will need the following:
- clean color-coded cloths to minimize the risk of cross-contamination
- sanitizer
- surface cleaner
- glass cleaner
- broom
- vacuum cleaner
- mop and mop bucket
- toilet brush
- bathroom cleaner
- paper towels.
Establish Cleaning Routines
Some parts of the restaurant will need to be cleaned every day, whereas others can be cleaned weekly or monthly. For example, all surfaces should be cleaned daily. This includes preparation and cutting surfaces. You need to make sure that faucets, door handles, railings, and seats are sanitized frequently (this may need to be done more than once per day). Other daily cleaning jobs include emptying trash cans, floors swept or vacuuming and mopping, outside appliances wiped down and sanitizing, and grease traps emptied and cleaned. Soda guns, sinks, and utensils should also be cleaned daily.
Restrooms must be cleaned every day and should be monitored throughout the day to ensure that they are clean and well-stocked. Condiment dispensers, menus, tables, and seats should be cleaned and sanitized between customers.
Weekly jobs include a thorough cleaning of coffee machines, refrigerators, and coolers. Ovens will also need a cleaning every week, and you will need to make sure that walls are wiped down and sanitized. Baseboards around the restaurant should be wiped down, as should the table and chair legs. Blinds, wall hangings, and ceiling fans will also need to be cleaned each week.
There are some jobs that can be taken care of every month such as emptying and cleaning the freezers, cleaning behind appliances, and washing the ceilings. It is also important to do a monthly check to ensure that things like thermometers are correctly calibrated and that knives are sharpened.
Are Professional Cleaners a Good Idea?
There are some restaurant owners who hire contractors to take care of their cleaning needs, and it is easy to see why. Cleaning is an especially important part of running a successful restaurant, and there is a lot to it. Hiring professionals often makes sense because they have the training and equipment required to get the job done. However, something to bear in mind when hiring professional cleaners for your restaurant is that you and your staff will still need to take care of some of the daily cleaning jobs.
Things like regular restroom cleaning and sanitizing tables and seats between customers is a jobs that must be taken care of by in-house employees. It is for this reason that many restaurant owners will hire professional cleaners to come in once a week to give the premises a deep clean and will take care of daily cleaning in-house.