Keeping up with when to clean the equipment in your restaurant can be overwhelming for new employees or cleaning contractors. Having a document detailing cleaning procedures for your restaurant or cafe is important not only for quick and efficient on-boarding of new employees, but also useful for your restaurant’s maintenance records. If you’re looking for a general checklist for cleaning the kitchen area, this has been discussed in the Halo blog previously in the back-of-house cleaning checklist post.
A good checklist helps employees stay on track regarding exactly what needs to be cleaned each day. Being organized makes it easier to get the job done, divide up tasks between employees, and stay on top of your cleaning.
Halo has tackled the items you’ll most likely want to clean on a daily or almost daily basis in your restaurant’s front-of-house/dining room area. All restaurants are different, so think of this more of a template to build upon rather than exactly what needs to be accomplished for your specific location.
Nightly Restaurant Janitorial
Dining Room
- Carpet & Rugs: Pickup debris and vacuum all carpeting & rugs
- Tile & Concrete Floors: Sweep, damp mop and sanitize all tile and concrete floors
- Hardwood Floors: Sweep, vacuum and dry mop all hardwood floors
- Seating: Wipe down all booths and chairs
- Dining Surfaces: Damp wipe and sanitize all counters and tables
- Glass: Spot clean all glass
- Trash Receptacles: Empty, clean, sanitize and line all trash receptacles
Restrooms
- Toilets, Urinals & Hardware: Clean, sanitize and polish all toilets, urinals and associated hardware
- Walls Near Toilets & Urinals: Damp wipe all walls near toilets and urinals
- Sinks & Hardware: Clean, sanitize and polish all sinks and associated hardware
- Walls Near Sinks: Damp wipe all walls near sinks
- Sanitary Dispensers: Fill, clean and sanitize all soap, towel, tissue and napkin dispeners
- Glass & Mirrors: Clean and polish all glass and mirrors
- Countertops: Clean, sanitize and polish all countertops
- Partitions, Doors & Hardware: Dust and damp wipe all partitions and doors. Clean, sanitize and polish hardware
- Trash Receptacles: Empty, clean, sanitize and line all trash receptacles
- Floors & Drains: Sweep, damp mop and sanitize all floors. Clean seals of all floor drains
Doors, Walls & Partitions
- Light Switches & Push Plates: Spot clean all light switches and push plates
- Interior Mirrors: Spot clean all mirrors. Completely clean when necessary
- Ledges & Window Sills: Dust. Spot clean as necessary
- Doors, Walls & Frames: Dust and spot clean all doors, walls and framing around doors, windows and entrances
- Picture Frames: Dust all picture frames and spot clean glass as necessary
- Baseboards: Dust all baseboards. Spot clean as necessary
- Brass Work: Polish all brass work
Kitchen, Bar, and Line Area
- Rubber Floor Mats: Remove and use a pressure washer to clean
- Floors: Sweep the floors and dispose of debris
- Floors: Scrub the floors using a deck brush if necessary. Damp mop and squeegee dry
- Deck and Baseboards: Scrub the deck and baseboards, using a degreaser when necessary
- Deck Mats: Scrub and degrease deck mats
- Under Equipment: Sweep under equipment and dispose of debris
- Floor Drains: Clean and bleach floor drains
- Cooking Tops: Degrease and clean cooking areas; grill tops, burners and drip pans
- Vent Hood Filters: Remove hood filters, degrease and soak in water
- Stainless Steel Appliances: Degrease, clean and polish hood canopies and stainless steel appliances
- Waste Cans: Empty, clean, sanitize and line waste cans
- Deep Fryers: Empty and clean deep fryers
Exterior
- Entrance: Sweep and dispose of debris
- Patio: Pick up debris. Sweep and dispose of debrise. Hose down afterwards
- Patio: If necessary, use a power scrubber to remove excess grime
Restaurant Cleaning Procedures
What about a list for cleaning supplies? There is often a desire to clean certain areas of a restaurant with specific cleaners.
For example, your location may require a specific cleaner for a bar surface, another for dining tables and yet another for seating. This depends on your location’s needs.
A checklist for areas that need to be cleaned paired with a cleaning supplies list is an extremely useful document to have in-hand not only for your own employees, if you handle your cleaning in-house, but also for those times when you need to hire outside help to perform deep cleans.
Do you want to babysit your restaurant cleaning contractor, or do you want to be able to hand them a document that details everything that needs to be done? You’ll save time and money in the long-run by preparing this document for your specific location.
