A restaurant’s cleanliness is one of the first things customers notice when they walk through the door. Whether it’s an unpleasant kitchen odor, scuffed tile flooring or a not-so-clean bathroom, the first hint of a dirty and potentially unsanitary facility can send guests heading for the door.
Additionally, if the highest standards aren’t met, it could mean violations of health-code law, customers getting sick or seriously ill, or employees being seriously injured.
Still not convinced? A recent Harris Poll found that 86 percent of U.S. adults equate the cleanliness of a restaurant’s restroom with the cleanliness of its kitchen. The survey also revealed that 75 percent of U.S. adults would not return to a restaurant with dirty restrooms.
As a restaurant or food service provider, maintaining a clean, healthy and accident-free facility is imperative and can affect your bottom line. It can be a complicated task, since there are so many areas to clean and maintain, but ultimately contributes to the overall guest experience and the health of everyone involved.
Whether you decide to take on the task yourself or hire an experienced restaurant cleaning service, you should always have the following supplies on-hand: a reliable vacuum, mop, broom, floor buffer, scrub buckets, cleaning brushes and microfiber cloths, trash bags, and cleaning chemicals like disinfectants, bleach and glass cleaner.
The key to effective and hygienic cleaning is to use a combination of techniques and tools to remove soils and germs. We recommend using color-coded microfiber cloths for surface cleaning, which are 99 percent more effective than traditional cloth at capturing and removing soil and germs. Additionally, to reduce cross-contamination from one area to the next, microfiber cloths should be color-coded, with specific color cloths designated for use in specific areas of the facility like the dining area or bathrooms.
Whether you’re cleaning the restaurant’s entryway, dining area, kitchen or bathrooms, your disinfectant solution needs to be strong enough to kill germs yet safe enough for a restaurant environment. It is essential to read cleaner labels to ensure they’re safe!
While we automatically think of the most visible surfaces to clean – like chairs, countertops and tables – a few often overlooked areas include:
- Menus and tabletop promotional material
- Light switches and fixtures
- Door handles
- Bathroom stall walls
- Paper towel and soap dispensers
Make sure patrons keep coming back to your facility. Maintain a clean and healthy facility – from the back-of-house, to the entryways, floors and restrooms – and instill a professional image in the minds of customers, partners and employees.
