Invaluable Restaurant Cleaning Tips You Need to Know Now

Some things are sacred, sanitation is surely one of them.

There is a common saying in the restaurant business that has quite some time, and it goes like this: “Clean it, or shut it down!”. It may sound a little aggressive, but it is a sincere statement. You must stay true to that fact in order to thrive in this ever-changing, always competitive and relentless industry. Remember that single mistakes can lead to disastrous situations with customers.

Avoiding that kind of circumstances is pretty easy, using the Restaurant Cleaning Tips on this article can help! The complexity of the issue appears when a certain number of healthy habits, need to be stimulated within your staff culture. So, it’ll be convenient to adopt a long-term view of this ongoing effort, with constant education, monitoring, and creativity. The assumption is true, there will always be something that should be cleaned.

Why is Cleanliness Important in Restaurants?

How important is maintenance and sanitation in restaurants and coffee shops? That’s the most relevant question of the day, and I’m here to provide an objective answer for you. First, let’s put things in perspective by mentioning one resounding fact: Platforms like Yelp already have inspection scores that ignite a strong impact in online reviews/ratings; let that sink in for a minute.

In other words, as if audits from the Health Department were not sufficient, now the powerful influence of user-generated content can be against you. Lesson learned, so we better start cleaning things more often before any Twitter critic comes by with a 2-star review. A review like that could talk about how good the coffee was while ranting about some dirty tablecloth.

Cleanliness has its sacrifices and rewards. On the negative side, there is the amount of physical effort it requires, as you and your team can stay up to late-night hours making sure everything looks pristine. On the positive side, you’ll be able to welcome the 93% of people, who think that sanitation is a main driving force, when talking about first impressions. That’s why we’re happy to share with you our 5 restaurant cleaning tips. These will make your life easier, and the customer experience more enjoyable. Ready? Here we go.

5 Restaurant Cleaning Tips

1. Again, Train Your Staff

These are your soldiers at the forefront, they are responsible for providing outstanding customer service to everyone crossing that door, talking properly, and showing their true passion for the work. Same goes with sanitation, a well-trained team in this particular issue will reduce the number of problems and risks considerably. Let them know how the entire process works, the whole place, and how effective your proven techniques are. Every restaurant is unique, coffee shops and bistros as well, all of that needs to be acknowledged since day one.

A good way to show and keep visuals available for your staff is by a white board, like this! Having that whiteboard in a location that your staff can readily view, can help ensure your staff is always on top of their cleanliness-game. Don’t forget your dry-erase markers too!

Once the engines start rolling, your staff culture will get totally autonomous at some point, making things a lot easier, much cleaner and safer for both clients and employees.

As one restaurant owner once said to me: “People can tolerate poor customer support, but it’s impossible to ignore poor hygiene, especially in a place where they want to eat”. 

2. Floors are VERY Important

Please, do yourself a favor and avoid having any slippery floors at your coffee shop. These can become a headache for any business owner. Not only about the notion that they are always getting dirtier, but because they can lead to utterly unwanted incidents. Even The National Floor Safety Institute published a study, in which they confirm that 55% of accidents in the workplace are due to these unreliable surfaces. So get rid of them before any potential lawsuit can make its way right to your desk. And add a nifty wet floor sign, for the times you need to clean up a spill during the work day

3. The Little Details

Remember that E. Coli outbreak in 2015 that nearly took Chipotle Mexican Grill out of business? Yes, if it happens to a big brand like that one, it can also happen to you. But don’t panic, if you stay vigilant, then taking care of the bigger and smaller details, everything will be just fine. We just want to avoid anything related to contaminated food. As you may already know, bacteria is responsible for producing toxins that can make food harmful for consumers. To succeed in this effort, please be sure to follow these steps:

• Decontaminate the equipment and working areas with something just as simple as Clorox Disinfecting Wipes.
• Clean utensils as many times as needed.
• Avoid any cross-contamination. Use latex gloves to ensure cleanliness.
• Storage all your food, make good use of the rotation process.
• Washing hands must become a consistent habit among your staff. Grabbing yourself bulk orders of antibacterial hand soap is your best option.

4. The Checklist

To better monitor all the tasks that need to be accomplished, you’ll need to make use of a solid checklist, one that can cover all aspects in regards to the restaurant spaces and equipment. By ignoring this amazing tool, you’ll open the door to more risks, and this is something that you don’t want to happen; here’s when compromise gets a whole new meaning. 

Here’s a helpful checklist we’ve written for you to check out as a guide.

Start by adding a hierarchy of priorities— write down which tasks and items are the utmost important points, those that truly sustain the workflow at any given day. It can be anything, going from the fryers, refrigerators, floors, dishwashers, cups, and ending with slicers or the ice machine. The list goes on…

Make it fun! We suggest to implement a daily check list, like this one. It’ll encourage a cleaning routine with your staff that will start to become imbedded in their daily tasks to complete.

5. Say No to The Traditional Mop

This is one of the biggest mistakes you’ll see anywhere you go. You will see restaurants using mops like a last resource to get their floors cleaned, and that needs to change immediately. These tools are getting a bad reputation because they can accumulate a lot of contaminants. Then, those contaminants are spread all around, making things worse. What one really wants, is to remove the dirt in the most effective way possible. By using innovative options like soil-removal technology, you’ll be able to get those pristine results much faster.

So grab your heavy-duty Simple Green floor cleaner and degreaser along with your new Bissell Floor Machine and get to work!

It takes time to implement an effective work flow for cleanliness, but it’s better to start improving your business sooner rather than later! And as your restaurant or coffee shop grows in size and relevance, more emphasis will be added to these kind of efforts. Remember to keep your staff trained, your tools clean, and the food well stored. Therefore, that is a good start, and a solid step, in which small businesses can become appealing brands within their communities.

With all being said, do you have any additional invaluable restaurant cleaning tips that you would like to share with our community? Leave a comment below and get the conversation going!

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