Believe it or not, cleaning is one of the most important tasks of any business. From passing health inspections, preventing cross-contamination, to simply avoiding grossing out your customers, there’s a bunch of different cleaning tasks that need to be done to ensure the best quality. From owning a large pizzeria to a small coffee shop, there are duties that should be completed daily, weekly and monthly to provide the best space for your customers and employees.
Restaurant Reviews
It’s been about six months since the opening date of your business and you couldn’t be more excited. You decide to go onto Yelp and read some of your reviews. You look at your rating and see 2 Stars. “2 stars… How could I have 2 stars?” you think to yourself. Scrolling through the reviews, they aren’t too bad at first, “Great Food- 4 Stars”, “Amazing Service- 5 Stars”, but then there it is; the truth begins to show. You begin to see review after review talking about how dirty the counters are, smudges on the windows, the dust bunnies forming a colony by the hostess stand, and a peculiar smell coming from a closet that they can’t tell if it’s just moldy cheese or mold.
Check out “7 Things You Should Know Before Opening Restaurant” for tips on how to start your business on the right foot!
Was this scenario dramatic? Yes of course. Does it happen? More than you can imagine. The entire experience that your customers go through, starting from the minute they walk through the door to the second they exit your establishment, creates an ambiance for your business. A huge part of that ambiance of a company is the cleanliness.
Cleaning Checklist
From the stoves in the kitchen, the tiles in the bathroom, to the glass of the store front’s windows, there is a lot that goes into ensuring a business is clean. There are different tasks that must be done daily, weekly, and even monthly. To make things a little bit easier for you, we came up with this Go-To Restuarant Cleaning Checklist.
Continue reading to find out what we recommend for the daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning practices of your business.
Daily Restaurant Cleaning Checklist
The daily process of cleaning does not have to be long and tenuous! Set up a routine with your employees, having you or the manager tell them what tasks they should be completed prior to leaving their shift. Once a system is set in place, the work will be distributed evenly and ensured that it will be completed.
Give our article “Tools For Tracking Employee Performance at Your Cafe” a look to track who cleans what in your shop or restaurant.
Kitchen:
- Clean the grill, flat top, fryer, griddle, and essentially any other appliance that was used to assist in making food that day. Wipe down every nook and cranny, making sure to get even underneath as well where grease and other contaminants can latch on.
- Clean any other equipment that was used, including but not limited to: microwaves, toasters, meat slicers, blenders, and even coffee makers.
- Wipe down the walls where liquids splashed throughout the day.
- Completely, and we mean completely, disinfect the prep area. This step is extremely important so make sure to take extra precaution when cleaning the prep area.
- Wash all utensils and glassware, allowing them to have enough drying time before the morning shift the following day.
- Wipe down the sinks until they’re sparkling.
- Refill soap dispensers
- Replace paper towels
- Sweep and mop the floor
- Take out trash and recycling
Dining Area:
- Wipe down tables
- Windex glass windows
- Take out trash and recycling
- Clean sinks
- Wash rags, towels, and aprons in a washing machine
- Refill salt & pepper shakers
- Wipe down counter
- Dust off benches
- Sweep and mop floor
Bathroom:
- Disinfect toilets
- Empty feminine hygiene products
- Replace paper towels and toilet paper
- Sweep and mop floor
- Wipe down sinks
- Windex mirror
- Take out trash and recycling
Weekly Restaurant Cleaning Checklist
Along with your daily tasks, there will be some things that are necessary to do on a weekly basis.
Kitchen:
- Clean ovens, remember to get the door and racks. To clean your oven, make sure to follow the manufacturer’s guide.
- Boil out the deep fryer
- Empty, sanitize, and clean refrigerators and freezers.
- Use drain cleaner to flush floor drains
- Wash the walls
- Clean all coffee machines
Dining Area:
- Dust light fixtures
- Sanitize door handles, railings, and anywhere else there would be a lot of traffic.
Monthly Restaurant Cleaning Checklist
For your monthly duties, the list isn’t as long as daily or weekly, but it’s equally as important that these are done. With the daily and weekly tasks, it might be easier to assign certain employees to complete them. For the monthly tasks, it might be easier to assign a manager or even do them yourself, ensuring that they’re:
1. Remembered to be done and
2. Done effectively and efficiently.
Kitchen:
- Replace pest traps
- Empty grease traps
- Wash vent hoods
- Clean freezers thoroughly
- Run cleaning chemicals through coffee machine to eliminate grime
- Empty and sanitize ice machine
- Wipe down storage areas
Besides physically performing the task, there is so much that goes into making sure that the restaurant is clean. From training your staff correctly, to cleaning your floors efficiently, to picking the right products to use, you need to make sure you have the organization put in place to get the job done.
Believe it or not, there are ways to help prevent the mess before it happens. There are actually some products you can buy and procedures to set in place with your staff to limit the amount of mess there is at the end of the day! Buying floor mats, buying the right garbage bin that repels pests, to simply making sure your employees are cleaning up after themselves can all make this whole process a lot smoother.
We know that it can be hard to focus on all of the things that go into a business, which is why we also wrote another quick article to help you with all of your hopes and dreams, “Invaluable Restaurant Cleaning Tips You Need to Know Now”.
Thanks for reading with us! Do you have any other restaurant cleaning tips or tasks that you would like to share with our community? Leave a comment below and get the conversation going!
Interested in opening your own business one of these days? Check out “4 Things You Should Know Before Opening a Pizza Shop” or “How Much Does it Cost to Start a Coffee Shop” for starter tips on beginning that business venture.
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