Regular cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing are crucial for restaurants to meet industry standards. More importantly, regular, thorough cleaning allows you to prevent the spread of viruses and any cross-contamination. However, most restaurants are large spaces with long working hours, and it can be challenging to clean everything on a daily basis without a proper plan. Therefore, preparing your restaurant cleaning checklist is inevitable to ensure your employees can easily keep track of their daily cleaning duties and maintain the highest levels of cleanliness.
To get you started with a proper cleaning routine for your restaurant, here we have created an effective 10-step cleaning checklist you can follow in your daily cleaning routine. You may add more points to the list, but it’s a good start, and many professional service providers for commercial cleaning follow it. Let’s have a rundown of our cleaning checklist for restaurants.
1. Frequently Disinfect High-Touch Surfaces
Start your cleaning routine by regularly cleaning and disinfecting all the surfaces your staff and guests touch frequently. Regularly disinfecting all high-touch surfaces will help prevent the buildup of germs and bacteria. A few examples of such surfaces include refrigerators, kitchen tables, dining tables, chairs, and doors. If you have hired a commercial cleaning provider, they’ll use top-quality cleaning products to remove any grease and grime built up on these surfaces. Besides, they’ll also use a good disinfectant for a thorough cleaning job, eliminating any disease-causing bacteria and germs.
2. Clean The Floors Daily and Keep Them Grime-Free
Kitchen and dining floors should be cleaned daily to ensure those unsightly shoe prints, dirt, and grease don’t accumulate on the floors during working hours. Immediately clean spills to avoid cross-contamination.
Clean the kitchen floors using a broom and collect all the dirt and dust in a dustpan. After sweeping the floors, mop them with a mixture of a degreaser in water. Again, mop the floors using a mixture of water and bleach.
Ideally, you should also unplug all the equipment and move it so that the areas underneath can be swept and mopped. Similarly, you should remove all the bins and containers in the storage areas and thoroughly sweep, mop, and disinfect the floors.
3. Deep Clean The Serving Stations
In a busy restaurant, serving stations witness a lot of activity throughout the day. Even though you might be thoroughly cleaning them on a daily basis, consider deep cleaning them. When deep cleaning, make sure you do all of the following:
- Empty all the garnish containers and wash them in the dishwasher.
- Clean all the flatware containers.
- Thoroughly clean the shelving used for storing the bus tubs; bacteria and grime often accumulate there quickly.
- Clean all the walls.
- Remove all the rubber mats and wash them outside.
- Sweep the floors and mop them with a disinfecting mixture.
4. Clean All The Equipment Manually and Sanitize It
One of the best things about commercial cleaning service providers is that they thoroughly clean and sanitize all the equipment. So, it should be on your restaurant cleaning checklist. Ensure you clean all the cooking surfaces, like grills, fryers, and cooking ranges. Don’t forget to clean underneath them.
Besides, the foil lining on the top of the grills and ranges should be changed. Also, clean equipment like coffee makers, beverage machines, toasters, microwaves, espresso machines, beverage dispenser heads, and tips of soda dispenser guns manually.
5. Wash and Sanitize All Your Kitchenware After Use
It’s a no-brainer! You should clean all your utensils, glassware, and flatware after every use and sanitize them. Dishes and other utensils need a thorough wash after every use to remove any oil or food stains. Sanitizing them after every use will ensure no germs are left on them, and foodborne illnesses can be prevented. You also need to properly disinfect all the utensils in which you put raw food. It’s very important because raw meat juices, for instance, carry several disease-causing bacteria and can cause food poisoning. So, you can’t overlook them.
6. Regularly Disinfect Your Walk-In Refrigerators
If your kitchen has walk-in refrigerators, you must give them a thorough clean regularly. They store the ingredients used in your delicious specialties and need special attention. Sanitize the shelving used for storing raw and cooked food. Also, ensure that you organize these food products on separate shelves to avoid cross-contamination. Just like your kitchen floors, the floors of your walk-in refrigerator also need regular cleaning.
7. Clean and Disinfect Rugs and Mats Everyday
Rugs and mats are often used at the front doors of restaurants to reduce the dust and dirt the guests bring in with them. These mats and rugs need daily vacuuming and cleaning to keep them looking fresh and dirt-free. Ignoring cleaning these mats means you have left a breeding ground for bacteria. Besides, you’ll never want to greet your customers with a sticky, dirty mat!
8. Clean The Toilets
The toilets of your restaurant tell the tale of the cleaning standards you have maintained. Not to mention, every customer notices the cleanliness of your restrooms. Therefore, it is important to keep them clean and smell fresh. Clean the toilets regularly throughout the day and avoid unwarranted bacteria growth. Disinfecting toilet seats, faucets, and soap dispensers is important to eliminate germs and bacteria.
9. Clean Your Kitchen Ceilings and Walls Every Week
Restaurants often have areas with high levels of humidity, heat, and grease, causing grime and stains to accumulate on the ceilings and walls quickly. Ceilings may also promote the growth of mold and bacteria. Therefore, you should build a weekly deep cleaning routine for your restaurant walls and ceilings, ensuring a safe and clean work area for cooking.
Spot clean the walls, wiping away any food stains and grease using a sponge or cloth. Use a wet sweeper to wipe away all the stains and grease off the ceilings.
10. Carefully Dispose Of All The Waste
Any litter and food left on restaurant floors attract vermin and pests. If they start breeding, they’ll become a headache for you. Therefore, ensure that the area close to the dumpster is regularly cleaned and your staff removes spills and debris frequently as required. Regular cleaning will help avoid pest infestations. You must also change bin liners more frequently to ensure no unpleasant odors exist.
Whether you hire a commercial cleaning service in Australia or assign your staff the duty of cleaning the restaurant, the cleaning checklist above will help maintain an immaculate space. The tidy interiors and hygienic food will surely attract more business.
