Your restaurant is special. Not only is it responsible for you and your employees’ livelihood, it’s also a place of pride, a place where people from your community and beyond gather to enjoy good food and good conversation.
As an owner or manager of a food service establishment, it should go without saying that keeping your premises clean, especially the kitchen area is crucial to your reputation and success, and it’s not just about wiping down work surfaces each day and mopping floors each night. If it isn’t already, your commercial kitchen equipment should be on a regular schedule for routine deep cleaning services. Here are four solid reasons why.
1- Regular Cleaning Helps Ensure Food Safety and Quality
No one has to tell you that a busy kitchen will produce crumbs, bits, and pieces of stray foodstuffs, and grease–lots of it! If you don’t keep a clean kitchen, the quality and taste of your food will suffer. You’ll also risk cross-contamination.
Your kitchen staff should be well-versed in routine cleaning and disinfecting of food prep stations, cooktops, and countertops, but when it comes to heavy-duty, time-consuming jobs, a commercial cleaning company is always your better choice. Professional commercial cleaning companies can take on the tougher jobs like removing caked-on grease from appliances, cleaning out grease traps and fryers, cleaning hoods, and getting in and behind appliances which don’t always get the attention of staff cleaning up at the end of a busy shift.
When choosing a commercial cleaning company, be sure to properly vet them and select one that provides a detailed checklist of all the areas they will clean and what steps they will take with each process. Not only does a checklist ensure nothing is missed, but you’ll also know exactly what you’re paying for.
2- Regular Cleaning Extends Your Equipment’s Life Expectancy
Commercial kitchen appliances and equipment are expensive to replace, so it’s smart to maintain and protect what you have. Keeping your kitchen appliances clean and following manufacturers’ recommendations will help you get the longest life possible out of them. In addition, there’s a good market for used kitchen appliances, so if you clean and maintain yours properly, you’re more likely to fetch a higher price.
3- Regular Cleaning Results in a Safer Work Environment
Staying a step ahead of grease in any kitchen is paramount to worker safety. Grease fires can happen in an instant, and your top priority should always be to keep your employees safe. Routine daily cleanup coupled with regularly scheduled appliance and equipment deep-cleaning will help ensure a safe workplace for everyone.
4- Regular Cleaning Ensures Your Establishment Meets Local and State Health Codes
One of the worst possible things to happen to a restaurant or catering business is to have it shut down due to unsanitary conditions after a local health department inspection. Even if you fix the problems, your reputation will have taken a solid hit–one your business may not be able to recover from.
Hiring an outside contractor for periodic deep cleaning services is one of the best things you can do for the long-term success of your food service establishment. Cheers to the continuing success of yours!
Absolutely, maintaining cleanliness and sanitation standards in a food service establishment is paramount to its success and reputation. A single instance of unsanitary conditions discovered during a health department inspection can have far-reaching consequences, tarnishing the restaurant’s image and potentially leading to closure. However, by investing in periodic deep cleaning services provided by professional contractors, restaurant and catering businesses can proactively mitigate the risk of unsanitary conditions and ensure compliance with health and safety regulations.
