Let’s be honest - you already know what this is. The name kinda says it all - but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still imperative to the daily operation of your business. Restaurants take the health of hundreds, if not thousands, of people into their hands every day, making a spotlessly clean restaurant incredibly important.
So, whether you love cleaning or hate it, the truth of the matter is that it needs to happen in every restaurant, every day. Rather than just saying “Clean!” and leaving, though, we’re going to be the cool restaurant uncle and give you a simple, easy-to-adapt list that will cover every major bit of most restaurants.
Seeing as restaurants consist of a pretty significant number of people on a daily basis, it would be absolute insanity just to say, “Okay, here are 300+ things to clean, good luck!”
So, rather than making your life a nightmare, we felt it was fair to, you know - clean up the list.
We’ll be breaking this down by staff (i.e., Front vs. Back of House), position (dish pit vs. bar, etc.), and the timeline (daily, weekly, monthly) for ease of reference. Take a peek at the table below to skip to a particular point, or peruse the entire thing - we’ll love it either way!
Cleaning Checklist:
1. Front of House
2. Back of House
3. Conclusion
For Front of House, cleaning is a pretty straightforward process. It consists of sweeping and mopping, just like BoH, but importantly also requires a bit of organization. Depending on how your FoH is laid out (bar-based vs. fast-casual vs. fine dining, etc.), your specific cleaning needs may change - though these are great places to start.
Perhaps most importantly, though, is that your lobby and dining area are the first things your customers will see other than the storefront and patio. If it’s not spotless, that can communicate the wrong thing to customers - something which we certainly don’t want. While we all were told to “not judge a book by its cover,” when it comes to food safety, that’s (unfortunately) the only way to judge.
For a proper clean, your Front of House will need a few things:
- Multipurpose & glass cleaners
- Broom
- Mop
- Mop bucket
- Vacuum (if you have carpet or another hard-to-sweep flooring)
- Bleach or sanitary solution for disinfectant
- Clean rags/cloths
- Bathroom cleaning equipment (brush, gloves, etc)
- Restocking supplies:
Let’s talk specifics about cleaning your lobby and dining area with that out of the way.
This is the stuff that needs to happen at least once per day. We’re talking about super simple stuff - wiping down tables, sanitizing menus, and sweeping/mopping. Trust us - this plan will make your life far more straightforward. Have your FoH staff complete the following list each day:
- Each Shift:
- During Close:
These are the tasks that are important but either take too long to do every day or that don’t get dirty enough to justify a daily clean. You can have staff accomplish these during slow times or add them to the open/close list.
(These are the areas that customers won’t often see, such as stock/storage areas. If a customer can easily see it, you should clean it daily)
The monthly cleaning list generally consists of things that can’t be done when customers are in the building. This can mean that it requires a ladder or more work, but the principle remains the same.
Luckily for your rogueish bartenders, their cleaning list is pretty slim in comparison. They still have the same daily, weekly, and monthly breakdowns, though.
- Each Shift:
- During Close:
As for Back of House, their job is a bit more detailed. Kitchens generally have quite a bit going on, with plenty of nooks and crannies for grease, grime, and pests to hide - making their cleaning list a bit more expansive. While most kitchen veterans already know what they need to clean, it’s worth noting a few basics, such as:
- Disposable (food-safe) gloves
- Clean cloths/rags
- Sanitary solution and/or bleach
- Steel wool
- Scouring pads (usually that weird green sheet)
- Degreaser
- Broom
- Mop
- Mop bucket
- Trash bags
- Deck brush and squeegee
- Stainless steel cleaner
- Restocking supplies:
The line is what comes into contact with each customer’s food, no matter what. As such, it needs to be spotless - and seriously, don’t wait for the health inspector to ding you - this stuff needs to happen at least three to four times daily.
- During Shift:
- During Close:
Not all kitchens have this area - if you have a prep area, awesome! If not, skip this section.
- During Shift
- During Close/Shift Change
(If you have them, check your traps and monitors)
- During Shift
- During Close
Ultimately, cleaning a restaurant isn’t a fun task - but it’s crucial to its livelihood nonetheless. By providing a simple, easy-to-use cleaning list broken down by team and time, you can ensure things stay clean. This also allows employees who aren’t as busy to say, “here, let me help you out,” and not need to get in the way.
While this may seem like a massive list, the truth is that if each employee just takes a few minutes each day, most of these tasks will be shockingly quick. The joints where cleaning takes a day or more generally have that happen because they don’t have a strict schedule - which you now have!
If you’re still getting your feet wet in the restaurant industry, you just stumbled upon a treasure trove of information. Cuboh is the best solution to your restaurant’s POS and online ordering woes and offers countless solutions for marketing, growing, and improving your business.
And if you’re thinking of starting a ghost or virtual kitchen, we’ve got a swathe of incredible resources to get you started.