Pests, like house flies and rats, can invade your restaurant if you don’t pay attention to proper maintenance. A Pest Control Technology (PCT) explains these pests can spread diseases, cause fear or disgust, and damage the reputation of your establishment. Damaged reputation means you’re likely to lose your customers.
Proper maintenance will prevent flies and rodents from plaguing your restaurant. And it will also allow you to maintain a positive image that persuades diners to return.
So how can you keep your restaurant clean and maintain the quality of the food you serve?
Cleaning Checklist for Restaurants
Regular clean-up of a restaurant can be overwhelming, especially with the huge amount of activities happening every day. You must create a system that can guide you when cleaning your facility and maintaining proper hygiene.
You have to focus on cleaning specific areas in your restaurant to meet the health and sanitation requirements imposed by your local government. These areas include:
- Kitchen area – this area of the restaurant has to stay clean at all times. Kitchens are exposed to various contaminants. Cooks, servers, and anyone who has access to the kitchen are likely to contaminate food products.
- Floors – dirty restaurant floors are unsightly and create a safety hazard for your employees and customers. Place a large floor mat at the entrance of your restaurant to minimize the outside dirt that comes into your establishment. Sweep and mop your floors, too, so they stay clean. Use drain strainers when cleaning your kitchen floors to prevent food debris from clogging your pipes.
- Dining area – clean dining areas make your restaurant more appealing and create a positive first impression since customers see them first upon entering your restaurant. Diners tend to leave a restaurant when they find it messy.
- Restrooms – these rooms also require frequent cleaning and maintenance, especially if employees and customers share the same restrooms. Proper maintenance helps prevent cross-contamination from employees to food products and utensils.
You may hire professional cleaning services to ensure quality results that meet the industry’s sanitary standards.
Compliance With Sanitary Regulations
Restaurant owners must be familiar with the Food Code, a model created by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It provides a scientifically sound technical and legal basis for regulating the retail and food service segment of the industry that assists food control jurisdictions at every level of government.
The FDA updates the Food Code every four years. Regulators use the model to update or develop their food safety rules, which will vary according to the area. Failing to follow such rules can affect your business and put customers’ health at risk.
Clean restaurants prevent food-borne diseases, including E. coli and Hepatitis. If your facility attracts flies, for instance, these pests will contaminate food due to the way they eat and the particles they carry from various surfaces.
Delightful food will attract diners to your restaurants. But clean, well-kept dining and kitchen areas will persuade them to keep coming back. Keep your restaurant clean, and your tables will never have to wait for customers.
