A hygienic restaurant is a safe restaurant. While customers may not be dining in right now, they will appreciate it if you make an effort to be sanitary. Additionally, it will ensure that you are following local safety standards. You don’t want to be shut down by the local government for sanitary and hygiene violations, and that could mean the end for any food establishment. If you want to avoid all that trouble, here are some tips on keeping your restaurant clean.
Train Staff On Personal Hygiene
One of the first things you should be doing is to train your staff on personal hygiene habits. This is one of the biggest points of failure in restaurant hygiene. When your restaurant workers, (whether cooks or servers) are not careful about keeping clean, there is a good chance that the food can become contaminated. Take a better approach when it comes to their hygiene and be strict about their training. You should also provide them with various hygienic protections like hairnets and gloves. You should also have sanitizers installed in the kitchen.
Have A Daily Cleaning Checklist
Keeping your restaurant clean is dependent on daily cleaning. Your restaurant needs to be in great condition every day. To ensure that you are cleaning your kitchen correctly and completely, you should draw up a checklist of necessary cleaning that you need to do every day. This includes sanitizing every surface in the kitchen and emptying all the trash bins at the end of the day. A comprehensive checklist will ensure that you don’t miss anything in your cleaning efforts.
Regular Inspection
Ensuring your restaurant is clean depends on regular inspections. It is a good idea to do one every week. This can allow you to detect any problems that can come from sanitation or hygiene. For example, you should be checking the grease build-up in various areas of your kitchen. Grease is very unsanitary, and it is also a major fire hazard, so looking for signs of it is a good move. It would be best if you also inspected your knives and utensils. While they are cleaned daily, they also degrade over time. Checking whether they are still sharp can ensure that they perform better when you use them.
Effective Pest Control
Insects and rodents are a major health hazard in a restaurant kitchen. It would be best if you were on the lookout for the presence of vermin in your kitchen. While it is impossible to be completely pest-free, you can ensure that they don’t have access to your ingredients and food during preparation. If you detect signs that there are rats and cockroaches inside your restaurant, then calling in a professional insect and rodent exterminator service is essential. Don’t try to handle it by yourself. Professional exterminators are more thorough and can ensure that everything is safe after the extermination.
Install Proper Ventilation
An aspect of sanitation that doesn’t get enough attention is ventilation. Fresh, clean air can do wonders for a kitchen. Taking the bad air out can help ensure that the kitchen is clean the next day. Have an HVAC expert come in and recommend how you can properly ventilate your kitchen as well as mixing in air purification systems. That sounds expensive, but it can be worth it if your kitchen doesn’t smell like a disaster at the end of the day. Proper ventilation also ensures that spores and dirt are carried out of your kitchen instead of staying in it.
Be Aware Of Sanitary Regulations
Sanitary regulations are there for you to follow. You should review local rules for operating a restaurant, especially the health rules. This will ensure that you can keep your restaurant out of trouble. Take note that health inspectors will come into your restaurant if they hear complaints about it. It would be best if you showed them that you are following all the local rules and are prioritizing your customers’ safety. Additionally, you should be updated on any changes in local rules. This is especially important nowadays since the local health department may have directives when it comes to the pandemic.
Ensuring that your restaurant is clean is a major effort. It is also a big investment. Doing it right will prevent any health issues from unsanitary conditions. Keeping your customers healthy and safe from food poisoning and worse can be worth it. It also stops any damage to your reputation. Nothing can destroy a restaurant quicker than a reputation for being unsanitary. Take steps now so that your business is safe.
