Pierce: Tips for Arizona restaurateurs on cleaning overlooked spots

Brad Pierce

The goal of any Arizona restaurant owner is to provide your customer with the best dining experience possible and it is impossible to provide that without running a clean restaurant.

Most restaurant owners are good with cleaning the obvious spots of the dining area and kitchen, but there are spots that restaurant owners frequently overlook. Not cleaning these areas can lead to a build up of dirt, grime and bacteria in your restaurant so it is important to be aware of them and clean them. Here are the most common areas restaurant owners and their staff forget to clean.

Ice machines

Almost every restaurant has an ice machine and it is being touched constantly by staff filling hundreds and maybe even thousands of drinks a night. This is a hotbed for germs and bacteria and must be cleaned every night since the ice machine is interacting closely with customers drinks.

The exterior of the ice machine must be wiped down every night with commercial grade cleaner. Staff should wash the handles of the ice machine more frequently since these are the main touch points. Run the ice scooper through the dishwasher at least once per night and most importantly, clean the inside of the ice machine one per week. Every part of the machine must be cleaned and not cleaning the ice machine properly can put your customers at risk.

Storage areas and racks

Restaurant staff are good at cleaning the main storage areas such as the walk in fridge and freezers; however, restaurant employees frequently overlook smaller food storage areas. Shelves, hook racks for colanders and cutleries are frequently touched by cooks and not cleaned like the cooking tools they store.

Restaurant staff should wipe down shelves and hooks with disinfectant daily. This will ensure that all storage areas are properly cleaned and not just the obvious spaces.

Light fixtures, seating and walls

When you are cleaning your dining room it is important to think about the areas that patrons could sometimes touch. Patrons can be fidgety when they are waiting for food and could touch walls, low-hanging light fixtures and their seats without thinking about it.

Think about the overlooked areas within someone’s reach and clean them. Clean low-hanging light fixtures in-between seating new guests. Clean walls and wall art that might be near the seating area and clean the legs and under-areas of bar stools. The virus can survive on most touched surfaces so it is important to clean anything people may touch.

Point of sale systems and registers

It is important you clean any POS system or cash register with disinfectant anytime a different person is using the system. If you have one person working the counter have them clean the surface of the touch screen or register before they clock out or switch stations with someone else. If multiple waiters use these surfaces to place orders then have each waiter quickly wipe it down after they use it.

Cleaning all these surfaces is going to require some extra work on every restaurant owners’ part, but taking the time to adequately clean the overlooked surfaces of your dining room and the kitchen is worth it to ensure the safety of every diner, cook and waiter.

Brad Pierce is the owner of OSA Specialized Cleaning, azjanitor.com, which specializes in commercial ceiling tile cleaning and commercial high dusting for restaurants across Arizona.