We’re all guilty of missing out on a ‘spring clean’ every now and again – not least in our businesses when everyone’s a bit ‘too busy’ to operate on the usual deep clean policy. Trust us when we say if you’re not doing it at least every quarter (three months) then you’re probably massively overdue. Not only will your staff thank you for everything being in its proper place, they will be far more productive as a result.
So, we’re here to give you a few helpful tips when it comes to freshening up your commercial kitchen to get it looking as good as new again.
Time It Right
The first thing about a deep clean is that you need to identify when you are least busy during the week and organise one for then. If possible, bring more staff in than you usually would to commit to this task, because the last thing you want to do is be forced to bring staff out into service when they are covered in cleaning chemicals – they won’t thank you for it and neither will your customers!
Think About New Equipment
The summer is a tough time in the service industry, temperatures are sweltering and lots of customers are bound to find their way to your door – you should think about purchasing utensils that will take some of the workload off your tired employees. A small commercial dishwasher could easily turn the labour intensive job of scrubbing hundreds of dishes into something that only takes a few minutes.
New Threads
When was the last time you replaced your staff uniforms? We’re willing to bet that it wasn’t anytime soon. If it’s been years since you last reordered new uniform then you may want to consider clothing with your company logo emblazoned onto it to give the clothes a clean-cut look. If your chef whites aren’t what you’d call ‘white’ anymore, then it’s a sign that your uniforms are due a replacement.
Scrub the Decks
Pressure cleaning and steaming the surfaces off your restaurant is the best method of extracting any kind of unsightly wear and tear that may have been treaded into your flooring over the harsh winter months. If you’re brave enough to utilise carpet in your restaurant, then you will need to vacuum up any and all debris you may come across and give it a good shampoo to get it back to its former self.
Check Your Stockroom
This will be an intensive task, but you will absolutely thank yourself for it later. Take all items out from the shelves of your stockroom and check the dates on them, you’d be surprised how easily something out-of-date is to miss. Next, check the stability of your shelves and the condition of your containers, you wouldn’t want any accidents happening during service thanks to improper equipment. Finally, optimise where everything goes – map out your typical journey and position all commonly used stock towards the front.
Degrease Your Equipment
Too much grease is a fire hazard – and you definitely don’t want one of those to deal with. Take your fryers and grills, unplug them and take them apart to clean every square inch of them. Be sure to be rough on any carbon deposits that may be left in the machines, investing in the proper cleaning utensils, like a decarboniser, will make this job a little easier for you.
