Why a commercial kitchen cleaning schedule is important

Amid kick-starting marketing campaigns and building the menu, many new restaurants forget the details of creating a commercial kitchen cleaning schedule. Having a well-working schedule is essential for legal compliance, your customers’ health, and the morale of your employees.

Throughout the Day

During your day-to-day opening hours, your commercial kitchen cleaning schedule needs to constantly be in effect. Since commercial kitchens move quickly, bacteria can grow to large proportions in a matter of hours.

That’s why when prepping food, you’ll need to wipe down your grill whenever you switch from cooking fish, poultry or red meats since their bacterial types vary and allergies are common. It’s also wise to wipe-down your prep area after each task and swap out cutting boards whenever you switch tasks to avoid potential cross-contamination.

Frequently taking out garbage bins and changing sanitiser and rags is also essential. Rags around the kitchen lose function as sanitisers are diluted with water, grease, and anything else they come into contact with.

Every Day

Each day you’ll need to swap every foil lining including the grill, flat top, and the range. While doing this it’s also necessary to wipe down and clean the area by the fryer. Remember, this includes cleaning behind and under them as well. Disinfect every prep surface and wash the can opener and meat slicers. Wipe off any walls that are likely to be splashed, even if you don’t see any evidence of recent splashing. Mop the floors, clean specialty devices like popcorn machines, the dispenser heads in your soda fountains and run your hood filters through the dishwasher.

Most importantly, mop around every trash can and disinfect the area where you dispose of waste to keep vermin away. Wash each can inside and out.

Each Week

Every week your commercial kitchen cleaning schedule needs to care for the larger and less obvious issues that crop up. Despite your daily cleanings, there are other areas like your walk-in freezers and refrigerators that need weekly sanitising.

Keep in mind, even though it’s chilled in your freezer, bacteria can still grow in there. Delime your sinks and faucets to prevent sour tastes from getting into food and to ensure you’re cleaning what you wash. This will also keep your faucets flowing effectively and allow your sinks to drain properly.

You’ll also need to clean your ovens all the way through and your floor drains will need drain cleaner every week.

Monthly

Liquids need to flow properly, so you’ll have to clean your coffee machine and empty your grease traps at least once a month. Washing behind your hot line will keep it from clogging up. Ideally, you should clean your ice machine every month, but it can be done quarterly if necessary.

Dust your refrigerator coils to let the fridge work efficiently. This will save you money on power and keep your fridge working well for longer. Changing your pest traps every month is also necessary, both to keep them working well and in case anything might be caught in there.