Tips for Running a More Sanitary Restaurant

When customers come to your restaurant, they expect more than just good food and service. They also expect a clean environment where they can relax and enjoy the good food and service. 

If you don’t currently have a plan in place that prioritizes cleanliness, it’s time to implement one.

5 Restaurant Sanitation Tips

Having a sanitary restaurant is important for obvious reasons. People expect to dine in a clean establishment and are unlikely to return if they have an experience that isn’t sanitary. They’ll also tell their friends about it, which has a multiplying effect. Very few people notice when a restaurant is clean and sanitary, but they do notice when it’s unclean. Make sure you’re taking this aspect of managing a restaurant seriously. 

Here are several tips for staying on top of restaurant sanitation:

1. Design for Success

You can make your task of maintaining a clean restaurant much easier by choosing an intentional design from the start. Selecting the right materials and systems will go a long way toward keeping surfaces and rooms sanitary.

It’s especially important to choose the right materials in your restaurant’s kitchen, where there’s lots of humidity, moisture, grease, and grime. One of the best materials for commercial kitchens is fiber-reinforced polymer, or FRP. Building with FRP wall panels gives you a composite material that’s antimicrobial, environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and highly fire-resistant (which makes it ideal for use in a kitchen).

Avoid standard drywall in your kitchen whenever possible. Drywall soaks up moisture, is difficult to clean, and wears down quickly when there’s lots of use. 

2. Create Strict Sanitation Policies

You can’t just wish and hope for a sanitary restaurant. It starts with creating specific policies and then enforcing them around the clock. You’ll have to decide which policies you want/need, but here are some good ones to start with:

• Clean as you go. This is one of the best things you can do. A clean-as-you-go policy means each individual worker is responsible for immediately cleaning up their area, workspace, table, etc. When you do this, there’s less buildup, and the overall task of keeping the restaurant sanitary becomes much less intimidating.
• Hand washing. Give staff clear instructions on how to wash hands properly. Never assume that people know how to do it. Demonstrations, as well as clearly posted rules, will serve you well.
• Proper zones. Create specific zones in your restaurant and limit who is allowed in each zone and what special rules must be observed. For example, the kitchen is a zone. Not every staff member needs ubiquitous access to the kitchen. The dining area is another zone. Your chefs don’t need to be hanging out here and potentially contaminating their clothing and shaking hands with diners.

This obviously isn’t a comprehensive list, but it should give you a few ideas. Build out a more thorough strategy that works for your restaurant.

4. Require Special Training

While it’s difficult to find restaurant staff these days, that doesn’t mean you can slack on the rules and requirements. Make sure you’re investing in specialized training for anyone who steps foot in your kitchen. 

Cooks need special training on food preparation and handling. The dishwashing crew needs special training on how to use your equipment. Even the folks tasked with cleaning the kitchen at the end of the night need to know which products they can and can’t use.

5. Hire a Pest Control Service

There aren’t many things that will shut down a restaurant and give it a bad reputation faster than mice, bugs, rats, and other insects and rodents. Aside from following proper cleaning procedures, you should also hire a pest control service that has experience working with restaurants. They can help you address problem areas and keep these unwanted guests from interrupting the show. 

6. Have the Proper Insurance

No matter how meticulous you are with cleaning procedures and employee training, there are always things that can go wrong. This is why it’s nice to have adequate insurance in place. There are a ton of different policies available, including general liability, business interruption, food contamination, and even enhanced wine valuation coverage.

Putting it All Together

Having a clean and sanitary restaurant is the result of doing dozens of small things right. Use this article as a starting point and expand the steps and procedures to account for elements that are specific to your restaurant. Roll up your sleeves and get started.