By Marissa Tekirian

Foodservice is a fast-paced world, and guests have high expectations for service, sustainability and experience. Daily pressures can make it hard for foodservice operators to focus time and strategic resources on improving business performance. However, fall is the perfect time to take a step back and review your current processes and practices and how they can be optimized for better business performance. One area to focus on is your restaurant’s hygiene standards.

Proper cleaning practices in restaurants are one area of performance that is critical not for only the health and safety of guests but also for their overall experience. In fact, 73 per cent of consumers say a bad restroom experience in a restaurant will impact their willingness to return¹. It’s more important than ever to find moments to regroup, assess, and make necessary adjustments to cleaning practices.

Understanding the ‘why’

Hygiene is an everyday essential in foodservice, but its impact on wider business performance can be overlooked. Making a good first impression is critical to converting a first-time guest into a regular customer.

Health and safety are top of mind when considering cleaning practices, with 68 per cent of foodborne illness outbreaks associated with food prepared in a restaurant². Extra care is needed in restaurants, and especially in the kitchen. Restaurants can act as outbreak multipliers, with large batches of contaminated food potentially being served to several people.

Keep in mind the three food safety pillars: surface hygiene, safe food handling, and hand hygiene.

Equip your team with the right tools

Having the right cleaning and hygiene tools for the job can have a big impact on your restaurant’s base hygiene level and cleaning results. Restaurant managers may not realize the impact a simple swap can have on their overall cleanliness and efficiency.

For example, the common two-handed, spray-then-wipe cleaning method is not nearly as effective as other methods and can increase the risk of contamination. Spraying a light mist and immediately wiping the liquid with a rag does not properly clean and sanitize and using the same rag across multiple surfaces/areas spreads germs and bacteria. Instead, ensure the availability of single-use wipes with your preferred chemical solution so each surface has a fresh start.

Hand hygiene in the bathroom can also be impacted by the tools you use. Did you know that one in four bulk soap dispensers are contaminated³ which can cause sickness⁴? And jet air dryers spread 10 times more bacteria compared to paper hand towels⁵? Jet air dryers produce more airborne droplets, increasing the risk of bacteria spread⁶. By using high-capacity paper towel dispenser systems and high-capacity, touchless soap dispensers, restaurants can minimize bacteria spread and contamination, while avoiding frequent service interruptions to refill.

Ensure proper glove use

Gloves protect hands from heavy soiling and should be used when handling ready-to-eat food, but they can also provide a false sense of security. Gloves can transfer germs between surfaces as effectively as hands and should be discarded after each use to avoid cross-contamination and the growth of bacteria. Gloves should be changed frequently, and hands should be washed immediately before putting on gloves and after taking them off. If using reusable gloves for cleaning purposes, they should be dedicated to cleaning and disinfecting surfaces of certain zones in the working area to further avoid cross-contamination.

Clean first, then disinfect

For the sake of time, employees may believe that wiping down a surface once will suffice; however, most dirty surfaces must be cleaned first with a detergent or soap, water and a disposable cloth, and then followed with a disinfectant to ensure the surface is clean. This way, parts of bacteria and viruses can be mechanically cleaned first, then properly disinfected using an approved disinfectant and a disposable cloth.

Pay close attention to high-touch surfaces

While staff are familiar with the process of cleaning tables during turnover times, there are several high-touch surfaces in both front-of-house and back-of-house that may be overlooked and are prone to facilitating the spread of bacteria. Keep this checklist in mind to ensure the following surfaces are disinfected at least once a day:

Seating and benches
Doorknobs and handles
Light switches
Toilets, faucets, and sinks
Dispensers, utensils, and food/hand contact surfaces
Appliance handles, buttons, and dials (ie. Stoves, ovens, beverage dispensers, coffee machines, taps)
POS systems, phones and payment machines
Physical menus

Review and re-assess cleaning practices and tools

By ensuring proper practices are upheld by your team on an ongoing basis, it will be easier to maintain hygiene standards. Restaurant managers and owners can set themselves up for success by implementing new practices and conducting refresher training during a slower season, so teams have the proper time and focus to adjust to any changes and ramp up more hygienic and efficient cleaning practices.

Marissa Tekirian is the North American Regional Marketing Manager for Professional Hygiene – HoReCa segment at Essity. In her role, she is focused on Essity’s professional hygiene brand Tork and helping restaurant and foodservice leaders discover how better hygiene can fuel better guest experience.

Sources:

Tork Insight Survey 2024, conducted in US, UK, Germany, France and Mexico among 6 000 end-users and 900 end-customers.
Journal of Food Protection
Bulk Soap Contamination Study, Charles P. Gerba, University of Arizona, 2007
Bacterial hand contamination and transfer after use of contaminated bulk-soap-refillable dispensers, Gerba, 2011
Best et al, J Hosp Infection, 2014
Margas E. et al, J Applied Microbiol, 2013