Using a cleaning checklist for your commercial kitchen keeps your facility in top shape and helps employees follow a consistent cleaning schedule. Without this, important tasks are easily missed, which could cost you when your business is visited by a local health inspector.
We’ve put together a comprehensive checklist below, but staff should take care of routine tasks throughout the day, including: wiping down prep areas between tasks; always wiping down the grill between cooking different types of meats; switching cutting boards in between tasks; changing sanitizing water and rags frequently; and emptying trash bins when they’re full.
Here are some other commercial kitchen cleaning tasks to add to your daily, weekly, and monthly checklists.
Daily Kitchen Cleaning
- Change foil linings of grill, range, and flattop
- Disinfect prep surfaces
- Wipe down and clean your grill, range, flattop, and fryer. Don’t forget to clean behind and underneath as well
- Wash can opener
- Wash meat slicers
- Wipe down walls wherever there are splashes
- Mop floors
- Wash beverage dispenser heads in soda fountains
- Disinfect waste disposal area to prevent pests and the spread of bacteria; mop floors around cans, and wash the exterior and interior of each can
- Run hood filters through the dishwasher
Weekly Kitchen Cleaning
- Wash and sanitize walk-ins
- De-lime sinks and faucets
- Clean ovens, including the walls, sides, and racks
- Use drain cleaners in floor drains
Monthly Kitchen Cleaning
- Clean coffee machine
- Empty grease traps
- Clean ice machine (can be done every several months)
- Clean refrigeration coils to remove dust
- Wash walls and ceiling to remove grease buildup
- Wash behind hot line to prevent clogs
- Clean and sanitize freezers
- Change pest traps
- Wash vent hoods (can be done every several months)
Also consider hiring a professional commercial kitchen cleaning that uses state-of-the-art cleaning and disinfecting equipment and environmentally-friendly techniques, to help create a cleaner and safer kitchen and work environment. Additionally, the cleaning company should practice hygienic cleaning by using a combination of techniques and tools to remove soils and germs, such as color-coded microfiber cloths for surface cleaning, which are 99 percent more effective than traditional cloth at capturing and removing soil and germs.
Maintaining a clean and healthy facility – starting at the back-of-the-house – will keep your employees safe and your customers coming back.