Protect Your Family with a Fire Extinguisher

Posted on: 13 August 2020

As you reopen your restaurant following COVID-19 shutdowns, you want to make sure that your staff remains healthy and that each visit is safe for your customers. The following three strategies can help you develop a sanitation plan for your restaurant.

1. Minimize Contact Points

Contact points and high-touch surfaces require more frequent cleaning. You can help keep some of these surfaces clean by minimizing contact frequency. The following are a few examples of how you can minimize contact points:

• Mount menus under glass on the tables or put them on stands. This way customers don't touch them and you don't have to sanitize them regularly.
• Use protective covers over payment keypads since it's easier to sanitize a cover than between the keys.
• Instead of walking from table to table with a pitcher of water, give each table its own pitcher to use during their meal.
• If you don't have automatic doors, assign a staff member to act as a doorman.
• Replace old paper towel and soap dispensers with automatic versions.

2. Deep Sanitize Daily

The entire restaurant needs to be deeply sanitized at least once a day, preferably at the end of the final meal service of the day. Sanitation includes the front of house, back of house, any business office, and the restrooms.

If you opt to have your staff complete sanitation daily, it can pay to first consult with a professional cleaning company that specializes in deep cleaning and sterilization. They can come on-site and help you develop an effective checklist for deep sanitation. The service can also provide you with the necessary professional-grade supplies that are sure to kill any virus germs that do find their way into your restaurant.

Once a week, bring the professional service in to do the deep sanitation. This way you can be sure that any surfaces that have been missed are now thoroughly sanitized and safe for both staff and customers.

3. Set Up Shift Accountability

Daily and weekly sanitation isn't enough, you also need to keep cleaning throughout every shift. You need protocols for the following:

• Back of house, including in the kitchen and wait stations.
• The dishwashing and dish storage station.
• Restroom cleaning, which must be more than just a cursory inspection and wipe down.
• Tables and nearby surfaces where customers come in contact.
• Entries and exit doors, both those leading outside and those between different parts of the restaurant.

Your cleaning service can help you with accountability and thoroughness here as well. Work with the company to develop an hourly and post customer checklist. There are even apps your staff can use to verify that they complete the proper checklist as pre-assigned intervals.

Contact a company that offers COVID-19 deep cleaning to learn more about methods for your restaurant.