The best way to get a strong rating during a restaurant health inspection is to make and keep a regular cleaning schedule for all areas of your restaurant. Nevertheless, most managers feel the need to spruce up the place and touch on hot points when an inspection is on the way. Inspectors are notorious for checking certain often-missed items. Keeping these red-flagged items spotless is your best defense against a poor showing at any surprise inspection, and you can use them as a basis for a new, prioritized cleaning schedule.
Can Opener
Even if you've got a solid team that follows your cleaning schedule on a regular basis, you have to take special care not to forget about the things that are small and seemingly insignificant. Health inspectors love to check commercial can openers, for example, because they're so often overlooked. Soak and clean the can opener every night, paying strict attention to making and keeping the blade area spotless. Replace the blade when needed to keep it sharp and rust free.
Ice Machine
Every restaurant health inspection will include a thorough look at the ice machine. Ice could easily spread dirt into your customers' beverages if the machine isn't cleaned properly. Wipe the gasket around the access door every night with a cleaning solution to prevent mold from forming. It's important for you to wipe inside the ice chute, where the cubes are dispensed into the bin, as well as the freezer portion of the machine. It you've got black spots in your ice, it's time to break down the entire machine and do a complete and thorough cleaning.
Gaskets
If you overlook small details, they will be noticed during a restaurant health inspection and could be taken as a sign that you would also ignore larger concerns. Appliance gaskets may seem like a small detail, but they're indicative of your level of attention to detail. Wipe down each gasket with every night, making sure to fan open the folds to clean in between each layer to prevent mold from forming in the crevices.
Floors
Restaurant floors, especially in the kitchen, are notoriously hard to keep clean, dry, and free of grease. Over 4 million people are injured each year in restaurant slip-and-fall accidents due to slippery floors. The look of your floors is important, too, as 68 percent of customers have indicated that they wouldn't return to a restaurant with dirty floors. Traditional mop-and-bucket methods of floor cleaning are not effective, and they leave soil and germs along with slippery moisture on every floor surface. The OmniFlex Dispense-and-Vac is a better way to keep your floors clean and safe. It dispenses always-fresh cleaning solution to floors, and then vacuums up the dirt, grease and moisture, leaving your floors clean and dry. You'll cut your cleaning time in half while producing much cleaner floors than with old-fashioned mops and buckets.
To learn more about commercial kitchen cleaning, click here.