Maintaining and cleaning a commercial kitchen is no easy task, as even with the right industrial cleaning equipment there are always trouble spots and oversights made by even the most meticulous cleaner.
The tough food hygiene regulations in place mean that even the slightest mistake can make your kitchen fall foul of the law, so it makes sense to do the job thoroughly and rid your workspace of pests, bacteria and contamination as much as possible. Here are the essential steps you should take the next time you are cleaning catering equipment in your commercial kitchen.
Know Your Kitchen
How a kitchen is organised makes a big difference to how easy it is to clean. Make sure all of your preparatory surfaces are made accessible, and that any small nooks or crannies are kept to a minimum. There are also several common blind spots in commercial kitchens which you should make yourself aware of.
Drains and ducts are often overlooked during the cleaning process, as are areas beneath counters and around electronic equipment. Keeping these areas free of debris makes cleaning a whole lot easier.
The Right Tools For The Job
Adopting a “this will do” attitude to your cleaning products and equipment is a sure-fire way to fail a hygiene inspection. For example some people may feel that removing the greasy residue on a deep fat fryer using degreaser is enough, but the bacteria left behind will not be removed by such products alone.
In this situation you would need to employ a steam cleaner to both kill micro-organisms and hit the spots which your scrubbing brush cannot reach. Additionally you should make sure that your cleaning equipment itself is clean. A filthy mop and bucket laying in the corner of an otherwise pristine kitchen is something no health inspector wants to see.
Document Your Processes
It is all well and good having a general idea of which areas need cleaning and how to clean them, but if your routine is not documented then how will you know if it has been completed?
Documenting your entire cleaning process in a meticulous fashion not only helps you to determine whether a thorough job has been done, it also assists with any transition to a new team of cleaning staff. Put in place specific and industry recommended procedures for your ovens, deep fat fryers, beer lines, dishwashers, cupboards and hobs.
The bare minimum requirement for any catering establishment in the UK is that their entire system be thoroughly cleaned every six months. But by maintaining a more regular and efficient routine you can do much more than adhere to government guidelines.
Keeping a kitchen clean ensure your employees are working in a safe environment, your customers receive a good service, and it also saves you money by keeping your commercial kitchen equipment performing properly.
