Restaurant Cleaning Checklists: Your Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Guide

Maintaining a clean restaurant is a full-time, all-hands-on-deck job. But it's made significantly more manageable when you have plans in place. Part of that plan should be checklists that show your team what you expect them to do and to ensure they complete these tasks. Here's a quick guide to creating comprehensive daily, weekly, and monthly restaurant cleaning checklists.

Daily

Before getting into the specifics, it's best to split your lists into two categories: front of house and back of house. It's also wise to delegate specific tasks to certain individuals to make tracking who's doing what easier.

Daily back-of-house cleaning will involve light and deep cleaning but should be mostly maintenance-focused. This includes ensuring there is enough soap in the dispensers, sweeping any food off the floor, and tasking out the trash and recycling every night. You can probably think of a lot more, but essentially, the list should be anything that makes the kitchen look sparkling clean with no food left out.

You can apply the same logic to the front-of-the-house checklist. The goal should be a spotless dining room, emphasizing any particularly dirty spots, like carpeting, tables, or bathrooms.

Weekly

Weekly cleaning tasks for your back-of-house employees will be more involved, but they shouldn't take up too much time, provided they keep up with daily tasks. Some examples include:

• Cleaning the ovens and the surrounding walls
• Boiling out the deep fryer
• Washing and sanitizing the walk-ins

Again, you can make this list with tasks you don't want to wait too long to accomplish but might be too time-consuming or unnecessary to do every day.

For the front of the house, your employees should focus on things like:

• Dusting and cleaning light fixtures
• Washing windows and doors
• Deep cleaning any hard-to-reach areas

Don't hesitate to rotate some tasks to a bi-weekly checklist if they're non-essential or time-consuming. For example, decorative windows that don't get fingerprints might need more than a monthly cleaning but not require cleaning every week.

Monthly

Monthly cleaning is everything else: the deep cleaning stuff like emptying grease traps, washing vent hoods, and washing walls to prevent and remove grease buildup.

The front-of-house cleaning list will likely be much smaller, especially since the daily list will be longer, but consider things like knocking down cobwebs from the ceiling or dusting wall decorations. These can be done more as needed, as can everything on this list. Only you know how often things need cleaning, so adjust things as needed.

Consistent Cleanliness for an Improved Customer Experience

Establishing daily, weekly, and monthly restaurant cleaning checklists is only part of the maintenance equation. You'll also benefit immensely from professional cleanings, especially if you notice the quality of cleaning slipping or if you're struggling with staffing.

That's where Hotel Cleaning Services steps in. Our professional cleaners know all of the tricks of the trade to make a restaurant spotless. We're ready and willing to show you what we're capable of — contact us today to learn more!