Commercial Kitchen Equipment Cleanliness Requires Regular Attention to These Details

Every commercial kitchen will have quite a bit of equipment, as they are all key players to prepping your delicious recipes. That said, they can’t really do their job to the best of their ability if they aren’t being properly maintained. Kitchen equipment is definitely an investment, and the equipment can last for a long time if regularly cleaned. If your equipment is dirty, the health department will know – and your customers will know, as it’ll affect the taste and could even cause food-borne illnesses. The bottom line is paying regular attention to the cleanliness details will only help your bottom line, so it’s important to stay mindful of these details.

Equipment assessment

Day in and day out, appliances like the stove top, fryers, and ovens are getting used constantly. For that reason, it’s important to assess them regularly, ideally on a daily basis. If you’re noticing food particles building up on any of your appliances, that’s a great indicator that it’s time for a detailed clean and disinfection – don’t let this go unnoticed as food buildup can cause kitchen fires. When it comes time to clean, make sure you’re using the right products to wipe away the buildup, degrease, and sanitize to help eliminate bacteria and contamination.

Grease filter

This may not be the most fun thing to clean, but if you want to prevent kitchen fires it’s an absolute must. These filters are in place to reduce the amount of grease that gets into the duct, which is incredibly helpful as it extends the time between duct cleanings. Cleaning out the grease filters should be done at the very least once a week to prevent dangerous buildup. That said, it’s generally a good practice to clean these out at the time of closing each night, especially if you do heavy grease cooking.

Walk-ins

The fridge and freezer, which holds all of your food, are probably the most important areas in your kitchen to keep clean and organized, and it’ll directly relate to your success. Going through your fridge and freezer at least once a week to throw out expired food, clean up any spills, and re-organize your inventory will help keep the kitchen flow smoothly and on track. If you notice any bad smells, investigate immediately as this can lead to bad tasting food and/or food-borne illnesses. But the cleaning doesn’t stop at just the food and shelves – be sure to keep an eye on the smaller details, like the fridge coils.

Floor maintenance

It may not be obvious, but the floor of your kitchen should absolutely be considered equipment, as it’s a key player in kitchen productivity. If the floors aren’t properly cleaned and maintained, employees could slip and fall, which could result in injury and leave you short staffed and open to liabilities. Floors should be cleaned and scrubbed at the end of the business day to set you up for success the next day – keep in mind the extensive list of quality commercial floor cleaners that the National Floor Safety Institute has put together. An extra precaution you could take is adding rubber mats under cooking stations, and requiring that your employees wear non-slip shoes.

Keeping a thoroughly cleaned kitchen is one of the best things you can do for your business. For the most part, your staff will be performing most of these cleaning tasks. When compiling your equipment cleaning checklist, make sure you have detailed instructions and that your staff is well trained and equipped to properly clean so they can help your business truly shine and succeed.