30 Restaurant Guests Share The Most Disgusting Things They’ve Seen, And It Hurts To Read

Fundamentally, keeping any kitchen clean comes down to two things: managers who prioritize it and employees who care enough to keep things spick and span.

Management needs to find a way to incentivize their staff to take both personal hygiene and the cleanliness of the kitchen and seating area seriously. That comes down to providing workers with fair wages, education, opportunities for career growth, and setting a good example.

For example, everyone will be far more willing to scrub surfaces if they’ve seen their managers get their hands dirty. Similarly, those who take pride in their career and genuinely care about their customers will also keep a tidy station.

On the flip side, a member of staff who is underpaid, burned out, demotivated, and constantly has to deal with rude customers and toxic managers might not give a damn about cleanliness standards. For them, not cleaning might even be a way of rebelling against the system. Unfortunately, it’s not just the business that suffers—the customers do, too.

Good standards start at the ground level. Members of staff ought to get in the habit of practicing good hand hygiene before handling food or after using the restroom. Nobody wants to deal with a server who sneezes into their hands and then hands them the menus. Nor would anyone trust a waiter who walks out of the bathroom without even having turned on the tap.

Meanwhile, the kitchen staff must have a system in place for storing food, preparing it, and cleaning the premises. Some food items like raw meat and seafood spoil very quickly, so they cannot be left out in the open for God knows how long. Raw food items also have to be kept separately from cooked ones in order to prevent cross-contamination.

Kitchen staff ought to sanitize their work surfaces, tools, and cutting boards frequently. Learning to clean up after yourself as you cook is a very useful habit. In the meantime, management has to do frequent inspections of the kitchen and ensure that certain parts of the premises are thoroughly cleaned every day, week, or month. 

For instance, you want to mop the floors, storage areas, and walk-in fridges every single day, while also cleaning the food prep areas and sinks. You should also not forget to clean the beverage machines, microwaves, grills, toasters, coffee makers, and other appliances every day, too. Things like floor drains, mats, ovens, and deep fryers can be manually cleaned weekly. Once a month, the staff should focus on the walls, ceilings, vent hoods, grease traps, and the area behind the hotline.