Keeping Your Restaurant Kitchen Floors Clean

May 18, 2018

One aspect of your commercial kitchen that should not be overlooked is the floors. Just like all your equipment, your floors should be cleaned and maintained daily. Not only is floor cleanliness important for sanitation reasons, but also for employee safety. Keep reading to learn more about the importance of and how to keep your restaurant kitchen floors clean from your Fast Fix LLC team.

The Importance of Clean Restaurant Kitchen Floors

The most important reason to keep restaurant kitchen floors is for safety issues. This includes both food safety and employee safety. Clean kitchens, including the floors, reduce the number of illness causing agents that can infect the food that will be served to customers. Clean floors also reduce the likelihood of slips and falls, and workplace injuries.

Consequences of Dirty Floors

Dirty floors can lead to a variety of issues for your restaurant including:

Loss of Customers - Customers don't want to eat at restaurants that are perceived as dirty, and a dirty floor is one of the largest signs of a lack of cleanliness.
Food Safety Concerns - The dirt and grime on floors can easily become airborne when people walk on those floors. These germs affect the quality of your food and can cause foodborne illness. Shoes can track those germs into walk-in freezers and can cause cross contamination issues as well.
Employee Safety - While the slick tile often found in restaurant kitchens is easy to clean, those properties also make it extra slippery when dirty and/or wet. This poses a danger to employees, as they can easily slip and fall. In addition, food on the floor can cause slips and falls too.

How to Clean Your Restaurant Kitchen Floors

Cleaning the floors is often the last thing done each day. Unfortunately, leaving the floors until the end of the day could endanger employees and also make the job more difficult. Best practices for kitchen cleaning suggest cleaning the floors several times per day. Sweeping is the first priority to ensure no loose food debris is left behind. Next you'll want to clean the floors with a commercial cleaning product. You want to avoid using regular soap, as it's not strong enough to clean the floors and can also leave a sticky residue on the floor. This can make the floors more dangerous than before, as the residue can also cause slips and falls. While a mop is great for moving the cleaning solution around, it also moves the dirt and grime around. It's important that mopping is not your last step. You'll then want to rinse the floors with a hot water hose. Then be sure to squeegee them to ensure the floors aren't wet and slick anymore. A wet/dry vacuum can also be used if needed.

Regular cleaning of the floors, and your equipment, will ensure an efficient restaurant kitchen. In addition to cleaning, regular maintenance in your kitchen is also important. For all your Western Illinois and Missouri restaurant equipment maintenance and repair needs, trust Fast Fix LLC. One call does it all!