Checklist for Pub Cleaning: Importance of Maintaining a Clean Front of House

Checklist for Pub Cleaning: Importance of Maintaining a Clean Front of House

Every proud pub owner should always prioritize keeping their pub clean. Running a pub successfully requires maintaining good hygiene standards, ensuring that you always adhere to health and safety regulations and by doing so, keeping your staff and customers safe.

Regular and thorough cleaning of your place of business will aid in building a positive reputation. A reputation that is respected, enables you to further build your brand and grow your customer base. We have put together a cleaning checklist, which will help you to achieve these objectives. By making use of a checklist, you are outlining what you expect from your staff and will guarantee that your customers have a welcoming and safe space in which to spend their leisure time.

30 Seconds is all it Takes
It takes thirty seconds for a customer to make up their mind about your pub. This is all the time it takes for them to decide whether they want to stay or leave to go elsewhere. Making sure your pub is clean and smells fresh will ensure that customers stay for longer and feel comfortable ordering meals. Customers that are enjoying extended time at your pub are great for business and can establish repeat visits.

Checklist: Daily cleaning during opening hours
Keeping your pub or bar clean is something that requires daily and sometimes constant attention. Meeting the environmental health department standards ensures that your customers can relax in a pleasant environment.

Bar Cleaning: The bar area sees a lot of traffic, with food, drink and other stains that make their landfall on the counter continuously. Wipe the bar counters down regularly and make sure it looks clean and presentable for your clients at all times.

Table Cleaning: Similar to bar counters, tables see a lot of action and accumulate stains. Bacteria and germs can build up quickly, therefore clean the tables thoroughly after each use. Make sure tables are properly clean for the next clients.

Beer Mats Replacing: Beer mats are practical and protect the furniture from stains and soak up any spills. They can also look shabby quite quickly, therefore make sure to replace them regularly, especially after each customer. Having crisp beer mats on hand will create a clean impression and will help keep tables cleaner.

Sweeping up food: Food spills on the ground are often a breeding ground for germs and attract pests to your property. Prevent this by keeping an eye out for messes on the floor. After each table turnover make sure to check the floor and sweep up any food on the ground. Vacuuming the floors after closing time is another way to prevent pests and ensures you maintain compliance with health laws.

Washing of Glasses: Glasses need to be washed thoroughly with soap and warm to hot water. Just rinsing them will allow the spread of germs. Prevent giving your clients glasses with greasy fingerprints or lipstick marks as this is one of the fastest ways to lose clients.

Check Bathrooms: This is a crucial area to keep clean as patrons often judge a pub or restaurant by the state of their bathrooms. If you want to uphold a reputation for cleanliness, pay extra and regular attention to the bathroom areas. Clear toilet blockages, clean and dry the floors, wipe down the sink areas, polish the mirrors and replace toilet paper and soap when required.

General Cleaning: Perform spot cleaning where and when necessary. Ask your staff to always keep a clean cloth with them and wipe up any spills and messes they may come across. Make sure you have enough clean wipes ready for staff to simply grab a clean one when necessary. Spot cleaning will ensure your pub remains looking fresh and helps to prevent potential problems.

Checklist for Pub Cleaning: Pre-Opening Cleaning Routine
The next check list involves a pre-opening cleaning routine. You ideally want everything to be clean and ready before service commences. Customers do not want to enter your pub and immediately notice that you had a busy night the day before. A new day of service should start fresh and set the right tone for the day to come.

General Cleaning Checklist
Inspecting your pub before service commences is a great way to ensure that everything is tidy and organized. You want the place to look, feel and smell ready for the day to start well.

Inspect the entrance area and dust out the doormats and wipe the door and handles. Empty all waste bins or other items that may be out of place. Make sure the entrance area is tidy and inviting.

Clean all the floors and straighten tables and chairs to ensure an organized and professional first impression.

Wipe down all counters and surfaces to add a bit of shine.

It’s best to get this out of the way before opening your doors, to not overload your staff during service.

Check for Dust
Dust can cause allergic reactions, which can be unpleasant for some and can disrupt a client’s experience at your pub. Check all areas for dust, with specific focus on low traffic areas and surfaces. You want your pub in a great condition not only to abide by health regulation, but for the overall health and safety of all those in your pub.

Replenish Stock
Making sure you are well stocked up for the day and have enough supplies and resources is one of the most important aspects of a well-managed pub. Running out of stock mid-service, can ruin a customer’s visit, not to mention the delays and inconvenience this can cause to customers and staff alike. Make sure to add this important step to your checklist.

Bathroom Cleaning
Bathrooms are high-traffic areas, frequented by customers throughout the day. Make sure it’s in great shape before you open and keep a close watch on it continuously.

Empty bins, refill soap and toilet paper, and make sure there is enough stock to replenish when required. Regularly check and maintain your hand dryers to prevent any breakdowns. The floors should be mopped and dried to prevent slipping. Ensure the toilets are thoroughly cleaned and wipe down doors and handles, as these areas tend to play host to a variety of germs and bacteria.

Checklist for Pub Cleaning: Closing Time Cleaning Routine
As soon as the last customer departs, the business cleaning continues.
To effectively fight the spread of germs and bacteria, there are certain steps you can take. Keep your pub looking good by re-organizing everything back to the way it was at the start of the day. Leave your pub looking good at night to ensure a good start to the next day.

Cleaning Checklist for Behind the Bar:

  • Clean floors behind the bar
  • Clean shelves and dust bottles
  • Scrub and soak soda guns
  • Sort through fruit and garnishes
  • Clean all ice bins
  • Clean snack bowls
  • Clean remaining glasses and clean out glass machines
  • Wipe and sanitize all surfaces and fridge doors

General Cleaning Checklist:

  • Gather all laundry
  • Wipe, scrub and shine all surfaces
  • Clean the hot drinks/coffee machine
  • Stack chairs or flip chairs onto tables
  • Vacuum and mop all floors
  • Close all windows, check all doors, lock up and set alarm

Checklist for Pub Cleaning: Weekly Deep Cleaning Routine
Now that you have the daily pub cleaning checklist, which covers all parts of the day, it is still not enough to maintain proper health and hygiene. Bar or restaurant cleaning must also involve a regular deep clean, which include tasks that need more time, focus and energy. These tasks need to be scheduled accordingly, as they may be time consuming.

For your pub to be nothing less than outstanding, make use of these deep clean processes:

Deep Clean Behind the Bar
One of the busiest areas of your pub is behind the bar. Since it’s so busy in that area, it is easy to overlook things, which makes it a great place to start with the deep cleaning tasks. Identify tasks to prioritize based on this behind-the-bar cleaning checklist.

  • Remove all stock and clean the fridges and coolers
  • Move all appliances and equipment that can be moved and clean under and behind it
  • Remove glasses and bottles and clean shelving
  • Clean all beer and keg lines
  • Clean the basement
  • Clean and polish draught taps

General Deep Cleaning Tasks
Once the bar area has been subjected to a deep clean, it is time to move on to other areas that require deep cleaning. These include some tasks that are listed in your daily business cleaning checklist but paying closer attention and spending extra time taking care of these tasks will help you maintain better control on the pub or restaurant cleaning process.

  • Dust and remove cobwebs in higher and difficult to reach areas
  • Clean blinds and windows
  • Disinfect countertops
  • Bathrooms and toilet deep cleaning
  • Wash all loose floor mats
  • Polish all brass and silverware

Managing of the Checklists and Cleaning Processes
Assigning specific cleaning responsibilities to each staff member, linked to their assigned shifts, will help you to manage the cleaning check lists. There is a considerable cleaning workload to keep your pub clean and fresh, therefore it is helpful to spread out the tasks amongst the staff, to lighten the load.
Although your bar and restaurant staff will no doubt be exhausted and drained after a long shift, the cleaning process is essential. You can consider hiring a commercial cleaning company to get the cleaning done with extra care. By getting in the professionals, you can be sure that the bar or restaurant cleaning processes are consistent and of the highest standards. Andy’s Restaurant Cleaning is one of the companies you can contact for your business cleaning requirements.

Your contract for commercial cleaning services is entirely unique to your business. The size of the premises and specific requirements are considered to structure the right service that works for you. Customer service is at the heart of Andy’s Restaurant Cleaning services, providing bar and restaurant cleaning services that comply with regulations, and help you with building your reputation and brand.

The checklists provided here are basic guidelines and work best when your specific pub requirements are added to them. Maintaining a clean, secure and healthy workplace for your employees and customers is what these checklists can help to achieve. Engage the team and emphasize to your staff the importance of keeping the pub clean and maintaining a welcoming atmosphere.

These checklists can assist you with your business, whether you and your team take care of the cleaning or if you decide to bring a professional bar and restaurant cleaning services on board. Use the checklists to direct the cleaning process and take care of the cleaning tasks efficiently.

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