3 Ways To Keep Your Kitchen Clean And Tidy During Business Hours

Running a food business of your own is exciting. You get to cook delicious recipes for your customers and bring the world to the table, one plate at a time. However, that is just the face of the business your customers get to see, and a lot is happening in the background, from ordering groceries and sourcing the best ingredients to keeping your kitchen and serving space squeaky clean. 

While you can always opt for food safe cleaners that safely clean your kitchen without leaving any residuals, there are some general practices that you can implement in the kitchen to ensure when it's time to clean, there’s less mess to take care of. Here are some smart ways to keep your kitchen clean and tidy during business hours. 

1. Create a checklist for everything that needs to be cleaned

Whether you are running a café, a fast food restaurant, or a family diner, having a checklist will ensure that the staff can keep a check on cleaning actions that can be undertaken right away and what can be done after business hours. 

Cleaning and maintaining the kitchen is crucial for day-to-day operations, and a checklist prevents any corners from getting missed. A checklist categorizes tasks and highlights cleaning that has to be done on a regular, weekly, and monthly basis alongside any equipment upkeep. 

This list can also highlight when the inventory has to be restocked, items to be consumed in the coming days, scheduling the next deep cleaning, analyzing current menu items for updates, and equipment maintenance work. With this, your staff will know their roles and responsibilities, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient workflow. 

2. Separate and organize kitchen workstations 

Whether it is the chopping area, washing area for utensils, or cutting area for raw ingredients, every area should correspond to a process that is being carried out there. This benefits by preventing cross-contamination and ensuring top-notch sanitary practices are being followed. Here is how you can achieve this:

• Prepping area: This is where the initial preparation for a recipe will take place, and the area will be used for chopping, marinating, and preparing ingredients. This is also the area where most used ingredients will be placed. Labeling everything and keeping them closely placed in a systematic manner will support easy fetching while preventing any chances of cross-contamination. 
• Cooking area: This is where all the magic happens, and so does the mess. Cleaning the cooking area should be undertaken on a daily basis to ensure grime, oils, and food particles that spring during the cooking process do not settle to form a solid sediment. Using a food safe cleaning agent will do wonders here as these cleaners do not leave precipitates, are non-toxic, and efficiently clean the area. 
• Freezer and refrigerator area: In a commercial kitchen, the freezer and refrigerator area are the most used. Keeping this space clean, well-maintained, and organized is crucial to ensuring you are able to process every order without any delays. Label temperature-sensitive and perishable items at first and constantly check for their consumption rate & condition. The other items can be tracked for the type of food (vegetarian, vegan, seafood, protein, etc), date of storage, and expiration date to promote timely consumption and discourage cross-contamination. 
• Dishwashing area: Keeping this area clean is also vital to ensuring that all processes take place on time and there are always clean dishes and utensils to cook and serve food. Consider investing in high-quality, sustainable, and non-toxic dishwashing solutions. Install a drying rack where all utensils can be placed for quick drying. 

3. Train your employees and continue to reinforce the principles

It can get difficult to keep up when the work gets overly busy. There will be days when your business will be buzzing with back-to-back customers. And there could be some dull days. Taking the time to train your employees will ensure they are skilled enough to handle tricky situations with ease. 

On the other hand, reinforcing the working principles through reward and recognition will encourage them to be more productive and mindful of their actions. It will also motivate your staff to take accountability for their roles and responsibilities. 

Parting words

Managing a commercial kitchen is a roller coaster ride that has its own wins and challenges. Celebrating the wins and tackling the challenges together is the key to ensuring your kitchen runs smoothly and happily. However, in serious matters like maintaining hygiene and cleanliness in the kitchen, be sure to use high-quality, food safe cleaning products that efficiently clean the toughest of stains without leaving precipitates or a strong odor.