Many restaurants have taken their cleaning methods and protocols more seriously than ever over the past few years. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been especially important to be vigilant with the cleaning methods used in your restaurant. This helps to keep both your staff and customers safe. After all, you want your restaurant to be able to remain open and continue providing great service to the community.
As you work to make sure your restaurant remains safe, you may have come across a wide variety of cleaning materials that advertise themselves to be effective. The large number of sanitizers and soaps available can make it difficult to know if you’re making the best decision for your staff and customers. Today, we’ll break down the differences between sanitizers and soaps and help you make the best choice for your restaurant.
Is Soap or Sanitizer Best for Staff?
Your staff work in a wide variety of places all around your restaurant. You employ kitchen staff, servers, hostesses, cleaning staff, delivery drivers, and more. These are the people that have close contact with the food you serve and the customers you serve it to. Keeping them clean and safe is a huge must.
Soap and water is the best way to ensure that your restaurant staff have the best hygiene possible. Unlike sanitizer, which kills germs but isn’t intended to clean residue, soap dissolves germs, dirt, and grime alike. Choose an antibacterial hand soap to make sure that bacteria aren’t getting left behind.
Making handwashing procedures standard throughout your restaurant is a great idea when it comes to covid best practices for restaurants. Add reminder posters at sinks to make sure that your staff are aware of the proper time to wash their hands, as well as the best methods for ensuring they’re as clean as possible. Put these posters in the restrooms that your customers use, too.
Is Soap or Sanitizer Best for Customers?
Outside of handwashing in bathrooms, sanitizer is a great choice for encouraging customers to stay safe. Place it in many convenient places throughout your restaurant, such as near the hostess stand and in seating areas. If you can make it work, consider including a bottle of hand sanitizer for each table. Make sure that your cleaning staff sanitizes the bottles themselves when they’re cleaning tables and other restaurant areas. Sanitizing doesn’t do any good if you need to touch a dirty bottle in order to use it.
Restaurant Cleaning: Other Materials to Consider
Keeping your restaurant clean means sanitizing all surfaces, not just making sure that your customers and staff are provided with the materials needed to keep themselves clean. Therefore, making sure that you have the proper supplies for your tables, floors, kitchen equipment, and other high-touch areas is absolutely essential.
We hope that these guidelines have helped to demystify the world of soaps, sanitizers, and restaurant cleaning. Best of luck!
