Front of the House Cleaning Checklist for Restaurants

Maintaining a neat and tidy front of house is no easy feat. Unlike the kitchen and back of house staff who mainly have to worry about sanitizing and disinfecting their work area, front of house employees have to worry about the cleanliness and appearance of every single thing that a guest could possibly see or come in contact with.

• Glassware & Silverware – Nothing does a better job than a sani-bucket of hot water and a bar towel. To avoid streaks when polishing, hold glasses upside down slightly over the hot water and let the steam rise and cover the inside and outside of the glass. Then just wipe it down with your bar towel and voila! Polished glassware. For silverware, you can do more of the same, but you may have to actually wet the bar rag to get those tough watermarks that the dishwasher sometimes leaves behind, as steam alone may not do the trick.
• Table Tops, Bar Surfaces, & Service Bars – Hit the most-touched areas of your dining room with Spic N Span 3-in-1 All Purpose Spray to clean, disinfect, and leave behind a streak-free shine. Don’t forget to scrape off any gum underneath the tables!
• Chairs & Booths – You probably already make sure that the surfaces of your chairs and booths are clean, but don’t forget the backs, cracks, and undersides of your chairs and booths need attention too. Crumbs love to hide in these hard to reach areas and can attract bugs, flies, and other undesirables that you don’t want anywhere near your food or customers.
• Bathrooms – We’ve talked about the importance of maintaining clean restrooms before, so we won’t get back on our soapbox again. However, we do encourage you to use a multi-purpose deodorizing cleaner that can be used on any water safe surface.
• Hostess Desk – Tidy up your hostess stand. Neatly organize and store spare menus, pens, linens, and silverware wraps. If your restaurant uses an electronic paging system of some sort, make sure the wires and charging cords are hidden from sight or neatly bundled.
• Front Door/Glass – Appearances are everything. When a guest arrives at your establishment, the first thing they come in contact with is the front of your building. In order to make a good first impression, make sure any glass has been cleaned with a glass cleaner that won’t leave behind unsightly streaks or spots.
• Menus – If you use regular paper menus, regularly print updated ones and have plenty of backups on hand to replace those that get destroyed, damaged, or stained. If you have laminated or plastic menus, wipe them down so that they’re nice and clean. Nobody likes getting a menu with food crumbs leftover from the last meal.
• Drains – The drains at your bar and server stations see heavy use and can easily be forgotten about until it’s too late and they start to smell. Untreated drains are a breeding ground for flies and other annoying pests. Use a fly treatment drain solution to remove hard-to-clean matter from drain lines and to eliminate any unpleasant odors wafting from your drains. Make sure not to forget about the drains and lines in your soda machine! These lines can quickly become nasty and grow mold, so make sure they are cleaned regularly.
• Server Books – The books your waiters and waitresses use to present checks to guests are a part of every meal, yet they’re often forgotten about when it comes to tidying up. Check for any books that have tears or rips in them and make sure all of them are free of any leftover food crumbs or stains that they may have collected.

PFS Products for Your FOH Cleaning List

In addition to the standard side-work and cleaning that gets done at the end of every shift, it’s important for FOH managers to remember the areas that are easily forgotten about or often overlooked. When you need to restock on the products that keep your establishment clean and sanitary, PFS Sales is here for you. You can check out our full online catalogue here or give us a call at 919-829-1116 to inquire more about a specific product.