Cleaning the floors is a routine part of restaurant cleaning. But whether you clean your restaurant in-house or contract with a company like ours, there are things you can do to make maintaining clean floors easier. We call them the ‘dirty little secrets’ of clean floors.
These dirty little secrets are all proactive. They are things you do throughout the day to ensure that end-of-night mopping actually gets the floors as clean as they can be. Otherwise, mopping may offer only limited benefit. So, what are the dirty little secrets? Let us get right to them.
1. Sweeping Throughout the Day
One of the hardest things about maintaining clean restaurant floors is getting to the dirt embedded in corners and the grout between tiles. Less of that dirt would get embedded if floors were swept multiple times throughout the day. Less dirt on the floor means less to grind in as people walk across the floor.
We encourage sweeping whenever possible. Of course, you cannot always break out a broom and give the dining room and kitchen floors a good sweep during the busy dinner hour. But restaurant business comes in waves. With just 15 minutes of downtime, two or three staff members armed with brooms can get a lot of dirt up.
2. Sweeping Prior to Mopping
Both dining room and kitchen floors need a thorough sweeping just prior to mopping. We recommend a stiff push broom to get most of the dirt up. A conventional broom is ideal for getting dirt out of the corners. Once you finish sweeping, there is one final step before cleaning: run a dust mop over the floor.
A commercial dust mop will trap all those small particles the broom left behind. This is especially important in the kitchen, where lots of dirt and debris can go unnoticed. Getting up as much dirt and debris before you mop ultimately means a better mopping job.
3. Pretreat Targeted Areas
The key to successful mopping in a commercial environment is to allow your water and cleaning solution a few minutes to loosen dirt and debris. That’s why you soak the floor down, wait a few minutes, and then soak up all the dirt and water with your mop. Before you start mopping, however, it is a good idea to pretreat targeted areas.
Perhaps you utilize deep fryers in your restaurant. The spaces immediately around your friers will likely have accumulated grease to deal with. Pretreat these areas with a solution of detergent and hot water. Let the solution sit for a little while to break up the grease. Any areas of the floor that tend to accumulate more dirt and grease could be considered target areas. Hit them before you start mopping.
4. Choose Your Mop and Cleaning Solution Wisely
Finally, the most important dirty little secret of maintaining clean restaurant floors is to choose your mop and cleaning solution wisely. In almost every case, a conventional string mop is the most appropriate choice for dirty kitchen and dining room floors. Sponge mops and microfiber mops just don’t do a good enough job of picking up grease and embedded dirt. As for your cleaning solution, you need something appropriate for your floors, but also something strong enough to deal with dirty restaurant environments.
There are both green and conventional cleaning solutions ideal for restaurant floors. Whatever you choose, follow the manufacturer’s instructions for both diluting and mopping. With the right solution and all the prep work done ahead of time, you’ll have spotlessly clean floors at the end of the night.
