How To Create a Commercial Kitchen Cleaning Schedule

A clean kitchen is essential for any restaurant, industrial-type kitchen, or catering business. Creating a comprehensive cleaning checklist ensures that everyone in your kitchen knows precisely what their duties are. This ensures that cleaning is carried out consistently during every shift.

Your schedule should be as specific as possible to maximise effectiveness, leaving no room for error or misunderstandings. Remember to specify which surfaces and appliances require cleaning, the chemicals or equipment, and how frequently cleaning should be performed.

While some cleaning tasks require more frequent attention, others can be completed less often, such as once a month or yearly. It’s therefore a sensible idea to create checklists that reflect this. Below, HSEDocs will talk you through what a typical commercial kitchen cleaning schedule might look like:

Daily Cleaning Checklist

This daily cleaning checklist outlines your day-to-day cleaning responsibilities. These tasks focus on high-touch surfaces and high-traffic areas, where dirt, grime, and bacteria quickly accumulate if not cleaned thoroughly.

• Wipe down food preparation areas between tasks with antibacterial cleaner
• Empty bins once they are full
• Disinfect waste areas
• Wash and sanitise all chopping and cutting boards and surfaces
• Brush and clean the grill and griddle
• Clean the flattop
• Clean out fryers
• Wash the meat and cheese slicers after each use
• Sweep and mop the kitchen flooring
• Mop up any spillages immediately to prevent hazards
• Wash any floor mats. Wash all aprons and chef hats
• Wash can openers
• Clean hood filters
• Clean knives and cutlery
• Clean plates
• Wipe walls that have been splashed
• Change grill linings
• Wash the heads of the beverage dispenser
• Wipe down equipment, including microwave, toaster and kettle
• Sweep storage areas and the walk-in refrigerator
• Refill soap dispensers and paper towels
• Wash all utensils and glassware
• Wash cookware
• Clean out the sinks
• Wipe down the dishwasher
• Disinfect door handles and light switches

To learn more about food hygiene, look at our article, ‘What Are The Basic Food Hygiene Rules?’

Weekly Cleaning Checklist

At the end of every week, you should take the time to deep clean appliances and equipment and review any hard-to-reach or easily forgotten spots. If your restaurant is closed for a day or two, then this is a great time to see to the following tasks:

• Thorough cleaning of sink areas
• Clean ovens, including racks
• Sanitise walk-in areas
• Clean drains with drain cleaners
• Sanitise and clean out all refrigerators
• Clean out the deep fryer
• Clean coffee machines
• Clean any grease traps
• Dust and clean the lights
• Wipe down doors

Top tip - It’s also a good idea to review your stock of cleaning products and equipment every week so that you can replace or reorder any essential items, such as sponges or cleaning cloths.

Monthly Cleaning Checklist

Completing these tasks each month, alongside your daily and monthly tasks, will help you maintain an excellent standard of hygiene. Monthly cleaning tasks include:

• Wash behind your ovens and fryers to eliminate grease
• Clean underneath any appliances and other surfaces
• Clean the freezers
• Sharpen the cheese and meat slicer
• Sanitise and clean out ice machines
• Wipe down dry storage areas
• Wash walls and ceilings
• Clean out coffee and drinks machines with professional cleaning products
• Wash vent hoods
• Clean fridge coils
• Check cleaning stock
• Change pest traps
• Clean inside the dishwasher
• Clean inside your microwave
• Refill the first aid box

On top of these, you should check fire extinguishers, gas pilot lights and clean out vents every 3 months to maintain safety standards.

To read more about fridge storage and maintenance, take a look at our article here.

Shifts

Specific cleaning procedures must be carried out before, during and after a shift. Here is everything you need to know:

Before a Shift Begins

Before any shift begins, kitchen staff should take a moment to prepare the kitchen and ensure that everything is sanitary before they start cooking. They’ll need to:

• Wipe all surfaces with food-safe antibacterial cleaner and a clean cloth or sponge.
• Clean sinks, taps, and hand-washing stations.
• Check the ingredients and discard anything that has gone bad.
• Ensure you have a supply of clean cloths and sponges for quick wipe-downs between tasks.

During a Shift

While most kitchen staff and cooks will do these things as part of their routine, writing a formal list’s still good practice. Staying on top of these tasks will reduce the amount of cleaning required once the shift has ended:

• Brush grills to remove any buildup of grease and food debris between cooking.
• Switch and clean cutting boards between tasks. Knives should also be cleaned between cutting tasks.
• Ensure rubbish is emptied as needed, rather than waiting until the end of the shift. Overflowing bins can easily lead to contamination.
• Spillages should be cleaned up as soon as possible rather than left until the end of the shift.

After a Shift

After a shift has finished, a more intensive cleaning is in order. Your staff will need to ensure that all of the following tasks are completed before finishing for the day:

• Change cleaning cloths and sponges.
• Throw away any that are no longer clean enough to use.
• Deep fryers should be emptied and cleaned.
• Hobs should be cleaned thoroughly using a specialist hob cleaning product.
• Remove dirty chef whites and aprons and place them in a separate area, ready for laundering.
• Ensure all ingredients are covered and sealed properly before replacing them in the fridge overnight.
• Sweep the floor of walk-in fridges and storage areas.
• Sweep and mop the kitchen floor using a disinfectant or floor cleaner.

By incorporating cleaning tasks into your commercial cleaning schedule, you can ensure your space is regularly cleaned and disinfected, maintaining excellent health and safety. Additionally, there are numerous benefits to establishing a food hygiene cleaning schedule. These include:

• Increased accountability: Everyone knows their duties and can be held accountable for them if they fail to adhere to them.
• It’s fairer for staff: Ensuring they perform the same tasks on every shift is more equitable.
• Tasks aren’t forgotten: There’s less risk of important cleaning tasks being forgotten, or easy-to-miss kitchen areas being neglected.
• Evidence of due diligence: You’ll have a record of your cleaning practice to show to inspectors. For more information, look at our article, ‘What Is Due Diligence In Food Safety?’
• Consistency: If you always follow your checklist to the letter, your kitchen should stay consistently clean, which makes the whole job easier.
• Improves food quality: A hygienic kitchen reduces the risk of food contamination. Keeping food storage areas clean can also help prevent food spoilage.
• Prevents infestations: A rigorously clean environment is less likely to suffer from infestations of vermin or flies, which can be dangerous, costly to deal with, and seriously bad for your reputation.

All commercial kitchens are required to meet regulations set out by the Food Standards Agency. These include:

• A good standard of hygiene based on the 4 C's – cooking, chilling, cross-contamination, and cleaning. To read more about the 4 C’s of food hygiene, look at our article, ‘What Are The Basic Food Hygiene Rules?’
• Industrial kitchens should not serve anything in food, remove anything from food, or treat food in a way that could potentially damage people's health.
• Food should be presented, advertised and labelled in a way that is not misleading or false.
• The Food Hygiene Rating assigns a scale of 0 to 5, indicating the level of cleanliness in a commercial kitchen. 5 is the highest standard of cleanliness, while zero means urgent improvement is needed. For more information, please refer to our article on food hygiene ratings.
• To receive their rating, all commercial kitchens need to be inspected, usually once per year.
• The food hygiene rating assesses food storage, handling, preparation, cleanliness of facilities, and management of food safety.

One of the main reasons why many commercial kitchens fail to meet good health and safety standards is that they do not undertake regular cleaning. A consistent cleaning schedule is crucial, especially when the public's health is at stake. On top of the checklist, staff should be washing their hands:

• After touching raw food
• After handling any rubbish
• Before and after preparing food
• During the preparation of different foods
• Before and following the treatment of a wound

To stick to your cleaning schedule and ensure your kitchen is completely hygienic, you must have a good selection of professional cleaning products and equipment. This will make your life much easier in the long run. Here are some of the most important industrial kitchen cleaning equipment must-haves:

• Cleaning cloths or rags – these can be used to wipe, polish, and dry various surfaces.
• Cleaning gloves – ensure these are disposable so staff can dispose of them after their daily cleaning duties.
• Scourers can be metal or non-metal and work best on hard-to-clean surfaces that require a little more effort, such as ovens.
• Sponges—These can be used on various surfaces. For sanitation purposes, throw them away after every shift or change them regularly.
• Blue roll – for preventing streaks and for drying anything that has been washed in the sink.
• Griddle brush – this is used to clean the griddle.
• Mops and buckets – those with interchangeable heads work best, as they can be easily disposed of. Remember to mop thoroughly after every shift.
• Dustpan and brush set – to clean any dirt off the floor.
• Dusters are for any high-up shelving that requires cleaning.
• Anti-bacterial cleaner – kitchen surfaces require eliminating bacteria for food preparation and storage.
• Grease cleaner – this is ideal for cleaning cooking areas.
• Oven cleaner – for the inside of your oven and cleaning the racks.
• Floor cleaner: Kitchen floors can become dirty quickly, particularly with food spillages and stains. An antibacterial floor cleaner will keep your floors sparkling clean.
• Handwash or hand soap—You must wash your hands regularly when handling and preparing food.
• Hand towels—Consider making these disposable or installing a hand dryer.
• Drinks machine cleaner—Coffee machines, cold drinks machines, and beer taps need regular cleaning using specialist products.
• Drain cleaner – these can become blocked, so regular cleaning is recommended.
• Washing up liquid – to clean anything in the sink.
• Dishwasher cleaner: This keeps the inside of your dishwasher clean, allowing your kitchen equipment and tools to be cleaned effectively.
• Steam cleaner – for cleaning carpets or upholstery.
• Jet washers – effectively clean tough stains off splashbacks, tiling and flooring.
• Deep cleaning equipment – Includes professional cleaning tools and products that are more powerful than standard ones. Your kitchen needs to be deep-cleaned thoroughly, especially in post-COVID times.

Deep Cleaning

Now and then, you’ll need to give your professional kitchen an intensive deep cleaning session to ensure that all areas and equipment are as hygienic as possible. Although a deep clean can be time-consuming, it can also help prolong the lifespan of your equipment, resulting in fewer repairs and a more efficient kitchen. This makes it very worthwhile in the long run.

Colour Coding

When creating a commercial kitchen cleaning schedule, it is essential to ensure that the equipment and products used for cleaning are designated for that area only. For example, avoiding using the same mop and cloths in your kitchen and toilets is advisable, as this can significantly increase the risk of spreading germs.

Following a colour-coded cleaning plan is the best way to ensure that the right cleaning equipment is used in the correct area. This involves colour-coding your equipment according to the ‘zone’ in the restaurant where it is used. This way, it is clear to all staff which items should be used in which area.

To read more about colour coding, read our article, ‘Chopping Board Colours: Your Complete Guide’.

In addition to colour coding, storing your cleaning products properly is essential. Please keep them where your customers cannot access them, even accidentally. A convenient way to do this is to keep all your supplies in a locked cupboard. You should also be careful to keep all cleaning chemicals in the bottles and containers they are supplied in, ensuring that the manufacturer’s instructions are easily accessible.

When creating your commercial kitchen cleaning schedule, it's important to bear in mind that different cleaning procedures will be required for different parts of your kitchen. Generally, areas and appliances used more frequently during everyday cooking and food preparation should be cleaned the most often. Below, we’ll outline some rough guidelines of how often each area and appliance should be cleaned:

• Hobs & Ovens - Any spillages should be wiped up after each shift to prevent build-up of grease and grime and the interior of the oven should be cleaned using a specialist oven cleaning product once a week.
• Coffee Machines - Espresso machines should be cleaned and flushed with hot water once a week.
• Kettles - Water boilers should be cleaned and descaled once a month, or once a week if you serve many hot drinks daily.
• Microwaves - The interior of your microwave should be cleaned at least once a week.
• Refrigeration—The interiors of your fridges should be wiped and sanitised between shifts and deep-cleaned once a week.

To learn more about refrigerator hygiene, read our article, ‘Food Safety: Fridge Storage & Maintenance’.

• Floors - Any major spillages must be cleaned up as soon as possible during a shift, as not only do they present a hygiene hazard and put your staff at risk of slips and falls. After every shift, the floor should also be swept or hoovered and then mopped and cleaned using a disinfectant antibacterial floor cleaner.

To find out more, take a look at our Slips, Trips and Falls Course.

• Countertops and work surfaces -Work surfaces used for food prep should be wiped clean between tasks and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected after the shift has ended.

After learning about how thorough a commercial kitchen cleaning schedule needs to be, you may find it beneficial to look at HSEDoc’s Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate course. This personal and kitchen hygiene program emphasises the importance of cleanliness and the potential consequences of neglecting the exacting standards required to keep food protected from poor hygiene hazards.

Our comprehensive online food hygiene training covers key rules for your kitchen, including the Four Cs, HACCP, temperature control, and personal hygiene.

All successful candidates are entered on the national training register, and employers can verify certificates by clicking Validate a Certificate and typing in the certificate number. If you have any questions, need advice, or’d like to speak to a team member, don’t hesitate to contact us.