Cleaning And Maintenance in Your Commercial Kitchen

Weekly

Schedule these tasks to do every week in your restaurant kitchen:

• Clean your grease filters. If you don't clean out your grease filters at least once a week, your kitchen is in danger of fire. If you fry a lot of food in your restaurant, you may need to clean them more often. 
• Deep clean your ovens. Debris on the sides, racks, and bottom of your oven provides a risk of spreading allergens or merely old food particles — neither of which is likely something you want in your restaurant's delicious food.
• Thoroughly wash your sinks. If you try to clean your dishes in dirty sinks, nothing really will get clean. Scrub and sanitize to provide a pristine surface for washing everything else.
• Wipe out your coolers. At least weekly, clean and sanitize coolers to prevent mold and mildew buildup. If such buildup does occur, you'll need to call in a professional to perform more significant maintenance on your equipment.
• De-gunk your floor drains. Floor drains should have a healthy dose of drain cleaner at least once a week to keep them functional.

Monthly

Make sure to do these tasks monthly:

• De-lime your systems. Any of your equipment that uses water should receive frequent cleaning, but you'll need to take measures against limescale buildup with weekly and monthly cleanings.
• Deep clean your drain lines. A clogged drain line can cause a lot of damage, but the buildup is usually slow enough to not clean as often.
• Scrub off your burners. Debris on your burners will decrease the quality of cooking you want to provide.
• Wash out freezers and ice machines. The cold cuts down on germs, but they can still accumulate, so clean them out regularly.

Semiannually

Every six months in your restaurant kitchen, you should perform the following tasks:

• Schedule maintenance on your vent hood and ducts. If the food you cook produces grease and vapors, the oils will remain on your vent hood unless you attend to it. Your kitchen crew can wipe down the visible spots as part of their daily cleaning rituals, but you'll want to bring in a professional hood cleaning service to meet industry standards. 
• Service AES. If you have an automatic extinguishing system in your restaurant kitchen, you'll need to service it semiannually or annually. Every piece needs to be ready to function with little to no notice, so you'll need a qualified professional to inspect the components, replace any that have gone bad, and repair any damage.

Annually

Make time to do these tasks at least once a year in your restaurant kitchen:

• Check your fire extinguishers. Bring in an inspector to ensure your fire extinguishers are in working order.
• Clean pilot lights. If you use gas for cooking, the pilot lights can build up debris and gunk that could inhibit their ability to work. 
• Inspect your deep fat fryer. If you use a deep fat fryer in your restaurant, call in specialists to clean and inspect it to reduce the risk of fire.
• Prepare for Health Department inspections. All of your equipment will need to be clean and functioning well to pass their scrutiny. If you've kept up with everything throughout the year, you shouldn't have much to worry about. Inspect the kitchen beforehand to make sure.

Whether you need an entire service team or just a couple of parts, look to Hawkins Commercial Appliance Service Inc. for your restaurant kitchen's needs. Get in touch today to find out how Hawkins Commercial Appliance Service Inc. can serve you and your equipment to keep you in business.