Cleaning and maintaining a commercial kitchen is half the work in a restaurant. Keeping an immaculate kitchen is key to passing any restaurant inspection and ensuring your establishment continues to run in tip-top shape. This extra attention to cleanliness is extremely important because it prevents cross-contamination with food, fire hazards, and helps your equipment last longer.

To make cleaning your kitchen a little easier, create a list of cleaning tasks and keep it on hand during your cleaning process to make sure you don’t miss a spot. A list will help you remember how often you should clean restaurant supplies and commercial kitchen equipment while allowing you to easily distribute cleaning duties amongst your employees. Take a look at our restaurant cleaning checklist to see what areas, equipment, and tools in your kitchen need to be cleaned and how often you should be cleaning them.

Daily Cleaning Checklist

When it comes to daily cleaning, properly maintaining your most-used supplies and equipment speeds up your service and keeps areas sanitary to promote safe food handling practices. Follow our daily cleaning instructions to ensure each area and item is left looking like new.

Clean cooking equipment:

  • Fryers: Drain the grease from the fryer, scrub down the interior, remove any food residue from the drain line, and wipe down the exterior.
  • Griddles: Scrape off any remaining grease or food, follow the manufacturer’s cleaning instructions, and empty the waste drawer.
  • Flattops: Scrape the surface of food and grease buildup and follow the manufacturer’s cleaning instructions.
  • Ranges: Scrape off excess food and grease buildup with a degreaser, remove and wash components, allow to air dry, and reassemble.
  • Steam tables: Drain the well of water, scrub the entire table with a mild detergent, rinse, and allow to air dry.
  • Vent hoods: With a damp cloth, wipe away stains and grease buildup, polish if necessary.
  • Grease traps: Remove water and grease from the grease trap, scrape it clean, and wipe the grease trap with a dry cloth to soak up any remaining liquid.
  • Dishwasher hood filters: Remove the filter from the hood and soak in a mix of hot water and detergent, scrub the filter, and allow it to air dry.

Clean kitchen tools:

  • Utensils: Pre-soak if necessary, rinse, place inside the dishwasher, and spray off any residual soap.
  • Glassware: Pre-soak if necessary, rinse, place inside the dishwasher, and spray off any residual soap.
  • Flatware: Pre-soak if necessary, rinse, place inside the dishwasher, and spray off any residual soap.
  • Smallwares: Pre-soak if necessary, rinse, place inside the dishwasher, and spray off any residual soap.

Disinfect/sanitize all surfaces and areas:

  • Sinks: Clean the sink, spray it with sanitizing solution, and follow the instructions on the sanitizer label.
  • Drains: Clean the drain cover, use a drain brush to scrub the drain, rinse the drain with water.
  • Soda fountains: Wash, wipe, and sanitize the entire surface and components.
  • Dispenser heads: Wash the dispenser and remove, soak, and sanitize the nozzle.
  • Countertops/prep areas: Clean countertops and prep areas, spray surfaces with a food-safe sanitizing solution, and wipe with a dry towel.
  • Cutting boards: Choose a cleaning solution that won’t harm the material of your cutting board, follow the cleaning product’s instructions, and allow the cutting board to air dry.
  • Waste disposal areas: Regularly take out the trash every time waste bins are full and disinfect surfaces with a cleaning solution.

Wash:

  • Floor mats: Scrub both sides of the mat with water and soap, hose it down with water, and hang to dry.
  • Towels: Run towels through a normal washing and drying cycle.
  • Aprons: Run aprons through a normal washing and drying cycle.

Spot clean:

  • Walls: Wipe away any grease and food stains on walls with a cloth or sponge.
  • Ceilings: Wipe away any grease and food stains on the ceiling with a wet sweeper.

Sweep and mop:

  • Kitchen floors: Use a broom and dustpan to sweep floors, mop floors with a mix of water and degreaser, then mop floors again with a mix of water and bleach.
  • Underneath cooking equipment: If possible, unplug and move equipment in order to sweep and mop the area underneath.
  • Walk-in refrigerators: Remove any mats to properly sweep and mop walk-in refrigerators.
  • Storage areas: Remove any containers and bins on the floor and thoroughly sweep and mop the area.

Empty and clean:

  • Trash cans: Empty garbage bins, replace with a new bag, and wipe away any food stains from the garbage bins.
  • Recycling bins: Remove recyclable materials from recycling bins and wipe away any food stains from the bins.
  • Sanitizing buckets: Throw away any water and solution remaining in the bucket and scrub the bucket with soap and water.

Weekly Cleaning Checklist

Luckily, there are certain areas and equipment that require less maintenance because they are not soiled as often as other items. Learn which items only need weekly cleaning to help you organize your cleaning schedule.

Clean kitchen equipment:

  • Ovens: Follow your oven’s manual in order to conduct a proper cleaning.
  • Refrigerators and freezers: Empty out your refrigerator or freezer and wipe down the interior and exterior.
  • Coffee machines: Wipe down your coffee machine and follow the manufacturer’s cleaning instructions.
  • Deep fryers: After cleaning, boil water in the fryer to remove tough grease stains, drain the water, and rinse the fryer.
  • Drains: Wash the drain cover and scrub the drain with a drain brush, then pour a mixture of water and sanitizing solution into the drain, and rinse with water.

Degrease:

  • Walls: Scrub off grease build up using a cloth and a degreaser.
  • Doors: Scrub off grease build up using a cloth and a degreaser.

Delime:

  • Sinks and faucets: Create a mix of water and deliming solution and use it to scrub away hard water deposits.
  • Dishwasher: Pour a deliming solution into the dishwasher and turn it on, stop the dishwasher halfway through the cycle and let it sit for a few minutes. Turn the machine back on and wipe the inside after the cycle has finished.

Spot clean:

  • Gas pipes: Brush pipes to remove any buildup and wipe down with a damp cloth.
  • Water hoses: Wipe down with a damp cloth.


Monthly Cleaning Checklist

Areas and equipment that need monthly cleaning are usually hard to reach places or items that require deep cleaning. Monthly cleaning will take up more time than daily or weekly cleaning which is why planning ahead is essential. Take a look at our monthly cleaning list as a reminder to assign these tasks to employees.

Wash, sanitize, and empty:

  • Behind equipment: Wipe, sweep, dust, and mop behind equipment that is typically up against the wall.
  • Walls: Create a mix of water and cleaning solution and scrub walls, then dry walls with a cloth.
  • Grease buildup: Scrape away grease buildup, apply degreaser to the area, and rinse off with water.
  • Ceilings: Remove tiles from the ceiling and vacuum or dust the grid, wash the tiles with soap and water, and use a degreaser if necessary.
  • Refrigerators and freezers: Empty out your refrigerator or freezer and wipe down the interior and exterior, disinfect with a sanitizing solution, and vacuum coils and condenser.
  • Floors: After sweeping and mopping floors, polish with a commercial floor scrubber.
  • Ice machines: Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning and sanitizing, wipe the exterior, and clean the condenser and filter.
  • Pest or rodent droppings: Inspect the kitchen for droppings, if spotted, clean the area and contact a pest control service.