Deep cleaning a commercial kitchen

Whether at home or in a commercial setting, kitchen hygiene and cleanliness is always important. In particular, adherence to food hygiene standards is of the utmost importance to commercial catering providers. It is recognized good practice to implement a disciplined daily cleaning regimen, for example, at the end of a shift. This approach certainly goes a long way towards maintaining hygiene standards.

However, contaminants such as dirt, grease and bacteria will inevitably accumulate over time in hard-to-reach places, such as behind or between work units, or on walls and ceilings. The best way to address this unavoidable build-up is to schedule regular deep cleanings by professionals who have the knowledge, experience, and tools to efficiently clean those parts that cannot be easily cleaned on a day-to-day basis.

A professional deep kitchen cleaning contractor will perform the cleaning process in a logical and systematic manner. As an example, the contractor could follow a process along the following lines;

First of all, it is necessary to disassemble the various kitchen appliances to be able to assemble their components for immersion in a “diptank”. A dip tank is a large container that is filled with a warm or hot degreasing solution. Components that can be removed for immersion include; grease filters, oven trays, cooktops and rings, pans, grill trays, removed fans, and other heavily soiled items. The removable components are soaked in the diptank, for a time according to the manufacturers guidelines.

Next, to prepare for cleaning the walls and surroundings where the kitchen will be exposed to water, all electrical items must be insulated and all exposed switches must be covered with waterproof polyethylene tape.

To reduce the mess and disruption that results from cleaning grease from appliances with a pressure steam cleaner, some kitchen items are often cleaned outdoors. If so, these are assembled and removed from the kitchen. Whenever possible, the equipment is removed from the nearest wall to ensure that a thorough cleaning can be achieved both underneath and behind the equipment.

Internal areas to be cleaned are now scraped of all excess grease with wire brushes or scrapers, before applying a suitable cleaning solution to the surfaces. Once cleaned, all excess dirt and cleaning chemicals are removed from all surfaces. Walls and ceilings are normally thoroughly steam cleaned with a steam vacuum. Once this is complete, then the equipment can be moved back into position.

The cooking and preparation areas are sanitized. A steam cleaner and wet vacuum equipment are generally used to clean floor areas.

Finally, the facilities are tidied up, all debris and trash are removed, and outdoor areas are cleaned. At the end of the cleaning job, the client will have the opportunity to verify the work and once they are satisfied, they will be able to sign a client acceptance form. Deep cleaning is often done overnight to avoid scheduled kitchen operations. If so, then cleaners may be responsible for locking. In this case, they will ensure that the site is secure and that the keys are returned to the designated location.

Professional kitchen deep cleaning companies can generally be flexible in scheduling a deep cleaning session, which can take a few hours to complete, so they will be quite ready to work at a time that avoids interrupting normal kitchen working hours. .