Cleaning and infection control has never been as high on the agenda for the Hospitality and Catering Industry. What was previously seen as back-of-house and something for the chef to deal with is now venturing into front-of-house. Back of house is still equally important and needs more emphasis than it ever has done before. 2 stage cleaning is the recommendation for back-of-house, a first stage clean to remove debris using a degreaser and a second stage clean using a sanitising product.
One common mistake people make is using a detergent for the stage 1 clean. Detergent can neutralise the effects of the sanitiser once applied for the stage 2 clean so make sure you stay away from products such as washing up liquid. Another common myth is leaving a stage 2 sanitiser clean on for 30 seconds will be fine. Sanitisers only start killing bacteria at 30 seconds, more robust bacteria and viruses such as E Coli need a much longer contact time up to 2 minutes (irrespective of what sanitiser you use).
The majority of Coronavirus approved products require a 5 minute contact time to kill with a specialised sanitiser, although alcohol-based products are 30secs but aren’t formulated to clean just kill. At Harvest we recommend our 69915 Antiviral Sanitiser which is food safe and proven to kill Covid-19 to the new EN14476.
Historically front of house has been all about creating theatre for your customers. Whether that’s barista coffee, artistic design or the eating sensations Hospitality have been playing with consumer senses to give them the wow experience for years. As we move into the brave new world the theatre of cleaning and social distancing is going to become equally important. Businesses who do not show they are putting the effort to risk having their reputation damaged on social media and possible action from the authorities. Ensure your hygiene and distancing signage is prominent and visible and your sanitising products are easily accessible for customers and well-stocked. A good idea would be to allocate a member of the team to regularly check the levels in dispensers and ensure they are replenished, pay extra attention to cleaning tables and frequent touchpoints in front of the customer and remove the build-up of sticky deposits on tables.
Use products that are packaged in a way that gives customers confidence when they see the bottle we would again recommend our Antiviral Sanitiser 69915 which is food safe and proven to kill Covid-19. We used to hide the chemicals away from front of house but now is the time to show them off! Make a point of letting customers see the front of house team sanitising handles, tables and other frequently touched surfaces and have hand sanitiser prominent around the restaurant. Harvest also have freestanding automatic or manual alcogel dispensers for you restaurant entrance or wall-mounted dispensers for corridors and doorways, there’s good reason to believe front of house hand sanitising is here to stay. Have you thought about putting sanitising wipes on the tables so customers can sanitise where they are sitting if they wish giving them extra reassurance and confidence in the safety of their surroundings?
If you would like to talk to Dan our BICS (British Institute Of Cleaning Science) qualified non-food specialist please speak with our team in the office on 01202 470444 who can set up a meeting for you to discuss your cleaning requirements.