A recent survey by SCA hygiene products has revealed that 59% of respondents consider it ‘very important’ for the restaurant environment and table to be clean and tidy when eating out, and if the environment is not kept up to scratch then 64% of UK women polled said that they would advise friends or family members not to eat there.
All food operators know that the law requires minimum hygiene and food safety standards and most operators work very hard to achieve a good hygiene rating so that they can display their food safety certificates and reassure customers. What some establishments aren’t focussing on is the front of house impression that customers see, messy floors and dusty ceilings also give a clear message about how loved the business is and if the staff value the establishment.
One of the most off putting things for customers to see is unclean toilets, when surveyed 78% of people polled said that unclean toilets would put them off returning to an establishment and make them question the general cleanliness of out of sight areas. Check rotas should be in place to make sure that the cleanliness of toilets are checked every hour by a staff member and that all other cleaning tasks are on a daily, weekly or monthly rota.
