A dirty restaurant is not only an appetite killer but a business dying on the vine. The danger is that it’s not only an unappealing establishment but a sanitary and health concern for its customers, clients, and the community it’s part of. It will seem like you can pull it off initially, but you’ll never be able to cultivate a happy and satisfied customer base. It pays to invest in cleanliness if you’re serving food, and here’s why.
Cleanliness Represents Safety
When people come to visit your restaurant, they not only dine for the experience, but they dine for health and nutrition. Unfortunately, poor sanitation is terrible because it facilitates bacteria, viruses, fungi, mold, and parasites. These can affect your customers in various ways. Some have something as simple as an upset stomach or as wrong as a trip to the emergency room.
Let’s look at prevalent bacteria and viruses found in restaurants, starting with the infamous Escherichia coli. E. coli is a terrible bug that can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps, and vomiting. And sometimes, these symptoms reach extreme levels for some people that lead to hospitalization.
Today, the main threat that plagues the minds of every person working and visiting the restaurant is Covid-19. And the danger lurks in the fact that the virus can contaminate surfaces in addition to being airborne and transferred from one person to the next. The state of the world underscores the impact of good sanitation and hygiene.
In worst scenarios, restaurant owners and companies can face legal action for poor sanitation leading to food poisoning. They can be charged negligence and lose not only money for damages but their whole reputation. They can also be held responsible for liability about their products’ quality and even breach of warranty. All of these things are death knells for the business as a whole.
Cleanliness Augments Customer Service
One of a restaurant’s missions is to ensure that every client and customer who walks through their door walk out with a full belly and a smile on their face. Customer satisfaction is a primary goal because this boosts sales, revenue and makes your business profitable.
Not only will you be able to earn more, but you will also be cultivating solid and meaningful relationships with every customer whose heart you’ve touched with excellent cooking and a welcoming place to dine. You can only make sure that their experience is perfect if you make great food and serve it on a clean and attractive site. It’s simply one of the ways you can create a loyal customer.
Free Marketers
Loyal customers are important because they make sure that you have a never-ending business flow into your restaurant. Besides driving sales, they become a free part of your marketing strategy, especially today. People rely heavily on the number of stars people leave as reviews for every restaurant they visit. They can augment your marketing costs with their feedback, testimonials, and referrals.
The best part about loyal customers is that they’re the backbone of your reputation. They help create a brand image and spread awareness. And that’s why making sure that your restaurant is clean should one of your priorities.
Immediate Observations and Prime Concerns
You might want to hide the nasty parts of your restaurants, but your customers will make some observations that immediately raise a concern. Let’s look at the signs. They know they’re in the wrong place.
The Smell
Your clients and customers don’t even need eyes to know the place is dirty because the moment they walk in, they take a whiff of some strange or ungodly smell, and already, they know what they’re getting themselves into. This is alarming because a place can look clean and tidy, but the scent will always betray the appearance. And the thing is, where there is smell, there are bacteria, viruses, fungi, mold, and parasites.
The first thing you need to do is identify the odor and figure out where it’s coming from. Clean the floors, windows, and even upholstery. One of the reasons the stink isn’t coming off might also be that your cleaning materials are ineffective, so invest in reliable antibacterial cleaning tools and facilities.
Stained Walls and Floors
Nothing paints disdain on a customer’s face than stained walls and floors. A dirty restaurant can quickly kill the appetite of a voracious eater just by the ghastly sight of it.
Make it a priority to clean your walls and floors because these are the first things guests notice. They’re not going to walk in and sit down immediately; their eyes are going to wander from one corner to another to take in the ambiance. And you don’t want them noticing how filthy your place is, so don’t even try to hide it because they can see clearly.
The danger is that these are cesspools of nasties like bacteria and viruses, especially on your floors. Aside from cleaning them, you might want to consider investing in floor coatings for food processing. This makes your bed easier to clean because they resist moisture, and with less water, there is more difficult for bacteria to grow.
Terrible State of the Bathroom
If you want to know how clean and hygienic the kitchen is, check the bathroom. This is typical advice for restaurant-goers everywhere. Nowhere in any other part of a restaurant can you see a place with a more significant impact than the bathroom. It directly affects customer satisfaction as much as it can quell a hungry stomach.
That’s why you need to make sure that the bathrooms are regularly cleaned. Prioritize how it looks and how it smells because the sight of a ghastly bathroom is enough for anyone to forego the main course.
Restaurants are great places to explore, spend time with family and friends or take yourself out on a date. People visit because they want to dine with a great experience, which means it’s not just about the food; it’s about the ambiance, too. A dirty restaurant kills a good mood and good appetite and leaves unsatisfied customers out the door real quick. Ensure that your customers and clients always want to go back to you by making your restaurant a haven for hygiene and sanitation.
