Restaurant Cleaning Checklists & Templates

Template Library > Food & Hospitality Checklists > Restaurant Cleaning Checklist

Maintain a spotless and sanitary environment with restaurant & kitchen cleaning checklists. Covering everything from daily, weekly, monthly tasks, from the kitchen to the dining area, our templates help meet hygiene standards and provide a welcoming atmosphere. Free download in PDF or in-app.

Restaurant cleaning checklists are a great tool to systematically maintain a spotless and hygienic environment in your establishment. Ensure that every area is cleaned thoroughly and consistently, reduce the risk of contamination and enhance the dining experience. Streamline cleaning tasks, ensure compliance with health standards, and boost staff accountability.

Key components of effective restaurant cleaning checklists include:

Focus on high-touch areas like menus, door handles, and condiment stations.
Ensure countertops, tables, and kitchen surfaces are disinfected after each use.
Regular sweeping and mopping to prevent spills and debris accumulation.
Daily inspection and cleaning of kitchen appliances to ensure they operate efficiently.
Proper disposal of garbage and regular emptying of trash bins to avoid odors and pests

With the GoAudits Restaurant Inspection App, you can:

General Tidying

Entrance Area

Reception/Host Station

Dining Area

Restrooms

Windows And Glass

Common Touchpoints

General Tidying

Floors

Air Vents And Lighting

Entrance Area

Reception/Host Station

Dining Area

Restrooms

Windows And Glass

General Tidying

Floors

Furniture And Fixtures

Entrance Area

Reception/Host Station

Dining Area

Restrooms

Windows And Glass

Common Touchpoints

General Tidying

Entrance Area

Reception/Host Station

Dining Area

Restrooms

Windows And Glass

Common Touchpoints

General Tidying

Floors

Air Vents And Lighting

Entrance Area

Reception/Host Station

Dining Area

Restrooms

Windows And Glass

General Tidying

Floors

Furniture And Fixtures

Entrance Area

Reception/Host Station

Dining Area

Restrooms

Windows And Glass

Common Touchpoints

Save Time with Digital Inspections

What is a Restaurant Cleaning Checklist?

With so many tasks to manage in a restaurant—like meal preparation, serving customers, and ensuring excellent customer service—cleaning activities can sometimes be overlooked.

Restaurant cleaning checklists are comprehensive documents designed to help staff systematically maintain cleanliness and hygiene across all areas of a restaurant. They outline a range of tasks from daily surface wipes to weekly deep cleans and monthly maintenance checks, covering kitchens, dining areas, restrooms, and storage rooms. These checklists specify cleaning tasks, their frequency, responsible staff members, and required supplies, ensuring that no area is overlooked.

By detailing these processes, they help prevent cross-contamination and health hazards, ensure compliance with regulations, and establish standardized cleaning protocols across all locations and shifts.

Who needs Restaurant Cleaning Checklists?

Restaurant cleaning checklists are helpful tools for many different teams:

Restaurant Owners and Managers: Restaurant cleaning checklists provide a structured approach to maintaining cleanliness, ensuring compliance with health regulations, and reducing the risk of fines or closures. They also assist in managing staff duties and tracking cleaning activities to uphold high standards.
Kitchen Staff: Restaurant kitchen cleaning checklists help kitchen staff comply with critical daily cleaning tasks, such as sanitizing surfaces and equipment, which is crucial for preventing cross-contamination and maintaining food safety.
Front-of-House Staff: For servers and hosts, a restaurant cleaning checklist guides the upkeep of dining areas and restrooms, enhancing the dining experience and supporting positive customer reviews.
Cleaning Staff: When a restaurant relies on a dedicated cleaning team, whether in-house or external, a cleaning checklist is essential. It ensures that the cleaning staff is fully aware of all required protocols and follows them consistently.
Health Inspectors: Health inspectors often use these restaurant cleaning checklists as a benchmark during inspections.

How to make it easier for my team to maintain compliance with cleaning tasks?

In a busy restaurant, it’s challenging for staff to keep the kitchen and guest areas consistently clean while remembering every detail. That’s why finding an efficient way to assist your team without adding to their workload is crucial.

A practical approach is to organize cleaning tasks by frequency, location and/or cleaning type. Below are some examples:

Daily, Weekly, Monthly Restaurant Cleaning Checklists

Ensuring the highest standards of cleanliness in your restaurant is vital for both hygiene and customer satisfaction. A daily deep cleaning inspection involves meticulous tasks like sanitizing processing surfaces, cleaning hard-to-reach floor areas, and disinfecting high-touch points such as door handles and taps. Attention to detail extends to walls, ceilings, and light fixtures, ensuring no area is overlooked. Get started with one of these templates:

Restaurant Kitchen Cleaning Checklists

A comprehensive kitchen cleaning checklist covers tasks like cleaning and sanitizing food processing surfaces, shelves, and equipment after each use, scrubbing floors, walls, and ceilings, and maintaining the cleanliness of extractor hoods, grease traps, and basins. Regular checks of dishwashers, manual wash areas, and cold storage units ensure all equipment is kept in optimal condition. Get started with one of these templates:

Commercial Kitchen Cleaning Checklist

A commercial kitchen cleaning checklist can be used to ensure all cleaning and sanitation requirements are followed in commercial kitchens. It includes a comprehensive list of daily cleaning tasks, such as properly storing dishes and utensils, checking and completing HACCP files and food temperatures, sanitizing sinks and work counters, cleaning the can opener and steam table, and ensuring proper waste disposal. It also covers aspects like wearing hair restraints and clean clothing and keeping hands clean and free from infections.

Bar Cleaning Checklists

A bar cleaning checklist covers tasks such as wiping down counters, cleaning and sanitizing glassware, disinfecting high-touch surfaces, emptying trash bins, cleaning beer taps, and ensuring that all equipment is properly maintained. This checklist helps staff stay organized and ensures that every aspect of the bar meets health and safety standards.

Other Restaurant Operation & Hygiene Checklists

You can also incorporate cleaning tasks into broader operational and food safety checklists, covering areas like receiving, storage, food preparation, waste disposal or opening/closing. This approach ensures that cleanliness is maintained alongside other critical procedures.

👉 Use the GoAudits app to create and manage your own digital checklists

GoAudits makes it easy to improve your operational standards with customized checklists:

Create an account for free, choose from 100s of customisable hospitality templates. Alternatively, build your own from scratch with a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. Or send us your checklist and we will digitize it for you!
Conduct inspections up to 5X faster on any device, even when offline
Generate professional, ready-to-be-shared reports instantly after each inspection
Assign corrective actions and view task completion status in a centralized dashboard
Get a complete overview of your audit scores across multiple locations, teams, or topics

Benefits of using Digital Restaurant Cleaning Checklists?

Let’s look at the key benefits of using digital restaurant cleaning checklists.

Improved Accountability & Compliance

Digital checklists standardize cleaning tasks and allow to track who completed which tasks and when. This ensures every corner of the restaurant is consistently maintained to high standards, enhancing hygiene and food safety compliance.

Full Visibility

With digital reports and smart dashboards, managers can monitor cleaning activities in real-time, along with all other operational tasks and checks. This helps restaurant managers in their supervision tasks, and to spot & correct any issues as they occur.

Enhanced Efficiency

Automated reminders and streamlined processes save time, allowing staff to focus on providing excellent service without compromising cleanliness.

Easy Updates and Customization

Digital restaurant cleaning checklists can be quickly updated to reflect new regulations or restaurant-specific requirements.

Environmentally Friendly

Switching to digital checklists reduces paper waste, supporting sustainability efforts and lowering operational costs.

Comprehensive Documentation and Reporting

Digital restaurant cleaning checklists provide detailed records of cleaning activities, useful for audits and inspections.

Increased Employee Engagement

Step-by-step instructions and user-friendly digital checklists can improve staff engagement and adherence to cleaning protocols.

👉 Learn more about the GoAudits app for restaurant operations, quality & compliance

Other Popular Restaurant Checklists:

Restaurant Operations Checklist App

Easily perform audits anywhere in the facility using a mobile device.
Capture and attach photos, e-signatures & more
Assign tasks, set deadlines, and track progress, all within a single app
Analyze data from audits to identify trends, pinpoint recurring issues, and assess compliance levels.

Restaurant Cleaning Checklists & Templates

1. Is any clutter or misplaced items removed?

2. Are trash bins emptied and cleaned?

3. Are decorations and signage clean and in place?

1. Are entrance mats or rugs deep-cleaned?

2. Are entrance doors and frames washed and sanitized?

3. Are exterior signage and fixtures cleaned?

1. Is the host stand cleaned, including drawers and shelves?

2. Are menus, seating charts, and reservation books sanitized and organized?

3. Is the telephone and other electronic devices wiped down and sanitized?

4. Are decorative items or plants dusted and cleaned?

1. Are tables and chairs, including legs, deep cleaned and sanitized?

2. Are carpets or rugs vacuumed?

3. Are condiment holders and dispensers cleaned and sanitized?

4. Is the upholstery on seating checked and cleaned?

1. Are all restroom surfaces, including walls and partitions, deep cleaned and disinfected?

2. Are restroom fixtures such as soap dispensers, hand dryers, and light fixtures cleaned and sanitized?

3. Are restroom trash bins washed and sanitized?

1. Are all windows and glass doors cleaned inside and out?

2. Are window sills and frames wiped down and sanitized?

1. Are all high-touch surfaces such as door handles, railings, and light switches disinfected?

2. Are POS systems and tablets cleaned and sanitized?

1. Are storage areas or closets organized and cleaned?

2. Are any minor damages, such as loose screws or wobbly tables, checked and repaired?

3. Are all decor items clean and in good condition?

1. Are all floors, including corners and edges, deep cleaned and sanitized?

2. Is floor polish or wax applied as needed to maintain shine and durability?

1. Are air vents cleaned and dusted, and are filters replaced if necessary?

2. Are all light fixtures, including chandeliers and lamps, cleaned and dusted?

1. Are exterior hardware, such as door handles and handrails, polished?

2. Are the exterior of windows and doors checked and cleaned for any buildup of dirt or grime?

1. Is the entire host stand, including underneath and behind, deep cleaned and sanitized?

2. Is behind and underneath any furniture or fixtures checked and cleaned?

1. Are all seating upholstery, including cushions and backs, deep cleaned?

2. Is wooden furniture polished to maintain its appearance?

3. Are light fixtures inspected and cleaned, including replacing any burnt-out bulbs?

4. Are walls and baseboards cleaned to remove scuff marks or stains?

5. Are storage areas for tableware and linens reorganized and deep cleaned?

1. Are tiles and grout cleaned?

2. Are plumbing fixtures inspected for leaks or issues and cleaned thoroughly?

3. Are trash bins, including lids and handles, deep cleaned and sanitized?

4. Are ventilation fans or systems checked and cleaned?

1. Are window frames and sills inspected for signs of wear or damage and cleaned accordingly?

1. Is a detailed inspection of all areas performed for any maintenance issues, such as chipped paint or loose fixtures?

2. Are cleaning supplies reviewed and restocked as needed?

1. Are floor mats or rugs inspected and cleaned, and replaced if necessary?

1. Are any damaged or worn furniture or fixtures inspected and repaired?

2. Are all metal fixtures cleaned and polished to maintain their appearance?

3. Is leather furniture deep-cleaned and conditioned?

1. Is the entrance floor swept and mopped?

2. Are the door handles cleaned and polished?

3. Are the entrance door and windows wiped down?

4. Are trash receptacles emptied and cleaned?

1. Is the host stand and telephone wiped down?

2. Are the menus or seating charts cleaned?

3. Are the card machines and pens disinfected?

4. Is the waiting area organized and sanitized?

1. Are tables and chairs wiped down after each use?

2. Are the table condiments and holders sanitized?

3. Is the floor swept and mopped?

4. Are carpets or rugs vacuumed?

5. Are napkins, straws, and condiments checked and refilled?

1. Are toilets and urinals cleaned and disinfected?

2. Are sinks and countertops wiped down?

3. Are soap dispensers, toilet paper, and paper towels refilled?

4. Are trash cans emptied and liners replaced?

5. Is the floor swept and mopped?

6. Are hygiene products checked and restocked?

1. Are all windows and glass doors cleaned?

2. Are glass display cases or mirrors polished?

1. Are high-touch areas such as door handles, light switches, and railings disinfected?

2. Are POS systems and tablets cleaned and sanitized?

1. Is any clutter or misplaced items removed?

2. Are trash bins emptied and cleaned?

3. Are decorations and signage clean and in place?

1. Are entrance mats or rugs deep-cleaned?

2. Are entrance doors and frames washed and sanitized?

3. Are exterior signage and fixtures cleaned?

1. Is the host stand cleaned, including drawers and shelves?

2. Are menus, seating charts, and reservation books sanitized and organized?