As the world continues to re-emerge from COVID-19 restrictions, restaurants must prepare for the increase in foot traffic and cleanliness expectations while also addressing hiring challenges. To help restaurants prepare for lifted restrictions and labor shortages, Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS) offers five essential tips.

“From closures to limited capacity to other restrictions, the restaurant industry remarkably adapted to keep their businesses running during the pandemic,” said John Engel, Director of Marketing, Cintas. “As restaurants prepare for a return to ‘normal’ this summer, they are faced with new challenges, such as labor shortages, increased demand and maintaining higher levels of cleanliness.”

Top tips to prepare for an increase in patrons this summer include:

• Laundering items and cleaning tools: Laundering items such as microfiber towels, bar towels, mop heads and uniforms is often a time-consuming process taken on by restaurant owners or managers. Save time and yield better results by outsourcing garments and bulk items that are cleaned through a professional and industrial laundry process.
• Stocking properly: Restaurant employees need access to cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE). Consider installing chemical dispensers that connect directly to the water line and dispense properly diluted chemicals at the touch of a button. Similarly, restaurant managers and owners may wish to consider investing in disposable sanitizing and disinfecting wipes to help maintain their stock of quick and readily available hand hygiene and hard surface solutions. Having PPE like disposable gloves onsite is also critical for foodservice workers that interact with food and many people each day.
• Deep cleaning restrooms: Negative online reviews about restrooms would deter 89% of Americans from a restaurant.¹ It’s important that restaurants perform regularly scheduled deep cleaning that includes sanitizing surfaces and removing build-up, soil and bacteria. For example, high-pressure cleaning extracts soil and dirty water to prevent cross-contamination and odor-causing bacteria.
• Protecting Floors: Many restaurants removed mats and replaced them with floor stickers to serve as reminders for social distancing. As restaurants return to full capacity, they will experience pre-pandemic levels of foot traffic and wear and tear on floors. Mats can help extend the life of floors by keeping dirt and debris from having an abrasive effect. Consider an outsourced mat services provider to remove and replace dirty mats with freshly laundered mats. Laundering your own mats is time consuming and places a strain on your equipment.
• Maintaining kitchen drain lines: Fats, oils, grease and other kitchen food waste accumulate in drain lines over time. This can cause foul odors and clogs that require time-consuming pump-outs. Maintaining kitchen drain lines can help keep liquids flowing freely.
• Installing touchless soap, sanitizer and paper towel dispensers: Consider installing touchless dispensers to help avoid spreading germs on high-touch surfaces throughout restaurants. Dispensers without touchless features may harbor more bacteria and viruses. Installing paper towel dispensers to replace air dryers can help avoid spreading germs throughout restrooms.²

Engel added: “Restaurants may wish to uphold their pandemic cleaning protocols to meet increased cleanliness expectations. Exploring an outsourced model can help restaurant owners save time and allow them to focus on high-priority needs while promoting a positive image.”

To alleviate reopening stress, Cintas Corporation offers a variety of facility services to address cleaning and hygiene for both the front- and back-of-house. From hygienically cleaned laundering, restroom deep cleaning and chemical services to restroom and uniform maintenance services, Cintas can help restaurants ramp up their cleaning needs as restrictions dissipate.

For more information, visit cintas.com/facilityservices.

¹ 2018 Harris Poll Survey, June 14-18, 2018 among 2,024 U.S. adults age 18 and over. “Survey: Restroom Reviews Impact Restaurant Visits.” FSR Magazine. Food News Media. July 12, 2018

² https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/04/12/hand-dryers-suck-bathroom-bacteria-and-blow-them-all-over-your-hands-study-finds/511723002/

About Cintas Corporation

Cintas Corporation helps more than one million businesses of all types and sizes get Ready^™ to open their doors with confidence every day by providing products and services that help keep their customers’ facilities and employees clean, safe and looking their best. With offerings including uniforms, mats, mops, restroom supplies, first aid and safety products, fire extinguishers and testing, and safety training, Cintas helps customers get Ready for the Workday^®. The company is also the creator of the Total Clean Program^TM — a first-of-its-kind service that includes scheduled delivery of essential cleaning supplies, hygienically clean laundering, and sanitizing and disinfecting products and services. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas is a publicly held Fortune 500 company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS and is a component of both the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and Nasdaq-100 Index.

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