Students don't expect to feel sticky carpets underfoot these days. University catering outlets must be spotless front and back of house; their reputation depends on it.

It might not seem like it, but the cleanliness of front of house areas can play a role in how profitable the outlet is. Recent research by Checkit shows that 40% of people would not return to a restaurant if the premises were unclean and 75% would never visit a food outlet implicated in a food safety incident.

As for back of house, operators need to ensure their equipment is regularly cleaned as well as all surfaces. The cleanliness of warewashers is particularly important because it's one area where dirties come in and clean crockery, cutlery and glasses come out, so they can be a hive of bacteria.

Bob Wood, director of DC Warewashing & Icemaking Systems, lists some of the routine cleaning that staff should carry out with warewashing equipment. It includes: cleaning filters daily; daily inspection and cleaning as required of wash arms and rinse arms; running the regeneration programme which removes limescale and other minerals in hard water areas; checking levels of chemicals and salt regularly and replenishing as required; and ensuring adequate stocks and supplies of chemicals, detergents and salt.

Many heavy duty machines like warewashers and combi ovens have self-cleaning functions and while these are helpful, staff must be aware that they still have to carry out some elbow grease on them.

Wood, meanwhile, recommends choosing a warewasher with an integral water softening system. "Water softeners will remove scale from the water before it enters the machine and protect the machine's heating elements as well as allow detergent to work more effectively in producing hygienic cleaning," he says.

Read full article in TUCO August 2017 issue ...