Grocery Store Cleaning & Preventative Maintenance Checklist

Grocery stores require a good amount of cleaning an upkeep. From sweeping floors to wiping down equipment and keeping shelves stocked, there are a great many tasks that need to be done throughout the business day and week. Just like convenience stores, grocery stores cater to a lot of customers, meaning cleanliness and maintenance are a must. If you need to come up with a routine schedule, take a look at our suggested cleaning and preventative maintenance tasks for your grocery store and commercial equipment.

Hourly Cleaning Tasks

There are a number of tasks that should be done to keep your grocery store presentable and free from any small hazards. These cleaning tasks can be done hourly or on an as-needed basis. These cleaning tasks include:

• Wipe down surfaces—Keep things sanitary by wiping down frequently-used surfaces. Registers and conveyor belts, self-checkout kiosks, merchandisers and display cases, door handles and more should be quickly sanitized and wiped.


• Maintain the restrooms—Have staff check restrooms on an hourly basis to make sure they’re fully stocked on supplies and kept clean and tidy. These hourly checks are more so to maintain cleanliness, with a more thorough scrub down being performed at closing. During these hourly checks, employees should wipe down countertops and sinks, empty trash cans, restock supplies like toilet paper and paper towels, and sweep floors.


• Reorganize and restock shelves—One of the most important cleaning tasks for your grocery store is reorganizing products on shelves, restocking and taking care of put-back items. This keeps your shelves looking presentable and fully-stocked while ensuring that any unwanted items aren’t cluttering up the registers. This also helps you, well, keep stock of your stock so you know what should be replenished.


• Clean the floors—Whether it’s a periodic sweep or mopping up a spill, cleaning the floors of your grocery store is important for customer and staff safety. Be sure to focus on the front by the registers, around produce and throughout the aisles. Have floor cleaning items like push brooms, mops and mop buckets handy around the store and especially by the registers.

Daily Cleaning Tasks

• Clean glass doors and windows—Remove any and all handprints, fingerprints and smudges from glass surfaces like doors, windows and display cases.


• Deep clean restrooms—At the end of each night, have the restrooms fully cleaned. Make sure staff wipe down mirrors, replenish paper products and soap, clean toilets and sinks, and empty trash cans. This will make for easy hourly maintenance throughout the day.


• Take out all the trash—Grab any and all trash bags from registers, around the store, in the back and in restrooms to be taken out at the end of the night. Place new liners in each trashcan when done.

Foodservice Equipment Cleaning and Maintenance Checklist

One of the most vital cleaning and PM tasks that needs to be completed in your grocery store is maintaining your commercial equipment. If your equipment isn’t regularly maintained, you run the risk of losing, ruining or contaminating your food stock. Keeping your commercial equipment cleaned and maintained not only ensures that each unit operates as it should, but safely as well. These tasks also prevent small issues from becoming larger, costly problems later on down the road.

Take a look at some of the basic equipment cleaning and maintenance tasks for these common grocery store equipment units. And be sure to check your manufacturer’s recommendations and specific instructions in your operations manual

Meat Slicers

Food prep equipment like meat slicers should be cleaned regularly and on a daily basis. While each manufacturer will have their own specific cleaning instructions, here are some general daily cleaning tasks to do on your commercial slicer.

• Wash all containers, bowls and attachments with warm water and a mild detergent after use.


• Clean and sanitize the slicer blade.


• Wipe down the unit and its base with a soft cloth, warm water and a mild detergent. Use a small cleaning brush when necessary.


• Sanitize and dry the unit once done.


• Lubricate the slicer per your operators manual’s instructions.

Also make sure you check your slicer blade and when it should be replaced. Using a nice, sharp blade ensures a clean cut every time.

Juicers

Depending on your OEM’s recommendations and local health codes, commercial juicers should be cleaned daily at the very least. In certain areas, you may be required to clean your juicer every 4 hours. These regular cleanings make sure that the unit stays sanitary and free from the pulpy buildup that comes from squeezing and processing oranges. Here’s how to clean a commercial juicer.

• Disassemble necessary components (feeder basket, taps, covers, blades, etc.) per your manufacturer’s instructions.

• Place dishwasher-safe components in the dishwasher to be cleaned. Soak any components that have significantly tough buildup.


• Soak and thoroughly clean any and all filters in water and a mild detergent overnight. Then, with a small bristle cleaning brush, scrub away any residue. Dry the filter(s) and replace back into the unit.


• Once all components are washed and dried, reassemble the unit.

Refrigeration

From merchandisers to freezers and display cases, refrigerated equipment is more than likely the most prevalent type of unit in your grocery store. There are a number of daily, weekly and monthly cleaning and PM tasks that will need to be done to make sure your refrigerated cases and cold storage are in tip-top order.

• Daily Tasks


• Wipe down the outer surface.


• Wipe down shelves of debris, spills or excess moisture.


• Keep a record of internal temperature.

• Weekly Tasks
  
  
  
  • Check door gaskets for wear and tear, and wipe down to ensure proper seal.
  
  
  • Clean stainless steel exterior.
  
  
  • Remove shelving for full cleaning.
  
  
  • Empty and clean overflow trays.
  
  
  
  

• Monthly Tasks
  
  
  
  • Clean and/or change air filters.
  
  
  • Clean condenser coil as-needed, or at least every three months.
  
  
  
  

Ovens

Whether you have a deck oven, convection oven or a combi oven, maintaining these pieces of equipment will keep your food products tasting fresh and delicious. Since ovens tend to see a lot of use throughout the day, it’s especially important to keep up with cleaning and preventative maintenance tasks.

• Daily Tasks
  
  
  
  • Clean racks and soak rhythm in warm, soapy water.
  
  
  • Remove crumbs and other debris from the inside of the oven.
  
  
  • Wipe down the outside of the unit with water and a mild detergent.
  
  
  • Empty and clean drip trays.
  
  
  • For combi ovens, if applicable—Start a cleaning cycle and prop open the door overnight.
  
  
  
  

• Weekly Tasks
  
  
  
  • Clean, soak and scrub burners and knobs in a solution of warm water and a mild detergent.
  
  
  • Check door gaskets for wear and tear, and wipe down to ensure proper seal.
  
  
  • Clean stainless steel exterior.
  
  
  • Clean the interior of the oven per manufacturer instructions and recommendations.
  
  
  • For combi ovens—Delime the unit per manufacturer instructions and clean intake fan.
  
  
  
  

• Monthly Tasks
  
  
  
  • Check exhaust fans and blower motor fans for dust, debris and grease buildup. Clean with a stiff-bristle brush.
  
  
  • Change air and water filters (combi ovens).
  
  
  • Check drain lines (combi ovens).
  
  
  • For combi ovens—Delime the unit per manufacturer instructions and clean intake fan.
  
  
  
  

Please contact a local authorized service agent who can help with this specific unit and all your commercial kitchen equipment needs.