Q: What are the unique challenges of restaurant cleaning?
A: I hear many national brands wrestle with the decision to do cleaning in house or to outsource it to a professional cleaning crew. While they may believe it’s cheaper to do it themselves, they’re not sure whether their people could keep up on such an important but never-ending task. Three of the top national chains in the country recently informed me that cleaning is a key strategic initiative for 2011 and 2012. Normally people clean only the front half of the restaurant. With proper tools, these restaurants can take on the back of the house too, in a way that saves money and makes sense, even when performed by existing staff.
Q: How important is cleaning in foodservice?
A: Critical. It’s one of those do or die things. No matter how good the food might be, if a restaurant is dirty, people walk in and think, “If it’s bad out here, I wonder what’s going on back there.” True cleaning should also take care of airborne particulates and health concerns.
Q: What cleaning equipment works best in restaurants, and why?
A: We’ve been working with national chains on studies about this. In the past, the status quo was to get disposable vacuums that would need to be replaced two to three times a year. They get gummed up, and no wonder. They’re picking up things an upright just isn’t meant to. A backpack vacuum is one of the number one tools a restaurant can use. It’s more efficient, more productive. It cuts costs and cleaning times. We believe that a backpack or pure suction driven canister without a beater brush will enhance cleaning for health, appearance and the bottom line.
Q: What about return on investment?
A: Restaurants always struggle with where to cut costs. You can only save so much on food. A national chain just did a study that found by using a ProTeam backpack, they saved 15 to 30 minutes on cleaning every night. On it’s own, no big deal, right? But if you take that math times an $11 per hour labor rate, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, multiplied by the number of restaurants in the chain. Well for this chain, the final number was a six digit savings every year. You can deliver true savings through efficiency and productivity. It’s free money. Then, compare the cost difference of buying 3 retail vacuum cleaners a year, to getting a piece of equipment that offers 5 to 6 years of reliable service. It’s pure ROI. Especially for chains and franchisees looking to control costs and improve efficiencies.
Q: What about training on the new equipment for employees?
A: At ProTeam, we make a serious investment in upfront training through our factory reps and literature. All of our training materials are geared to new employees. They’re in Spanish. They’re on YouTube. They’re visual. They can go up on the wall. We also partner with restaurants to offer online or in person training for groups of managers.
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