Keep it Clean: Essentials for Running a Successful Bakery

The food industry is particularly well-known for its fail rate. Business owners with grand dreams and great ideas launch their new café, restaurant or bakery but simply cannot sustain it. Even with the tastiest treats available, running a food business is hard and with growth in the sector there is more competition than ever too. Bakery products make up 2.1% of the gross domestic product of the United States, accounting for about $311.0 billion in total economic output. Many bakeries are small and family-run but this doesn’t mean standards can’t be kept and to succeed in business you need more than the best cakes. You need a commitment to processes and standards, including cleanliness.

From bakery ceiling cleaning to specific equipment cleaning and daily monitoring of health and safety protocol, your bakery’s success and the impression you create is impacted on by your cleanliness. Here we’re looking at how to keep your business as clean as possible and protect your patrons and staff from foodborne illness and disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe 1 in 6 Americans are sick from contaminated food every year, and you don’t want to be responsible for even 1% of this.

Daily Cleaning Essentials for Bakers

The daily cleaning in any food business revolves around keeping contaminants to a minimum. This means ensuring your refuse is removed from the premises, keeping trash cans clear and organizing your recycling. All pans and trays should be washed thoroughly on a daily basis and ensure the right volumes of detergent and hot water are used. Trays and pans should also be sanitized for future use and stored safely, in a dry place off the floor.

Other areas of the bakery kitchen which need daily cleaning include walls and ovens. Degreaser can be sprayed into ovens on a daily basis after all baking is complete and this ensures any greasy residue is removed before the next working day. Floors must also be kept clean with thorough sweeping and mopping. In a bakery environment the volume of food debris is particularly high due to crumbs and similar spillages so you need to be particularly aware of sweeping thoroughly each day. All food surfaces also need to be sanitized regularly.

Weekly Cleaning Essentials for Bakers

Weekly cleaning tasks are usually more in depth it and require additional time outside of working hours to ensure thorough cleaning. Hood filters should be cleaned weekly, for example. They should be fully removed from the oven area, immersed in degreaser and scrubbed to remove anything which has become stuck to the surface. They should also be thoroughly air dried before put back in place.

All storage areas should also be thoroughly cleaned on a weekly basis, with all produce and stock removed from shelves so they can be properly washed with detergent and hot water. This also applies to walk-in fridges, freezers and any other chilling equipment in the bakery kitchen. Racks and shelving should be pressure washed if possible but detergent and hot water should be used as a minimum.

Specialist Bakery and Bakery Ceiling Cleaning

Some areas of the bakery do require specialist cleaning from professionals. You may opt to have professional oven cleaners visit on a regular basis to ensure pristine ovens at all times, which can improve both quality of the products being produced and functionality of the ovens. Areas such as ceiling also require professional cleaning to ensure the longevity of the environment and to guarantee thorough contaminant-free working environments.

Professional bakery ceiling cleaning will depend on the type of ceiling you have. At Penn Jersey we utilize Ceiling Pro cleaning technologies to deliver spotless commercial ceiling cleaning services to our bakery clients and those in other food sectors and services. The specialized nature of this cleaning process ensures a brighter and cleaner environment for all. Our processes ensure acoustical values of tiles are maintained as well as fire resistance and a fully grease and dirt-free ceiling, as shown in our before and after ceiling cleaning album.

Penn Jersey can work with your bakery to ensure cleanliness on every level and our bakery ceiling cleaning processes are just one of many we can offer to help support your regular cleaning efforts and keep your business looking pristine and fully health standard compliant. Contact us today to discuss your individual business needs.

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