PREVRA Restaurant Cleaning Checklist: Daily, Weekly, and Deep-Clean Schedules That Satisfy the EHO
A structured restaurant cleaning checklist covering all zones and frequencies. Goes beyond surface cleaning to address the sanitation your SFBB system and EHO inspector demand.
Why a structured cleaning schedule matters for food safety and your rating
A visibly clean surface can still carry 100,000-plus bacteria per square centimetre. The organisms that cause food poisoning — Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria — are invisible to the naked eye. Cleaning removes the food source and grease; disinfecting kills the pathogens. You need both, and you need to prove you do both, in the right order, on the right schedule.
Under SFBB, your cleaning schedule is a required documented procedure. An EHO will check not just whether surfaces look clean, but whether you have a written schedule showing what gets cleaned, when, how, and by whom. They will also verify that staff understand the difference between cleaning and disinfection — a distinction that most food handlers get wrong.
Using this cleaning checklist across your daily, weekly, and periodic routines
Segment your cleaning into three tiers. Daily tasks: all food contact surfaces, floors, sinks, and waste areas. Weekly tasks: extraction hoods, walls behind cooking equipment, fridge seals, and dry storage. Periodic deep cleans: ceilings, behind fixed equipment, drains, and any area that requires shutting down part of the kitchen to access.
Assign each task to a named person and require sign-off. Rotate the less pleasant tasks — if the same person always cleans the grease trap, standards will slip. A digital SFBB cleaning system schedules recurring tasks automatically, sends reminders, and stores completion records including time-stamped photo evidence. When the EHO asks to see your cleaning records, you hand them a tablet, not a binder of coffee-stained paper.
Cleaning mistakes that EHO inspectors catch
Cleaning without disinfecting. Wiping a raw meat prep surface with a damp cloth spreads bacteria across the surface. The correct sequence is: clean with detergent, rinse, then disinfect with a food-safe sanitiser at the correct contact time.
Using the wrong cloth. Colour-coded cloths exist for a reason. A blue cloth used on raw meat prep surfaces should never appear near ready-to-eat food areas. Cross-contamination via cleaning equipment is one of the most common EHO findings.
Cleaning around equipment, not under it. The areas behind and beneath fixed equipment accumulate debris that attracts pests and harbours bacteria. If your cleaning schedule does not include moving equipment for deep cleans, your kitchen is not truly clean.
Prevra · Early access
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