Your bar and beverage services have undoubtedly seen a reduction while the COVID-19 outbreak has closed down nearly all of our dining rooms. Use this temporary lull in service to deep clean your bar areas. Now is the best time to pull equipment out from the bar and away from the walls to clean, sanitize, and re-organize.
Clean the Bar – All of it
This will be a big bar staff cleaning project. The underbar area is not going to be fun, but this is the perfect time to deep clean your bar. Pull out everything that’s not plumbed and deep clean it all. Pay particular attention to the areas we call out below.
Remember, the goal here is to have your customers come back feeling confident that anything you are serving them will be safe. Bar cleanliness will help discourage any hesitation or apprehensions that may have become new habits, so don’t take this lightly.
For almost all of your non-porous surfaces, QA Sanitizer is an effective cleaning solution that’s CDC-approved.
Clean the Soda Gun and Holster
I’m sure you have as part of your closing procedures to properly clean and sanitize your soda gun. And EVERYBODY makes sure this is handled 100% properly, right? Take a moment to review the proper procedures to clean the soda gun with all of your staff. While you’re at it, look at the holster. This is easily overlooked during daily/weekly cleanings and the residual syrup can quickly create a tar-like substance that is tricky to clean. Even worse, it can produce the ideal growing environment for mold. You will also want to check out the product line to the gun. Clean the sticky gunk off of it.
Inspect the product lines as far back as you can and clean where needed. In the back, pull all the syrup boxes off the rack and give it a quick scrub. Pull the rack to the side and check the floor under it. Probably could use a good scrub, right? How does your organization look? Need to change how you prioritize your back-stock? Now’s the time to re-evaluate.
A cleaning pail with a spray bottle holder built in can make it easier for bar staff cleaning underneath these areas.
Ice Machines and Bins: The Perfect Bar Staff Cleaning Task
Dump all the ice in your undercounter ice machines and clean and sterilize the bins. QA Sanitizer is approved to clean ice machines, but you can also use Nickel-Safe Ice Machine Cleaner. Run the cubers through their clean cycle. Check for any warning or caution messages and have any detected issues addressed.
Check the water lines and filtration system to make sure everything is up to date and working correctly. Access the condenser and blow the dust out of the coil fins. If there is any sticky gunk built up on them, you may need to spray them with coil cleaner.
If you don’t have an undercounter ice maker but use a cocktail unit or ice chest, these should be cleaned as well:
- Drain and wipe them down with cleaner.
- Inspect the drain lines and bottle holders.
- Pull out the holders and clean the troughs.
- Replace cracked holders if needed.
- Wipe down underneath these units.
- If your cocktail unit has cold plates, clean and inspect them.
- Clean the undersides of your ice chest bin doors.
- Inspect the tracks for cracks and replace if needed.
- Check behind the backsplashes.
Clean Under Your Bar Sinks
Dump sinks, glass washing sinks, hand sinks, all of your bar sinks; we clean the basins and faucets regularly, but how often do you give them a good scrub underneath?
- Wipe down the undersides of the sinks, the drain lines, and the water supply lines.
- Clean the back wall or bar wall and the pedestal legs.
- Inspect glass washers and pub scrubs, replacing brushes if needed.
- Clean the floor drains and clean or replace any drain lines that may run to them.
- Run and hold water in your basins and check for any leaking that may occur. Replace any washers that may be failing.
- Give your sinks a nice polish. Grab a product like Brite Shine that will add a little sparkle to the stainless steel. This stuff can make them look brand new again.
Scrub Your Backbar and Bottle Coolers
Remove all packaged product from these coolers and give them a deep interior cleaning:
- Remove and clean the shelving. Inspect and replace any missing or broken shelf clips.
- Run a cleaner through the drain lines.
- Check the seal on the doors and replace any damaged or cracking door seals.
- Pull the doors out of bottle coolers and clean inside the tracks, removing any debris.
- Clean and polish the exterior.
- Tighten door hinges, handles, and glass rails if applicable.
- Lubricate cylinder door locks if you use them.
- Just like with the ice makers, access the condenser and blow the dust out of the coil fins. Use coil cleaner if needed.
- If you have any bar rails or bottle openers attached to the exterior, remove those and thoroughly clean them out, then re-attach.
- Inspect any drain lines you may have running to your floor drains and clean or repair those as needed.
Clean Your Beer Towers, Faucets, and Lines
Remove your beer faucets and dismantle and clean them. Inspect all the washers and seals and replace anything that looks like it is starting to crack.
Inspect the tower shanks for damage and to see if they need cleaning. Even if you do have your beer lines regularly professionally cleaned, take the time now to inspect them yourself and note anything that might not look right.
If you won’t be serving beer for awhile, follow these instructions to prepare your lines for long-term storage. if you just have a kegerator, you can use our beer line cleaning kit to clean your lines for this process.
Wipe down the exterior of your towers and clean your drip trays. Run some cleaner through the drain lines and sanitize them. If you have a glass rinser, inspect the seals and water line; clean and replace as needed.
Full Walk-In Cooler Wipedown is an Essential Bar Staff Cleaning Task
Take a look at your walk-in cooler. Pull the kegs away from the wall – how gross is it? That’s what I thought.
So in the middle of the rush, when kegs blow, it’s important to get the beer flowing again quickly. Staff will quickly swap kegs and, often when engaging the coupler on the new kegs, they may spray a little bit of beer around. And a dropped and punctured beer can is really just a foam grenade, isn’t it? It’s busy, so does that get cleaned up right away? Yeah right.
Well, take this time to move the kegs away from the wall and do a thorough cleaning of your keg cooler. If your distributors don’t clean your lines out for you, now is a good time to give them a long soak too. Even if they do, they probably aren’t wiping down the syrup accumulation on and around the outsides of the lines; clean those areas now. Move your packaged beers, wines, and libations off your shelving and clean those. How is your organization? Take the time now to decide which products have a faster turn and re-organize as needed. LABEL these changes with clear signage to alert your staff to the new setup.
Clean the walls. Scrub the syrup off, replace your staff signage (maybe use your laminator now that you have time).
Look up – carbonated beverages get everywhere when they explode. Scrub the ceiling. While you have the step ladder out, clean the cover for the cooler light bulb (it might actually get brighter in there). How do the fans look? Maybe blow them off too and make a note to check the evaporator coils outside.
Some of you may have merchandiser doors to your backbar for cans and bottles. Remove the singles and clean out the track shelving. Remove bits of cardboard, paper, and broken glass, and scrub the tracks. Replace any worn or tattered product signage.
Clean the glass on both sides of the doors and check the door gaskets for cracks. Replace any that need it.
