Bar Cleaning Checklist Template

Why a Cleaning Checklist for a Bar is Important

A checklist for bar cleaning ensures that you can run your commercial bar or restaurant smoothly, keep up with health and safety procedures, and keep your customers happy. Imagine for a minute if you were in the shoes of your customers. You wouldn’t want to drink at a bar with filthy glasses or a dirty floor, and you would certainly avoid sitting by a bar covered in residue from other people’s drinks and snacks.

To keep your bar as clean as possible, you’ll want to do the appropriate cleaning at different times of the day. Learn more about those processes  below.

Types of Bar Cleaning Checklists

To ensure that your bar is clean and ready for guests, it’s important for your bar staff to start sanitizing and tidying up the bar at the start of the day. But, the cleaning doesn’t end there. A restaurant cleaning list, specifically for the bar, ensures that bartenders cover many key tasks throughout opening hours, daily operations, closing the bar, and on a weekly basis. All of these reminders help ensure that your bar has everything it needs to function optimally now and in the future.

Bar Opening Shift Checklist

Starting the day shift with dirty surfaces or disorganized kitchen tools can be very disorienting for bartenders. From cutting garnishes like lemons and limes to reaching for the bottle opener, you want your staff to be ready to serve guests as soon as they arrive. 

A cleaning checklist for bar opening will include tasks such as cleaning tables and chairs, wiping down glassware, discarding expired juices and wines, laying out clean bottle openers and wine keys, and more. By following this free bar cleaning checklist, your bartender can make sure your bar is ready to delight customers.

During the Day Cleaning Checklist

Of course, there is more cleanup to do throughout the day as well. That’s where a checklist for cleaning during the day comes in handy. To keep bar operations running smoothly, a bar cleaning list will include many daily tasks, like refilling coolers with beers and cans, emptying the trash can, and flattening and storing empty container boxes. These tasks keep your bar looking fresh and welcoming to anyone who walks in your front door.

Bar Closing Checklist

At the end of the day, your bartender will need to close up and prepare for the next morning. Using a bar cleaning task list for closing can help your employees remember how to make sure everything is cleaned, stored, and put away properly. Tasks include washing dishes and glassware (with hot water) and leaving them to air dry, dusting off display bottles, sanitizing soda dispenser guns, sweeping, and mopping the floor. With so many duties, this free checklist will ensure your employees can get up and running the next business day without a hitch.

Weekly Bar Cleaning Tasks

When working at a bar, it’s also important to check in on larger tasks once a week to help maintain and manage the business. A weekly checklist will help your employees keep the bar in order and will include tasks like taking preventative steps for bugs and pests, dusting difficult-to-reach surfaces, cleaning floor mats in the dishwasher or power washing them outside, and deep cleaning any areas that require it. By using a weekly checklist, your employees can ensure your bar is managed well on an ongoing basis.

Bar Cleaning Tips for Your Staff

Here are some tips to complement your cleaning checklists.

• Create a cleaning schedule for time-consuming cleaning tasks so your team gets used to the routine of cleaning the bar.
• Encourage your team to clean throughout their shift to keep the bar consistently clean and to save themselves time later.
• Make sure everyone on the team, from the general manager to a bartender, knows where the bar’s cleaning supplies are. And ensure you’re keeping those supplies stocked.

With these tips and our bar cleaning checklist template, which you can easily print or save for future reference, you’ll keep your bar clean and guests happy. Plus, regularly cleaning your bar will prevent health and safety issues like contamination, mold, and water damage.