By Marissa Tekirian, regional Marketing manager, Professional Hygiene, Essity North America.
Running a restaurant comes with a diverse menu of daily challenges, from ordering quality ingredients and hiring helpful staff to creating the right atmosphere and ensuring each customer leaves fully satisfied. However, with so much time, effort, and attention paid to developing an excellent dining experience, many foodservice operators often forget that customers are expecting a lot more than just a delicious meal.
While operators generally recognize that restaurant hygiene is critical for the health and safety of guests, the impact of hygiene goes further and can directly impact the success of their business. Hygiene matters in attracting and retaining patrons – in fact, 73 per cent say a bad restroom experience in a restaurant will impact their willingness to return.1
Here are three ways restaurants can drive business performance through hygiene enhancements.
Drive greater efficiency with the right hygiene tools
Start by considering how you can improve your team’s day-to-day experience. More than three-quarters of kitchen staff say they would be happier if their workplace was more organized and cleaning products were easy to grab, always available, and performed well. In a fast-paced kitchen, having cleaning products readily accessible reduces time spent searching for supplies, which allows your team to focus on their primary tasks, such as food preparation and customer service.
Consider the efficacy of your staff’s surface-cleaning methods. Spraying a light mist and immediately wiping the liquid with a rag does not properly clean and sanitize. Additionally, using the same rag across multiple surfaces and areas spreads germs, bacteria, and allergens, which all are harmful to guests and can inhibit their experience. Instead, ensure the availability of durable, single-use wipes with your preferred cleaning solvent so each surface has a fresh start.
Restaurant operators can also minimize the spread of bacteria in restrooms, while avoiding frequent service interruptions to refill, by using high-capacity paper towel dispenser systems and touchless soap dispensers. That way, staff will avoid frequent service interruptions to refill.
Work to improve sustainability goals through hygiene
Customers are becoming increasingly conscious of restaurants’ environmental impact — a recent study even found that 43 per cent of customers are willing to pay more for takeout from restaurants that have visible sustainability practices. One of the challenges faced by restaurants is sourcing products and adopting practices that reduce waste while cutting costs. All too often, managers choose cleaning supplies and dispensers that do not offer refills or allow customers to take too many products at once.
It’s no surprise 75 per cent of restaurant staff agree that hygiene products like kitchen wipes, napkins and hand towels produce too much waste.2 Smaller incremental changes can make a difference in combating this – like using wipes made from recycled materials or controlled dispensers that reduce waste. Tork is dedicated to helping its customers meet their sustainability goals by providing hygiene products that are made from sustainability sourced materials, like the 99 per cent Biobased Heavy-Duty Cleaning Cloth, or the line of carbon neutral certified dispensers, the first of its kind in the North American market.3
Creating a better guest experience through inclusive hygiene in the restroom
This idea of making hygiene more inclusive in the restroom may not be the first thing facilities think of, but it’s a crucial area to focus on to reduce complaints and improve customer satisfaction. Imagine being in a restroom with young child who’s sensitive to loud noises or being an elderly person who struggles to use the soap or hand towel dispensers because of a physical limitation. Ultimately, providing a restroom experience that is considerate of all conditions is going to drive repeat business – Tork research found that more than 60 per cent of people have a lesser opinion of businesses whose hand hygiene facilities are challenging to use, making them less likely to return.4
Barriers to inclusive hygiene in public restrooms challenge people every day. According to Tork research, 73 per cent of respondents said they feel unsafe if they can’t wash their hands, and 44 per cent felt anxious about using public restrooms, in general.5
There are a few practical steps you can take to make hand hygiene in your restroom more inclusive. For example, ensure a quiet environment for customers by installing high-capacity paper hand towel dispensers that reduce runouts and are easy to use for people with a range of mobility abilities. Additionally, provide soap and sanitizer products that are gentle on skin and dermatologically tested to ensure quality hand hygiene practices for customers with eczema (atopic dermatitis).
Inclusive hygiene is good for people, staff, and business. With hygiene solutions that are efficient, inclusive, and sustainable, you can maximize business performance and customer satisfaction while minimizing environmental impact.
Learn more at tork.ca.
- Tork Insight Survey 2024, conducted in US, UK, Germany, France and Mexico among 6000 end-users and 900 businesses. ↩︎
- Based on third-party market research in US and Europe, 2020 ↩︎
- Excluding use of refills. Valid for a range of dispensers sold after October 1st, 2023 in North America. Reduced with certified renewable electricity and offset with climate projects. ↩︎
- Tork Insight Survey 2024, conducted in US, UK, Germany, France and Mexico among 6000 end-users and 900 businesses. ↩︎
- Tork Insight Survey 2024, conducted in US, UK, Germany, France and Mexico among 6000 end-users and 900 businesses. ↩︎
