Be Clean, Green and Extra Attentive

Restaurant business is quite exciting and creative, and it has good potential of earning handsome profits. But starting a restaurant requires careful planning, if you want to make it a success. One of the important aspects of restaurant business is maintaining a high degree of cleanliness and hygiene. Impeccable hygiene may not in itself be able to attract guests to a given restaurant, but its absence may lead to huge loss of guest footfalls in the said restaurant. Maintenance of restaurant hygiene is, however, an arduous task, often requiring continual vigil. Here Ashok Malkani takes a look at the role cleanliness plays in the restaurant operations, besides exploring the importance of giving adequate attention to the repeat guests at the restaurants.

- Ashok Malkani

While speaking about what makes a first impression on the customers in a restaurant, Sanchi, a fresh hotel management graduate, was firmly of the view that it was the cleanliness and hygiene. “If the restaurant is shabby you would not even contemplate on sitting down, leave aside dining at the place,” she averred.

Restaurant’s cleanliness is considered one of the most significant factors which do govern customers’ levels of satisfaction with the restaurant concerned. Understanding what customers take into account when they ascertain a restaurant’s cleanliness can be helpful for the hospitality managers to increase their restaurant’s market appeal.

Regardless of how tasty your food maybe, or how creative your ambience and décor are, regardless of how impeccable and prompt your services are, consumers will not want to flock to your restaurant if it is not clean. This is more true in these health conscious times with powerful social media, where bad or good reputation can spread really quick. Research has shown that the hospitality sector is at risk of losing business unless its hygiene standards match its high standards of food and service.

Steve Tate, the Chairman, Check Safety First, UK, who has done a study on the Indian hospitality industry, declared, “Hygiene is one of the most mandatory aspects to ensure quality in the hospitality industry. In the absence of a good hygiene system, some of the following possibilities may arise, which are bad publicity and the loss of reputation, legal action taken by the customer(s), closure of the premises by the health authorities.”

“There are anywhere between 50-60 lakh eateries in the country. Food safety has been a perennial challenge in India with frequent cases of food adulteration and food poisoning. Many players in the business find it difficult to comply with the new norms,” he added further.