müli restaurant at the glarnersteg Foundation


05.11.2019

In 2016, the glarnersteg Foundation in Schwanden commissioned Wetrok with the development of a cleaning concept. This included the cleaning processes in its in-house restaurant, müli. Experienced chefs work hand in hand with disabled people in the restaurant’s large kitchen. In summer 2019, Wetrok paid another visit to the kitchen crew and discovered that they are setting an outstanding example with their hygienic practices. Many profit-orientated businesses would do well to take a leaf out of the chef’s recipe book for success.

The working day of the kitchen crew at the müli restaurant starts at 7:30 in the morning. First thing on the list is a hygiene check. Head chef, Remo Anderegg, checks whether all the equipment and surfaces were properly cleaned the night before and are ready for use again. Then he discusses the work schedule with three qualified chefs. At eight o’clock, the rest of the kitchen staff slips in through the sliding door. They include three trainees, one of whom has a hearing impairment, as well as four employees with a cognitive impairment. The staff do not touch anything before they have washed and disinfected their hands – that is the rule. Then the team is ready for the day’s culinary tasks. Today’s menu: stir-fry, polenta and roast vegetables. This is accompanied by a variety of à-la-carte dishes, salads, soups and sandwiches. The staff will continue to follow the cleaning and disinfection processes as they prepare the food, all day long.

Green microfibre cloths and a colour-coded chopping board system for maximum hygiene
The starting shot for the mise en place has been fired. Already, the first similarity between cleaning and food hygiene becomes clear. The microfibre cloth or chopping board that the trainee grabs is not a random choice. Both the microfibre cloths and chopping boards are colour-coded according to what they are used for. In the müli kitchen, fruit is only prepared on yellow chopping boards, for example.  This preventative system ensures the safety of the food and its consumers. Protective measures like these are defined in the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). The microfibre cloths follow a similar system: in the kitchen, only green microfibre cloths are used to clean equipment and surfaces. This prevents cloths from being mixed up and the resulting cross-contamination.

As an additional aid, all Wetrok cleaning products come with a coloured stripe to indicate areas of use and match the colour coding system for cleaning cloths. For example, you will find a green stripe on the kitchen cleaner, Polex. Whether for trainees or disabled employees – this system is clear, simple and impossible to get wrong. The müli restaurant even goes one step further: “To prevent kitchen fat from being trailed into the restaurant, we differentiate between green cloths for cleaning the kitchen and green cloths for cleaning the restaurant. We have labelled these accordingly,” explains Remo Anderegg.

A simple recipe for success for a clean kitchen
Cutting, chopping and stirring – the kitchen staff always has something to do. “Stop! First wash your hands, then start preparing the meat,” the head chef cautions one of his staff. Some need to be reminded of hygiene practices daily, while others get into the swing of it in only a few days, says the head chef. But why does this large kitchen with its special workforce, of all places, demonstrate such high standards of hygiene? “Because we take our time. Time to look over our employees’ shoulders and to explain to them the entire hygiene process and the consequences of not following it. Over and over again,” explains Remo Anderegg and adds: “Routine is always the biggest enemy of hygiene. But because of the constant need for supervision, terms like ‘routine’ or ‘everyday’ are completely alien to us – we always have to pay attention. It’s because of this attention that our kitchen is more hygienic than some other large kitchens of profit-orientated restaurants.” That is the chef’s recipe for success.

A kitchen cleaner for 75 percent of all surfaces
At 11:30 on the dot, the first hungry guests pour into the restaurant. Menus are given to internal residents as well. 80 lunch menus are handed out by 1:30 pm; after that, the kitchen closes.

Now it’s time for the big daily clean. As soon as all the chopping boards, knives and pots have been cleared away into the dishwasher, it’s time to clean the stainless steel sinks. The application of undiluted scouring agent Resinox ensures that kitchen staff can easily remove even stubborn residues. Since the Wetrok cleaning training sessions, the employees know that they should wipe stainless steel with a white cleaning pad, only towards the edge and never in circular motions. Otherwise, the surface will be damaged by unsightly scratches, which also provide a point of entry for dirt and adhering bacteria. As soon as every spout is sparkling, it’s time for surface cleaning. For this, the kitchen crew uses the Wetrok universal cleaner Polex. This is non-perfumed and solvent-free, in accordance with regulations.  All alkali-resistant surfaces are wiped down with the cleaning solution to remove even stubborn oils and greases. While the preparation of meals with vegetarian or religious alternatives in the restaurant industry is becoming ever more sophisticated and diverse, the trend in cleaning is towards fewer, more versatile products.  The müli kitchen is no exception: the universal cleaner Polex is not only used to clean the surfaces, but also the floor. As a result, 75 percent of the floors and surfaces are cleaned to a hygienic standard with only one product. This kitchen uses a total of four products for its cleaning. In addition to the above, it also uses two disinfectants. In institutions like this one, simplicity is priceless: the employees and trainees have less to remember and therefore make far fewer mistakes.

Separate equipment and machines for use in the kitchen
The kitchen floor is an epoxy resin floor with scatter coating in accordance with DIN standard R13. This is particularly non-slippery and even exceeds the legal requirements – the minimum requirement for large kitchens of this type is an R12 floor. The floor is cleaned in two steps. First, the kitchen staff removes loose dirt with the vacuum cleaner. Dust is the primary means of transport for microorganisms: one gram of dust can contain up to 1.5 million germs. Once the dust has been removed, the Mambo scrubber-dryer is used. This is ideal for kitchens because it is agile and yet able to clean large surfaces in a short amount of time. A not-unimportant detail is also established in the cleaning concept: Unlike in the rest of the building, there is a separate vacuum cleaner and scrubber-dryer for the kitchen, which never leave the kitchen and therefore cannot spread bacteria from one place to another. The daily clean is supplemented by an even more thorough weekly clean, which takes place every Friday afternoon.

 

 

The common denominator of soup recipes and cleaning concepts
Even after three years, Wetrok’s cleaning and disinfection concept is being applied by the müli kitchen exactly as recommended. Remo Anderegg sees the true challenge not in implementing a hygiene standard, but in maintaining it. Cutting corners is taboo when it comes to cleaning. To illustrate this, the head chef draws a culinary comparison: “If I want to make a good bouillon soup, I can’t just leave out one of the ingredients. Otherwise the entire symbiosis of flavours falls apart.” Another point that demonstrates parallels to the world of gastronomy is portioning: Overportioning is not only as excessive as high amounts of food waste, but also poses a risk to tread safety. The cleaning and hygiene plans therefore specify exactly how much cleaning agent should be used. Since overdosing is a common issue in many facilities, the topic was an important component in the Wetrok cleaning training programme.

It is now 4:10 pm. The kitchen looks almost like new, and the kitchen staff are proud of the work they have done today. As always, the day ends with time to reflect. It becomes clear that the qualified restaurant staff have three roles at once: chef, cleaning staff and mentor. These roundtable sessions are effective: the increased esteem and motivation of the staff ultimately flows back into the consistent maintenance of hygiene standards.

About the glarnersteg Foundation
The glarnersteg Foundation supports people with mental or physical disabilities to live independently. To help them do so, it provides jobs, workshops and residential facilities at multiple locations in the Swiss canton of Glarus.

 


“Less is more – in the kitchen and when it comes to cleaning. That’s why Wetrok’s approach of using multi-purpose cleaning products is absolutely perfect for me. I don’t need eight kitchen cleaning products when I can achieve the same hygiene standard with four.”
Remo Anderegg, Head Chef