Table for Two in the Restroom, Please

For most restaurant diners, the first stop upon arrival isn’t the restroom. Most would choose a seat at the bar or lounge area to wait out their reservation. But according to USA Today, one family who, after a long drive and an urgent need, arrived at a McDonalds and headed first for the restrooms. They shared their experience on Trip Advisor with a scathing review, saying the bathrooms were so dirty that they left immediately and didn’t order any food.

The cleanliness of a restaurant’s restrooms can say a lot about the cleanliness of the dining room or the healthiness of the kitchen. At least that’s what USA Today reported in an article, “Would You Eat In A Restaurant With A Dirty Bathroom?” According to the article, 50 percent of restaurant patrons who experience a dirty bathroom will share their disgust with their friends, and one out of three won’t return to the restaurant again. 

That statistic isn’t really that shocking. After all, think about what happens in the bathroom. Nowhere else in your house or a public restroom would you expect to have a higher level of germs. A restroom that is clean, neat, and free of papers on the floor or overflowing in a waste can and smelling fresh gives a level of comfort that the business cleans and straightens the bathroom on a regular basis. It suggests that the floors, sinks, and stalls get a cleaning at least every day. Attention to the bathroom somehow carries over in the patron’s mind to the rest of the establishment.

The popularity and ease of social media has made restaurant owners pay more attention to cleanliness in general and restrooms in particular. Patrons think nothing of posting negative reviews on Trip Advisor or a company’s Facebook page. They put out a Tweet, or even take photos or videos of the offending area and post those on the Internet. That kind of glaring evidence can be devastating to a restaurant. 

Some companies make a point of cleaning restrooms as diligently as their front counter area. Starbucks, for example, schedules restroom cleanup three times a day, and every time the restaurant area is cleaned as well. McDonald’s former CEO, Jim Cantalupo, was responsible for the company’s turnaround in restroom cleanliness when he would arrive unannounced at a restaurant and give an on-the-spot review of the restrooms. 

Fast food restaurants aren’t the only offenders. Even upscale, expensive restaurants can fall short. Most restrooms need a little cleaning, emptying the trash and restocking toilet paper and hand towels throughout the day and night. Late-night restaurants and clubs, with the occasional patron who eats or drinks too much, can have a more serious problem if a patron gets sick. Managers need to check more frequently, depending on the night and the patrons, to be the first to discover someone has gotten sick in the sinks or trash cans. That’s not something that should be reported with photos on Facebook by a restaurant patron.

This kind of diligence comes from training and a sense of loyalty and pride in the business. Employees need to understand the total customer experience and how the lowly restrooms are just as important as the best table in the dining room. Training can help, but care and appreciation for employees can foster a sense of pride and ownership for even the lowliest of tasks.

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