I went into a large chain restaurant the other day because my wife wanted ice cream and the drive-thru was mobbed. Interestingly, the lobby was almost empty. I now know why. The inside of that place was filthy. Stuff on the floors, on the tables, and all over the kitchen. It was awe-inspiring how bad the situation was, and no one seemed to care. No wonder everyone was in a car. Needless to say, I will never go back.

So this month’s topic is cleaning.

As that famous song once said, “Grab a bucket and mop. Scrub the bottom and top. There is nothing so clean. As my burger machine.” McDonald’s thought clean was important enough to do a 60-second, award-winning commercial. And it is.

The quality of the food can be off if the chef is having a bad day. The service can be off if the server is having a bad day. And the value can be off if the owner is having a bad day. But if the clean is off, the customer will have a bad day, and that is unforgivable. Cleanliness is the most important of the tenets to running a good restaurant.

In the early days of my career at McDonald’s I saw some pretty scary things, but the scariest had to do with cleanliness. Once while driving around the back of the store, I saw the back door fly open and two terrified squirrels come flying out with an assistant manager hot on their paws, blasting away with a 22. Do I want to eat in that restaurant?

Time for a few ideas about getting and keeping your place clean:

• Take an unannounced tour of your store. Look it over outside. Some fresh paint can do wonders. Go inside and do the same. Take notes. Look at everything as if you were a customer and simply ask yourself if you would eat here. Now fix it.
• Assign your crew areas to keep clean. If a person is responsible for a specific area, pride will see to it that the job is done. Rotate responsibilities so that one person isn’t stuck with the hard stuff all the time.
• On the ranch we have a hard and fast rule: If you open a gate, you close it. Or you go find the horse or wait for him to come back to the barn for dinner. (Horses aren’t so dumb.) Apply the same rule in your restaurant. If you drop it, you pick it up, or do it for another. But don’t let it lie. And if you see a spill, you clean it up. Don’t wait for the spill person to do it. You have a spill person, right?
• If you have a cleaning service, have a meeting with them to review procedures and look for gaps you saw in your tour. Rewrite the book on how the store is to be cleaned if you have to. Or do it more often.
• If you depend on your crew, meet with them and brainstorm ideas on how to keep the place cleaner. If possible, have a clean-up party. Everyone has a specific area to clean and there is pizza after, or something else if you are a pizza restaurant, with prizes for the best job.
• Don’t forget the fridge and freezer. Some of the worst conditions can occur in the freezer. In real hot climates it is not beyond imagination for crew members to eat in the freezer and leave the packaging.

McDonald’s had “a lot and lobby person.” He or she patrolled the lobby looking for messes and the lot for litter or over-flowing trash cans. They usually wore McDonald’s jackets so they were easily identified. That said a lot about the commitment to cleanliness.

In the early days when only boys worked at McDonald’s, I knew a female operator who kept a schedule of when each crew member got a haircut. She would remind each of them when it was time to get that haircut and even lend them the money to do so. Make sure your crew looks neat and clean. Uniforms, shoes, and general appearance are hard to ride herd on, but oh so important to the overall clean atmosphere in the store.

Lastly there’s store tours. Nothing beats knowing that people will tour your store and see the inner workings. The restaurant has to be clean to stand up to that scrutiny. I knew an operator who would invite the parents, relatives, and siblings of his crew to a special store tour with refreshments. You should have seen that store sparkle.

As the song further said, “Use a broom and a brush. Clean it up for the rush.” Don’t lose a customer in these tough times because of a wrapper on the floor or a sticky table.

One other thing: Get an incentive program going for your crew. Especially your counter people or servers. Make a list of products you want to sell more or especially profitable ones. Assign point values to these products and ask your crew to suggestively sell them. If you cater or do large-meal takeout, assign points to leads the crew supplies you. If the sale is made to the lead, give additional points.

The points can be redeemable for merchandise or money. Your call. I read recently where money is not what it used to be. People pay their bills and forget where the money came from, whereas an iPod will remind them of your generosity. Kind of makes sense.

Oh, and use perks more. They can be small, but mighty in helping the crew to feel important. One company is doing, “I don’t feel like getting out of bed days.” I don’t recommend that one. Massages are not at the top of my list either. But small gifts, bonuses (but not like Wall Street’s), or an “’Atta Boy” can work wonders.

Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value. This month stress Clean.

Happy Trails and a Peaceful Life.