With the first day of spring just a few weeks away, and clocks ready to spring forward, it's time for restaurants to begin preparing for the longer, warmer, and brighter days ahead. To ensure you're ready for the spring season, now is the time to do some serious deep cleaning, refresh your outdoor seating, and evaluate your warm-weather marketing strategy.
Daylight Savings Time Begins @2am March 9th
Spring 2025 Season: March 20 to June 20th
Key Takeaways
Spring Cleaning Boosts Operations: Spring is the perfect time to assess your outdoor seating areas, refresh your restaurant’s physical space, and update your marketing strategy.
Capitalize on Spring Events: Major spring holidays and sporting events provide perfect opportunities to engage with customers on social media.
Regular Inspections and Health Safety: Stay prepared for health inspections by conducting regular self-inspections and keeping up with restaurant cleanliness.
Spring Holidays and Events
When preparing your restaurant for spring 2025, a good place to start is re-evaluating your social media schedule, reconnecting with local businesses, and planning your menus for spring events and holidays.
Major holidays like Saint Patrick’s Day and sporting events like March Madness provide perfect opportunities to engage with customers.
Major Spring Events and Holidays
Daylight Savings Time Begins: March 9th
St. Patrick’s Day: March 17th
First Day of Spring: March 20th
April Fool’s Day: April 1st
Passover: Apr 12th @ sundown
Easter: April 20th
Earth Day: April 22th
Cinco de Mayo: May 5 th
Mothers' Day: May 11th
Memorial Day: May 26th
Father’s Day: June 15th
Juneteenth: June 19th
Major Spring 2025 Sporting Events
MLB Baseball Season Opening Day: March 18
MLB Regular Season: March 27th to September 28th
Masters: April 7–13
Final Four: April 5–7
Indianapolis 500: May 23–25
Miami Grand Prix: May 2–4
Kentucky Derby: May 3
French Open: May 25–June 8
US Open Golf: June 12–15
Stanley Cup Finals: June 13–15
Marketing Strategies for Spring 2025
Once you've determined which holidays and events will best suit your brand and attract customers to your dining room and online menu, it's time to begin strategizing your marketing plan for the season.
Seasonal Menus: Introduce spring-inspired dishes and drinks that feature fresh, local ingredients to entice customers with new flavors.
Sustainability Focus: Highlight eco-friendly practices to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers.
Social Media Campaigns: Run seasonal social media promotions on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook with engaging content, such as behind-the-scenes looks or user-generated content challenges.
Loyalty Programs & Discounts: Offer spring discounts or exclusive perks for repeat customers or through a digital loyalty program.
Influencer Collaborations: Partner with local influencers or food bloggers to create buzz around your restaurant's spring offerings.
Outdoor Dining and Events: Capitalize on the nice weather by promoting outdoor seating and hosting special events like live music or weekend brunches.
Community Partnerships: Collaborate with local businesses or farmers’ markets.
Email Newsletters: Email spring-themed newsletters featuring menu updates, upcoming events, and exclusive deals to engage your regulars.
User-Generated Content (UGC) Contests: Encourage customers to share photos of their meals or experiences for a chance to win a prize, driving organic social media engagement.
Customer Reviews: Leverage positive reviews on platforms like Yelp and Google to build trust with potential guests and attract new customers.
Spring Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting
Cleaning
It’s time to dust off the winter cobwebs and get down to the business of cleaning. The first step involves removing dirt, spills, food particles, dust, and any other contaminants by washing, brushing, or wiping all areas of your restaurant.
Though this process is surface level and does not eliminate germs, it can help reduce their numbers. While this is a step that should be done on an ongoing basis, springtime adds the opportunity to open windows, air out your restaurant’s kitchen and dining room, shake off carpets and area rugs, and clean the exterior windows and doors thoroughly.
Sanitizing
Sanitizing, which reduces microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, and fungi on surfaces after they have been cleaned, is the next step in the spring cleaning process.
To meet industry requirements and prevent foodbourne illnesses, sanitizing chemicals must kill 99.999% of the test bacteria in under 30 seconds. Though this process is an essential preventative measure to reduce the growth of harmful bacteria, sanitizing does not kill all surface viruses.
Disinfecting
Getting behind appliances, underneath countertops, and in every nook-and-cranny, disinfecting is crucial to getting your warm weather operations off to a great start.
Because disinfecting can kill nearly 100% of bacteria, viruses, and fungi and target specific disease-carrying microorganisms, it should be incorporated year-round.
Make it a Team Effort
Getting your staff involved in spring cleaning can turn a tedious task into an opportunity for camaraderie, while ensuring that every corner of your restaurant gets attention.
Spring Cleaning Day
Organizing a “spring cleaning day” with a clear start and end time can help keep everyone on the same page and create a sense of accomplishment. Not only does involving your staff in the cleaning process ensure the job gets done, but it also fosters a sense of team unity.
Switch it Up
While it might seem obvious for kitchen staff to focus on cleaning appliances and food storage areas, and front-of-house employees tackling the dining areas, sanitizing menus, and clean light fixtures, consider switching this up to acquaint and familiarize each member of your crew with other aspects of your restaurant, (i.e., task servers to wipe down the kitchen appliances and the dishwashers to sanitize the menus.)
By switching up the tasks, you can not only ensure no detail is overlooked, but it can double as a learning experience for all.
Make Fun of It
To motivate your team, consider making spring cleaning a fun, team-building activity. Set clear expectations, create a timeline, and encourage friendly competition between FOH and BOH staff by offering incentives, like gift cards, time off, or a small celebration for the winning team.
Create a Job Wheel
Create a homemade job wheel that indicates the specific task assigned to each team member. A simple paper plate, a brad, and a few other tools is all you need.
Spring Cleaning Checklist
Front of House Tasks
Sanitize and disinfect menus, salt and pepper shakers, and condiment holders.
Deep clean and dust light fixtures, chandeliers, and ceiling fans.
Wipe down and polish furniture, including tables, chairs, and booths.
Vacuum or deep clean carpets and area rugs, or clean/replace mats.
Wash windows inside and out, and clean window treatments or blinds.
Sanitize high-touch areas, including door handles, railings, and switches.
Clean and organize hostess stands, waiting areas, and coat racks.
Reorganize storage areas, including napkins, silverware, and glassware.
Disinfect bathrooms, including toilets, sinks, faucets, mirrors, and floors.
Check and clean HVAC vents, air conditioning units, and exhaust fans.
Back of House Tasks
Clean and sanitize kitchen appliances, including ovens, stoves, and fryers.
Deep clean refrigerators, freezers, and walk-in coolers
Discard expired items.
Clean and sanitize food prep areas, cutting boards, and countertops.
Scrub floors, walls, and tile grout to remove grease and dirt buildup.
Wipe down and sanitize shelves, storage bins, and dry goods areas.
Clean and degrease exhaust hoods, vents, and grease traps.
Deep clean dishwashers, sinks, and dishwashing areas.
Organize and sanitize back-of-house storage areas, such as dry storage and spice racks.
Clean equipment like mixers, slicers, and blenders.
Check fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and safety equipment for proper maintenance.
Plan for Upcoming Inspections
There’s nothing worse than that sinking feeling that comes over restaurant operators than an unexpected visit by an inspector. It can happen at any time, from the middle of the dinner rush to a day when your manager is out sick.
Though inspections help you stay on your toes and provide an unbiased assessment of the safety and cleanliness of your restaurant, if violations are found, it could lead to fines and even being forced to close your doors until conditions and food safety are improved.
To avoid hefty fines or worse, it’s critical to be prepared at all times. Being ready for such visits no matter what time of day or situation requires that your kitchen is consistently checked, rechecked, and checked again so you won’t be caught ill-prepared when a clipboard-bearing inspector suddenly walks through your door.
Because it’s important to be aware of what the health inspector will be looking for, it’s a good idea to self-inspect on a regular basis. We’ve put together a thorough restaurant health and safety inspection checklist to get you started.
Related post: The Ultimate Kitchen Cleaning Checklist
Plan your Spring Menus
With the help of your chef and cooking staff, begin to plan new menu offerings for the warmer season ahead so you can order ingredients, prepare staff schedules, and create marketing promotions around the upcoming spring holidays and events.
Seasonal Items
Everyone craves the classic dishes served at Passover and Easter, but few relish the time and effort that goes into preparing them. Even if your restaurant does not normally offer items like ham, matzo ball soup, or corned beef brisket, this is one time of year where making an exception is likely to pay off.
Consider coming up with holiday-inspired ideas like an easter egg-salad platter or bunny pancakes. And don’t forget to add mouthwatering photos to attract customer orders to your online menu.
Limited Time Offers (LTO)
Take your seasonal menu up a notch using scarcity marketing tactics like a limited-time offers to drive urgency.
Family Style
Many families and groups plan gatherings over the holidays. Create family-size menus that serve 6-10 guests to tap into this segment of customers.
Meal Kits
While many folks are happy to cook for a crowd, there is likely a segment of your customer base who appreciates a little help from their favorite restaurant to create holiday dinners for a larger group of guests. Meal kits are great for making the holidays stress-free for your customers. Pull together traditional menu items like lamb, glazed carrots, ham, or Easter pie.
Create easy-to-follow recipe cards for customers to put the finishing touches on these dishes. The benefits are twofold: dishes can be pre-ordered and arrive cold, so you don’t have to worry about the logistical headache of keeping meals hot during the delivery process and taking payment ahead of time guarantees online ordering revenue.
Catering Packages
Go bigger than family-size by creating a catering menu that can serve parties of all sizes. Create catering packages for larger events, keeping individual customers in mind too. Many people would be happy to incorporate a few of your holiday items into their dinner spread to save on time and hassle, so don't forget to advertise this option to keep your customers in the know.
Think Local
Soaring food prices and other issues are wreaking havoc on the food industry once again. Striking up a relationship with local farms, co-ops, and farmers’ markets can help avoid the chaos surrounding issues like the bird flu and inflationary prices.
Read our related article: Cracking Down on Rising Egg Prices: Restaurant Strategies for Navigating Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
Take Away
Spring cleaning is not just about tidying up; it's an opportunity for restaurants to refresh their space, optimize their operations, and create a more inviting environment.
By tackling deep-cleaning tasks, organizing back-of-house areas, and refreshing the decor, you not only improve cleanliness but also enhance the overall dining experience.
A well-maintained restaurant shows customers that you care about their experience and your business, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty. Use this time to set the tone for the rest of the warm-weather seasons and ensure your restaurant is running at its best.
FAQs
Why is spring cleaning important for my restaurant?
Spring cleaning helps you maintain a clean and safe environment, improves staff efficiency, and provides customers with a fresh, welcoming atmosphere.
How often should I deep clean my restaurant?
Deep cleaning should ideally happen quarterly or at least twice a year, depending on the volume of your business. Spring cleaning is a great time to tackle tasks that don’t fit into your regular cleaning routine.
Should I hire professional cleaners for spring cleaning?
Depending on the size and scope of the work, it can be beneficial to hire professionals who can thoroughly clean areas that require specialized equipment or expertise, such as deep-cleaning carpets or kitchen exhaust systems.
By Eileen Strauss
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