In today’s world customers are savvier than ever about hygiene and cleanliness, and a negative comment on social media or a bad Google review has the potential to be seen by millions of people in a very short space of time. Customers generally remember the best and worst aspects of a restaurant visit and no matter how fabulous the food, service or dining ambience, an unclean, unhygienic washroom could be enough to cancel out the positives.
“I won’t eat in restaurants with filthy bathrooms! If the restaurant can’t be bothered to replace the puck in the urinal or keep the toilets and floors clean, then just imagine what their refrigeration and workspaces look like.” – Anthony Bourdain | Kitchen Confidential.
A survey commissioned by hand dryer manufacturer, Airdri, found that over half of Brits wouldn’t return to a restaurant if faced with a dirty bathroom. Word of mouth recommendations are hugely important for the hospitality sector and when asked what they would do if they encountered a dirty bathroom, research revealed that most potential customers would warn friends and family not to visit.
The washroom is an extension of the restaurant, and stained toilets, unpleasant smells, overflowing bins, faulty lights, broken toilet seats and empty dispensers can seriously undermine confidence in the kitchen hygiene standards, food preparation and ultimately, in the food itself. It’s clear that hospitality venues need to clean up their act – and their washrooms! – if they want to attract and retain loyal patrons.
Paper towels can be a hygiene nightmare in the bathroom, ending up in overflowing bins, on the floor, on the counter and in toilets. The installation of modern hand dryers that combine innovative technology with low energy consumption, powerful jet hand drying and touchless, automatic operation can play a pivotal role in enhancing hygiene standards and sustainable practices, whilst also saving up to 97% on annual running costs.
Restaurant washrooms that are in constant use from patrons are a high-risk area in enabling the spread of germs and infections. The PureDri hybrid hand drying and sanitising system from Airdri combines a powerful jet-dry hand dryer run by an ultra-efficient 200-watt motor which uses sanitised air to dry hands thoroughly over a 20 second dry cycle, with best-in-class air sanitising technology which provides a unique triple action defence against the spread of bacteria, mould, viruses and odours. Risk is therefore reduced at every stage, as well as resulting in a cleaner, fresher washroom environment.
The PureDri in Action
The air around us contains micro-organisms, bacteria, viruses, moulds, fungi, and volatile organic compounds, responsible for creating offensive odours, spreading infections and resulting in the continued growth of mould. A single bacteria cell can multiply to over eight million in an eight-hour period, which can be a huge problem with multiple people touching washrooms surfaces in a restaurant bathroom environment.
PureDri works to continuously maintain an environment that is hostile to pathogens by creating and distributing a sanitising plasma into the air and on to surfaces. It also provides individual user protection by focusing plasma both around the user and onto hands in a focused 6 second blast at the end of the hand drying cycle, reducing bacteria that may not have been removed by hand washing by a further 11%.
This highly efficacious sanitising plasma is formed of hydroxyl radicals, superoxide ions and low levels of ozone and is proven to eliminate 99.8% of airborne viruses within minutes and 99.8% of surface bacteria within 4 hours, as well as substantially reducing unpleasant orders. It has been UK laboratory tested with efficacy data provided by top UK testing facilities including Profectus, Campden BRI and ALS Group, and proven to be effective against coronaviruses, E. Coli infection, common colds, urinary tract infections, flu and strep throat.
Puredri also benefits from an ultra slim profile and a user-friendly LED display panel for complete ease of use in the modern washroom.
Steve Whittall, Chief Operating Officer at Airdri, had this to say:
“If you want to improve your bottom line, then it’s clear that a clean bathroom is essential. Yet it appears that within the hospitality industry, there is work to do in improving hygiene standards in the washrooms. The results of our survey were perhaps surprising given the increased levels of cleaning we saw during the pandemic. And the open questions on what people had discovered in the UK’s public bathrooms made for some eye-watering reading.
“Where alcohol is involved it’s often more common for ‘accidents’ to happen, leaving the toilets in a less than desirable state, so you’d expect bars and nightclubs to have the dirtiest restrooms, but visitors to a quarter of restaurants had also fallen foul of bathrooms so dirty that they wouldn’t return. That’s certainly something that would put me off my dinner!”
Find out more about the PureDri hybrid hand drying and sanitising system here: https://www.airdri.com/puredri/