Restaurant Cleaning Services in Washington: An Inspection-Ready Guide for Cafes and Restaurants
Restaurant cleaning services in Washington: WAC 246-215, front vs back of house, hoods, 2026 prices in Snohomish & King County. Text for a written price.
By Yuri and Tatiana, owners of Shining Cleanse LLC, a family cleaning company based in Everett, WA and licensed in 10 cities across Snohomish and King County.
Restaurant cleaning services in Washington usually mean a weekly deep clean after close, on top of your staff’s daily closing routine. With us that starts at $557 for a cafe under 1,500 sq ft and $747 for a 1,500–3,000 sq ft restaurant: floors behind the line, degreasing, front of house and restrooms. Certified hood-duct cleaning is a separate vendor.
Our full scope is on the restaurant and cafe cleaning page. This guide explains what the food code expects, who does what, and what it costs.
What does WAC 246-215 require for restaurant cleaning?
WAC 246-215, the Washington State Retail Food Code, is based on the FDA Food Code and enforced by your local health jurisdiction: in our area, the Snohomish County health department or Public Health – Seattle & King County. The cleaning-relevant parts cover equipment and utensils (how often, which methods, sanitizer concentrations), the physical facility (floors, walls, ceilings, ventilation, plumbing) and toxic materials (how cleaning chemicals are labeled and stored).
In practice, inspectors look at three things again and again:
- Food-contact surfaces sanitized at the right concentration, checked with test strips (chlorine typically 50–100 ppm; quat per its label)
- Non-food-contact surfaces visibly clean, without grease or buildup
- Chemicals labeled and stored away from food
Food-contact sanitizing during service is your staff’s job under the code. Our part is the buildup that a nightly close cannot reach.
What is cleaned front of house versus back of house?
| Area | Your staff, daily | Our weekly visit |
|---|---|---|
| Dining room | tables between parties, chairs, sweep after rushes | table undersides, chair legs, booth seams steamed, glass and partitions, floors detailed edge to edge |
| Host stand and POS | wipe twice a shift | full detail of surfaces and edges |
| Customer restrooms | hourly checks, restock | full reset, steam on fixtures and grout, disinfectant on touchpoints |
| Cooking line | food-contact sanitizing, flat-top and fryer at close | stovetop, flat-top and fryer surrounds, the wall behind them, hood exterior and reachable filter housings |
| Prep and storage | prep tables sanitized per task | prep table legs and exteriors, reach-in door frames and gaskets, dry storage shelving |
| Floors behind the line | sweep and mop at close | scrubbed under and behind equipment, dish-pit corner, walk-in floor |
| Bar | soda gun nozzles, drip trays | cabinet fronts, bar floor, ice machine exterior |
Monthly we add equipment exteriors in detail, reach-in interiors and a soak of drink dispenser nozzles. We use a food-service degreaser on equipment exteriors and floors, a quat sanitizer at label concentration on non-food-contact surfaces, and dry steam at 290°F on grout, booth seams and tile. Kitchen cloths are blue microfiber only; restroom cloths never leave the restroom.
Why steam works near food areas: steam cleaning vs chemical cleaning.
Our job
Our jobDo restaurant cleaners clean kitchen hoods?
We do not do certified hood cleaning. NFPA 96 requires hood ducts, fans and fire-suppression components to be cleaned by a qualified hood-cleaning company on a schedule set by cooking volume (quarterly for high volume, semiannually for moderate, annually for low), with a dated sticker on the hood. That work involves disassembly and duct access.
What we do: the hood exterior, filter housings we can reach without disassembly, and the wall and ceiling behind the line. We will point you to a certified hood cleaner. Grease traps, beer lines and pest control also stay with specialist vendors.
How much does restaurant and cafe cleaning cost?
Our 2026 prices for a first or one-time visit, from our pricing page:
| Space | First or one-time visit |
|---|---|
| Cafe or coffee shop, under 1,500 sq ft | $557 |
| Small restaurant, 1,500–3,000 sq ft | $747 |
| Full-service, 3,000+ sq ft | $0.33 per sq ft |
| Monthly equipment-interior add-on | quoted in writing |
For a recurring contract we price maintenance visits after the first clean, based on the time the visit actually takes, and send a written proposal. Weekday evenings are included; Saturday visits add 15%; Sunday and overnight visits are priced in writing. Kitchens cost more than offices because degreasing is slow. For a wider comparison, see commercial cleaning costs in the Seattle area, and for the long-term case, how professional cleaning protects your business assets.
We are two owners who do every visit ourselves, so we take a limited number of restaurant contracts. We clean cafes and restaurants in Woodinville and our other licensed cities.
Our jobFAQ
Do you pump or clean grease traps?
No. Grease trap pumping and interceptor service go to a licensed grease hauler. We clean the floor around the trap and the dish-pit corner, but we do not open or pump it.
Can you clean on our closed day?
Yes. If you close one day a week, weekend days included, we can do the deep clean that day instead of after a late service.
Do you bring your own chemicals?
Yes. We bring a food-service degreaser, a quat sanitizer used at label concentration, and our steam unit. Every product is labeled, stored away from food, and its SDS stays on site.
Get a written price for your restaurant
Text 2–4 photos of the space to (425) 539-5492 or request a written quote. We reply with a written price the same business day (Mon–Fri 9am–7pm, Sat 9am–5pm). For a recurring contract, add a floor plan or the square footage; we ask any questions by text and confirm the price in writing.
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