Convenience-store retailers have long understood that cleanliness throughout the store is important to the success of their foodservice operations, which have become an important driver of traffic and sales.
The COVID-19 pandemic further heightened consumer and employee awareness around cleanliness in retail and foodservice environments, however. Shoppers now more than ever expect stores to be clean, sanitized and disinfected, and they expect to see evidence that workers are actively cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting, especially in foodservice areas.
Visual cues such as employees wearing masks and visibly cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting surfaces have been critical for making consumers feel safer visiting restaurants, according to Technomic’s recent Safety and Sanitation Reigns, Sustainability Returns report. The report notes that consumers indicate that they want these overt cleaning measures to remain in place following the pandemic.
In fact, consumers indicate they are willing to spend twice as much at restaurants that meet cleanliness standards than at those that do not, according to The New Normal for Restaurantsstudy released this year from global strategy and marketing consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners and Lucid, a programmatic research technology company.
“Sanitization standards, which did not rank highly prior to the pandemic, remain a top purchase criteria, suggesting this value driver is here to stay as a result of COVID-19,” the report says. “The most important sanitization practices center around employee cleaning processes: hand sanitizer for employees, employee handwashing, and surface cleaning frequency.”
In the convenience retailing environment, germs can easily spread from high-touch surfaces such as gas pump handles, rest room facilities, door fixtures and other surfaces into foodservice areas.
Many convenience retailers have stepped up their cleaning and sanitization regimens during the pandemic, while customers themselves have responded to their own concerns about cleanliness by carrying personal bottles of sanitizer or wipes.
Operators can give these customers confidence in the cleanliness and safety of the store environment by having their staff wipe down high-contact areas, including foodservice areas, with PURELL® Foodservice Surface Sanitizing Wipes. These convenient, ready-to-use wipes, from a brand consumers know and trust, allow workers to easily and efficiently sanitize surfaces throughout the store, killing both viruses and bacteria.
PURELL® Foodservice Surface Sanitizing Wipes kill coronavirus in 30 seconds, and are also effective against salmonella, listeria, cold, flu and norovirus.
They are fragrance-free, safe for food contact, FDA Food Code-compliant and registered with the Environmental Protection Agency. PURELL® Foodservice Surface Sanitizing Wipes also require no rinsing or handwashing after use and are an easy way for staff to manage sanitation needs without the hassle of mixing chemicals with traditional dilution systems.
Making cleaning and sanitation easy for workers not only makes their jobs easier, but also helps give them the confidence that their employers are as concerned about their health and safety as much as they are about the health and safety of customers. At a time when many operators are doing everything they can to attract both qualified workers and bring customers back into the store, having convenient, highly visible systems in place for cleaning and sanitation can play a big role.
Visit www.gojo.com/ for more information about these and other products
This post is sponsored by GOJO Industries, the inventors of the PURELL brand