Restaurant Cleaning Houston — Front-of-House, Restrooms & Kitchen Floor Degreasing
Houston has 12,000+ inspected food establishments — Heights to Rice Village to Galleria to The Woodlands. Front-of-house, restrooms, and back-of-house floor degreasing are where most of the City of Houston Health Department deductions happen. We handle the cleaning that's not hood-cleaning — the FOH dining room, restrooms, kitchen floors, walk-in floor mats, and exterior — between services or overnight. We do NOT perform NFPA 96 hood/exhaust cleaning or grease trap pumping (specialty trades we'll happily refer out).
by City Health Department
(we'll refer you to a certified specialist)
high-touch surfaces
since 2016
Houston Restaurant Concepts We Clean
Every concept has its own service window and FOH/BOH split. We brief crews per-site so the cadence matches your rush, your closing checklist, and your prep team's start time.
Casual Dining (Independent)
Heights, Montrose, EaDo, Rice Village neighborhood concepts — daily after-close FOH reset, restroom detail, BOH-floor degrease.
Fine Dining
White-tablecloth concepts — banquette deep-detail, polished glass and brass, restroom discretion, after-last-seat overnight.
Quick-Service / Fast-Casual
Counter-order concepts and chain-format restaurants — daily after-close FOH reset, condiment-station detail, drive-thru window glass.
Bars, Lounges & Breweries
BOH degrease, bar-mat scrub, restroom turnover during peak nights, sticky-floor recovery, beverage-station sanitization.
Hotel Restaurants & Banquet Halls
Galleria, CITYCENTRE, Memorial hotel F&B operations — multi-shift coverage, banquet turnover, room-service path detail.
Cafés, Bakeries & Coffee Shops
5–7x weekly evening cleans, espresso-station detail, pastry-case glass, bathroom touch-up between morning and afternoon rush.
Food Halls & Ghost Kitchens
Multi-vendor shared FOH, common restrooms, common BOH floor degrease, dedicated supervisor across vendors and concepts.
Catering Kitchens (Between Events)
Per-event turnover — floor degrease, prep table sanitization (food-contact protocol), restroom reset, trash haul-out.
What's Included in Restaurant Cleaning
Six scope areas, written into a fixed-checklist on walkthrough day. No "interpretation" once we're under contract — what's on the list gets done every visit, signed off with a photo.
Dining Room (Front-of-House)
- Table and chair detail — legs, undersides, joints
- Banquette wipe-down, booth deep-clean
- Host stand and POS terminal exterior detail
- Bar-top detail and brass / glass polish
- Floor sweep and mop with degreaser near kitchen
- Window-facing surface and ledge dust
- Light fixture dusting (low reach)
- Food-contact-safe rinse on all tabletops
Restrooms (Between Rush Surges)
- High-volume protocol for Friday / Saturday peak
- Toilet, urinal, sink, mirror detail
- Partition wipe-down and floor mop with disinfectant
- Dispenser refills (TP, soap, paper towels)
- Urinal cake refresh and floor-drain detail
- Trash removal and liner refresh
- Diaper-deck sanitization (family restrooms)
- Mid-shift refresh option for high-volume concepts
Kitchen Floor Degreasing (BOH)
- Commercial alkaline degreaser on tile
- Walk-in cooler floor scrub (food-safe rinse)
- Prep area floor scrub
- Bar-trough degrease
- Drainage grate detail
- Grout brush at tile joints (built-up grease)
- Floor scrubber for larger BOH areas
- NOT hood / exhaust — refer to NFPA 96 specialist
Bar / Beverage Station
- Speed rack tidy and exterior wipe
- Soda gun nozzle clean (food-contact protocol)
- Ice well sanitization (food-contact protocol)
- Garnish station detail
- Bar-mat scrub and rotation
- Drain-trough degrease
- Glass shelving polish
- POS exterior wipe (no equipment moved)
Entry, Patio & Storefront Glass
- Host stand and entry door detail
- Entry mat shake-out and refresh
- Patio furniture wipe-down
- Exterior glass and frame detail
- Sandwich-board signage cleaning
- Sidewalk sweep (Houston pollen season!)
- Outdoor ashtray and trash refresh
- Awning surface dust (low reach)
Walk-In Cooler / Dry Storage Floor
- Floor scrub only — no inventory moved
- Food-safe rinse (no chemical migration risk)
- Floor-drain detail under direction
- Shelving dust under direction (only if asked)
- Threshold and door-seal wipe
- No food-contact surface handling in storage
- No FIFO rotation or inventory work
- Color-coded mop dedicated to walk-in only
Compliance & What's Out-of-Scope (On Purpose)
Houston restaurants live and die by the score sheet. Here's what we know, what we use, and — just as importantly — what we don't pretend to do.
City of Houston Food Ordinance (Chapter 20)
Annual unannounced inspections plus complaint-based visits. We brief crews on the cleanable items where most points are lost — floor mats, drains, restroom partitions, walk-in floors, dumpster-area exterior.
EPA List N for FOH High-Touch
Quaternary ammonium for non-food surfaces, hydrogen-peroxide products for sensitive areas, food-contact-rated sanitizers (200 ppm chlorine or quat per FDA Food Code) for tabletops and bartops. Clean → rinse → sanitize, every time.
NFPA 96 Hood Cleaning — Refer Out
Kitchen exhaust hoods, ducts, plenums, and filters require specialty certifications, fire-suppression awareness, and equipment we don't carry. We'll happily refer you to Albedo's Return, Kitchen Guard, Hood Master, or Houston Hood Cleaning.
Grease Trap Pumping — Refer Out
Grease trap pumping requires a TCEQ-permitted hauler. We degrease floors and drain grates all day; the trap itself stays with your licensed hauler. Need a recommendation? We've worked alongside several Houston-area pumpers.
How We Onboard a Houston Restaurant
No long sales calls, no fluff. Five steps from first call to first overnight clean.
Free Walkthrough After Service
30 minutes on-site after your last seating with your GM or owner. We map FOH zones, restroom flow, BOH-floor degrease points, walk-in cooler, exterior, and listen to what your last health inspection flagged.
Custom Proposal
Within 48 hours: a fixed-monthly written proposal with scope, frequency, products, supervisor cadence, and Certificate of Insurance. NFPA 96 hood and grease trap explicitly listed as out-of-scope. No surprise add-ons later.
Crew Briefing
Your assigned crew gets a site-specific briefing: alarm and lock-up codes, POS and safe areas (off-limits without manager), color-coded microfiber zones, food-contact rinse protocol, and your closing-team handoff procedure.
First Overnight Clean
After-close clean (typically 11 PM–5 AM) with our supervisor on-site for the first three weeks. Sign-off photos and a checklist hit your GM's inbox by morning so the prep team walks into a reset house.
Ongoing Quality Audits
Monthly walk-through audits with your account manager, a direct line for any deductions you want addressed, and a 30-day cancellation clause if anything ever falls below standard. We earn the relationship every overnight.
Why Houston Restaurants Switch to TCE
These are the four most common complaints we hear about previous cleaners — and exactly how we fix each one.
"Inspector dinged us for grimy floor mats and floor drains."
Our fix: Degreaser scrub on walk-in floor, kitchen tile, drain grates, and floor mats every single visit. Photo-documented sign-off so you can prove it on the next walk-through.
"Restrooms looked terrible by 9 PM Saturday."
Our fix: Between-rush surge crew available for high-volume Friday and Saturday nights — discreet runner, restroom-only scope, back-door entry. Your guests never see us; your manager gets a sign-off text.
"Vendor said they'd do hood cleaning too — and we got cited."
Our fix: We don't pretend. Hood and exhaust are a regulated NFPA 96 trade and we'll refer you out to a certified Houston specialist. Lane discipline is how restaurants stay out of trouble.
"Last cleaner left chemical residue on tabletops."
Our fix: Food-contact-safe rinse protocol on every tabletop and bartop — clean, rinse, sanitize per FDA Food Code. No quaternary ammonium ever left to dry where guests eat.
Cleaning Cadence by Restaurant Concept
A starting point — your final scope and price are set after the walkthrough. We never quote sight-unseen.
| Concept & Size | Typical Frequency | Crew Size | Monthly Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Café / coffee shop · <2K sqft | 5–7x weekly evening | 1 cleaner | $800–$1,800 |
| Casual dining · 2K–5K sqft | Daily after-close | 2 cleaners | $2,000–$4,500 |
| Fine dining / fast-casual chain · 5K–10K sqft | Daily after-close + restroom mid-shift | 2–3 cleaners | $3,500–$7,000 |
| Multi-concept restaurant / food hall · 10K+ sqft | Multi-shift, dedicated supervisor | 3–6 cleaners | $7,000–$15,000+ |
| Catering kitchen · between events | Per-event basis | 1–3 cleaners | Per-event pricing |
Ranges reflect Houston-area restaurant cleaning market for FOH, restroom, and BOH-floor scope. NFPA 96 hood cleaning and grease trap pumping are NOT included — those are specialty trades we'll refer out. Final pricing depends on square footage, frequency, scope, access, and supplies arrangement.
What Houston Restaurant Operators Tell Us
"Our last cleaner used to leave the bar mats half-scrubbed and the hostess stand sticky. TCE gave us a written checklist the day they walked through, and every morning the GM gets a sign-off photo. Inspection scores went up two visits in a row."
"Three locations, three different closing times, and one cleaner who actually shows up at all three. They were upfront on day one that they don't do the hoods, and they handed us a list of certified hood guys. That honesty is rare in this industry."
"Banquet turnover used to be a nightmare. Now we book TCE for the overnight between back-to-back weddings and the room is reset by 9 AM — tables sanitized with food-contact safe product, restrooms restocked, kitchen floors degreased. Worth every dollar."
Houston Restaurant Neighborhoods We Serve
Restaurants are everywhere in Houston — from the bar-and-bistro density of Montrose, EaDo, and Heights, to the Rice Village brunch corridor, to the Galleria and CITYCENTRE hotel-restaurant cluster, to the Memorial and Sugar Land family-dining belt, all the way out to The Woodlands and the Northeast suburbs where we're based.
Restaurant Cleaning Houston — Frequently Asked Questions
If you don't see your question, call (832) 925-3800 or request a walkthrough and we'll answer it on-site.
Do you clean Houston restaurants between dinner service and the morning open?
+Yes. Overnight (typically 11 PM–5 AM) and after-close late-night windows are our most common restaurant cadences in Houston. We coordinate around your closing checklist, alarm and lock-up procedures, and the next morning's prep team arrival so the FOH dining room, restrooms, and kitchen floors are reset before line cooks walk in.
Do you do kitchen exhaust hood cleaning?
+No — and we want to be very clear about this. Kitchen exhaust hood, duct, plenum, and filter cleaning is regulated under NFPA 96 and requires specialized certifications, fire-suppression awareness, and equipment we don't carry. Pretending otherwise is how restaurants end up with citations or fire-marshal flags. We'll happily refer you to a certified Houston specialist (Albedo's Return, Kitchen Guard, Hood Master, or Houston Hood Cleaning) and coordinate scheduling so the two crews don't collide.
Do you do grease trap pumping?
+No. Grease trap pumping requires TCEQ-permitted hauler licensure and is a separate specialty trade. We degrease your kitchen floor tile, walk-in cooler floor, and drain grates — but the trap itself stays with your licensed hauler. We can recommend Houston-area pumpers if you don't already have one.
Can you handle restroom turnover during peak Friday and Saturday rush?
+Yes. Surge crews for high-volume Friday and Saturday nights are part of our hospitality lineup. We set up between-rush refreshes (typically around 9 PM and again at 10:30 PM) with a discreet runner, restroom-only scope, and a back-door entry so guests never see us. Your manager signs off via text photo.
What disinfectants do you use? Are they food-contact safe?
+Our standard FOH high-touch kit is EPA List N — quaternary ammonium for non-food surfaces, hydrogen peroxide-based products for sensitive areas, and food-contact-rated sanitizers (200 ppm chlorine or quat solutions per FDA Food Code) for tabletops, bartops, and any surface guests eat off. We follow a clean → rinse → sanitize protocol on food-contact surfaces — no quaternary ammonium left to dry on tables.
Are you familiar with City of Houston Food Ordinance and Health Department inspection criteria?
+Yes. We brief our crews on the deductions that show up most often on the City of Houston Health Department score sheet — grimy floor mats and floor drains, dirty restroom partitions, high-touch dining-room surfaces, walk-in floor buildup, and exterior dumpster-area cleanliness. We won't sign your inspection (that's between you, your manager, and the inspector) but we'll make sure the cleanable items aren't where you lose points.
Can you degrease kitchen tile and walk-in cooler floors?
+Yes — that's one of our most-requested restaurant services. We use commercial alkaline degreasers (rinsed thoroughly), grout brushes for built-up grease at the tile joints, and a floor scrubber for larger BOH areas. Walk-in cooler floors get a separate protocol with a food-safe rinse so nothing migrates onto inventory. We do NOT touch hood/exhaust greases or the grease trap itself.
Do you clean catering kitchens between events?
+Yes. Catering kitchens, ghost kitchens, and shared commissaries are an underserved Houston niche. We set up per-event turnovers — floor degrease, prep table sanitization (food-contact protocol), restroom reset, trash haul-out — usually within a 4–6 hour overnight window. Recurring weekly base cleans plus per-event surge cleans are the typical structure.
Are your restaurant cleaning crews background-checked?
+Yes. Every member of our team is background-checked, badged, and uniformed W-2 staff (not subcontractors). For restaurants, we also brief crews on POS, safe, and office areas — they don't go behind the line, into the back office, or near the till without your manager present. That protects everyone.
What does restaurant cleaning cost in Houston?
+Pricing varies by square footage, frequency, and scope. As a general guide: small cafés and coffee shops (under 2,000 sqft) start around $800–$1,800/month for 5–7x weekly evening cleans; casual-dining concepts (2,000–5,000 sqft) typically run $2,000–$4,500/month for daily after-close cleans; fine-dining and chain-format restaurants (5,000–10,000 sqft) range $3,500–$7,000/month with daily plus mid-shift restroom touch-ups; multi-concept restaurants and food halls land at $7,000–$15,000+/month. Catering kitchens are quoted per-event. Final pricing comes after the walkthrough — no surprise add-ons.
Do you provide supplies and equipment, or do we?
+We bring everything — commercial degreasers, EPA List N disinfectants, food-contact-rated sanitizers, microfiber color-coded by zone (no FOH cloth ever touches BOH and vice-versa), mops, scrubbers, vacuums, and restroom consumables (toilet paper, hand soap, paper towels). If your concept prefers a specific eco-certified product (Green Seal GS-37, EPA Safer Choice), we'll match it. Pricing always reflects who's supplying what.
How do we get started? What does the walkthrough look like?
+Call (832) 925-3800 or request a free walkthrough online. We'll come on-site after your service window (typically within a week, often within 48 hours), tour the FOH, BOH-floor zones, restrooms, and exterior with your GM or owner, photograph anything that needs special handling, listen to past pain points (and to what your last health inspection flagged), and email a fixed-monthly written proposal within 48 hours. No long-term contracts, 30-day cancellation, no surprise fees.
Other Commercial Verticals We Clean in Houston
Many of our restaurant clients also operate event spaces, fitness studios, or front-office suites. Here's the rest of what we do.