How to improve restaurant indoor air quality

July 05,2021

Thousands of restaurants can legally open, but customers are still reluctant to go back to eat.
Restaurants need to do everything possible to reassure customers and staff. So it means restaurants have to take extra safety measures to improve indoor air quality.
Security measures today can be critical to a restaurant's bottom line. A survey has found that more than 60 percent of adults say they will eat at a restaurant based on its hygiene and safety practices. More consumers said they wanted restaurants to provide hand-washing stations, strictly clean high-contact surfaces frequently, and require workers to wear face masks.
The task of improving air quality has been highlighted as restaurants beef up their health and safety policies.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also issued guidance on the need for increased ventilation. If a restaurant has a better ventilation system, customers are less likely to get infected. On the other hand, there is a high risk of a pandemic outbreak, if the restaurant does not have a good ventilation system and is full of people.
Although restaurant owners understand the importance of ventilation, it is not wise to invest in a large number of new systems to make ventilation changes in a recession restaurant economy at this time.
For many restaurants, it's wise for restaurateurs and managers to improve air quality by taking a multi-tiered, low-cost approach. Traditionally, airflow has depended on space. By improving indoor air quality, the efficient measure is to remove smoke and grease from the air. What's more,  restaurants can raise health and safety standards during the time of coronavirus.

Here are five tips to make the clean air in your restaurant:
1. Replace the air filter regularly.
2. Have your HVAC system inspected and maintained annually.
3. Use cleaning products that do not contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can pollute indoor air.
4. Carefully clean equipment, floors, walls, and other surfaces to prevent dust, food particles, and other debris into the HVAC system of the restaurant.
5. Design (or redesign) your kitchen and entire dining room with an ergonomic mind.
Ergonomic restaurant layouts can not only improve the efficiency, productivity, and comfort of the workplace but also help improve indoor air quality.

The restaurant also has access to the latest air purification technology, which removes all pathogens, viruses, bacteria, and molds from the air and surface of an area that is sometimes the size of the entire restaurant.
In addition, these scrubbers can remove dust, allergens, smoke, odors, and other pollutants from the air and surface.
The new air purifiers can convert oxygen and humidity into superoxide ions and hydroperoxides. Essentially it also can turn the air into a cleaner. Because they remove more than 99 percent of pollutants from the air and surfaces, kill pathogens that people might come into contact with, and destroy microbes in the air and surfaces.
COVID-19 led us to focus on infection prevention and air quality in restaurants because restaurants were rated as one of the 10 public places with the worst indoor air quality. Therefore, catering operators must do a strict job of hygiene to win back customers.