The Keys to Cleanliness at Your Family Entertainment Center

Maintaining a clean facility is one way you can improve overall guest experience. 

Especially post-COVID-19, customers want to know that you're doing everything possible to keep them safe and keep your facility clean.

Keys to Cleanliness at Your Family Entertainment Center

With the number of patrons coming through your FEC on a regular basis, it can be hard to keep up. However, people notice the little things. If you neglect certain aspects of your business, it will deter customers from returning and hurt your new customer potential if the word spreads.

Here are a few practical tips to keep your family entertainment center in tip-top-shape.

Ensure You and Your Staff Maintain Proper Personal Hygiene

As an owner, manager, employee, or customer, there are several things you can do to limit the spread of germs.

• Always wash your hands: Use soap and water to scrub away dirt and grime on your hands regularly, especially after using the bathroom, blowing your nose, before food preparation, and after touching garbage. Make sure to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds.
  
  Use hand sanitizer as well and make it available for both customers and staff to use throughout your facility.
  
  
• Avoid touching your face when possible: Let’s face it—it’s impossible to keep your hands 100% germ-free. However, if you limit touching your face to only when necessary, you limit the number of avenues that germs can take to enter your body. It is a hard habit to form but worthwhile!
  
  
• Cover your mouth when coughing or sneezing: The easiest way to spread germs is through droplets in the air, most commonly spread by people coughing or sneezing. Combat this by covering your mouth and nose when you feel a sneeze coming on or a tickle in your throat. Wash your hands afterwards if possible.
  
  
• Stay home when you’re sick: If you find yourself ill, one of the best things you can do is limit your exposure to others. Wait until you’re better before returning to work! Practice social responsibility. If you're a FEC owner or operator, encourage your employees to do the same.
  
  
• Stay hydrated: Fluid intake is a very important part of staying healthy. Proper hydration puts your body in a better position to fight off any infections that it may encounter. If you're a FEC owner or operator, consider giving out free water bottles to your staff.

Commit to Maintaining a Clean Facility

Here are a few more suggestions to help you keep your facility as clean as possible:

• Communicate with your employees: Advocating for employees and guests to stay home when they’re sick helps make both staff and your customers feel more comfortable.
  Many of your employees handle money and credit cards on a constant basis, which are prime vectors for transmitting germs. Remind them to sanitize and/or wash their hands thoroughly.
  
  
• Clean daily: High-touch areas require extra attention. It’s always smart to have a supply of sanitizing wipes on hand for wiping down personal office spaces or counter tops . Door handles, registers, keyboards—these are all spots that should be wiped down at least once daily. Surfaces such as party tables should be cleaned after each party, and kitchen surfaces should be sanitized after each meal preparation, especially when working with raw meat.
  
  
• Disinfect when you clean: We all keep our workplaces tidy, but sometimes cleaning an area merely removes dirt and grime, but bacteria and viruses can still linger. Use disinfectant spray or wipes as a follow up. Your play structures and other commonly touched areas should be cleaned each night and a deep clean/sanitization should be scheduled weekly.
  
  
• Make sanitization options available for customers: Assist your customers by keeping a fresh supply of tissues and sanitizer at the front counter and other areas in your facility where guests congregate. Include those items as part of every party room setup as well. If your stock is running low and you find yourself in a pinch needing certain items quickly, here are a few DIY cleaner recipes you can make in the meantime (bonus: they're chemical free!)
  
  
• Make cancellation/rescheduling options clear and reasonable: When booking a party, customers often want to know if they’ll be able to receive a full or partial refund if something unexpected puts a wrench in their plans. In terms of health, no one plans on getting sick, but some fall ill before their scheduled party. If you deny any type of partial refund or rescheduling options, those customers might decide to move forward with their event, even if they’re not in the best of health.
  
  This isn’t advisable to allow if you care about the experience of EVERY guest, not just the individuals booking private events with you. Create a list of party guidelines/policies for customers to review before booking and consider each case as they arise for the best course of action. Showing great customer service and understanding is the key to positive reviews, repeat customers, and increased referrals.

Keeping a facility clean keeps customers happy, keeps them coming back, and spreads the word about how great your facility is.

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