Night cleaning services are normally undertaken by hospitality establishments in order that their kitchens and food service areas are ready for service again in the morning. Night cleaning may either be conducted as an intermittent service, like a yearly or seasonal deep clean; or it can be done nightly as part of the overall routine of the kitchen.

In point of fact, night cleaning services are technically done as both – all kitchen cleaning is done at night, whether it's the end of shift clean down or the deep clean at the end of a busy season. In both cases, certain attributes are required of the cleaning team.

A ketch in a large or busy hotel is an imposing place. Equipment, from the conveyor belted dishwashers to the de-carbonising machines, is large and potentially dangerous. To properly conduct a clean of such equipment night cleaning services staff must not only have the strength to lift out the individual parts of each machine – they must also have a working knowledge of how the pieces fit together.

Typical good practice sees a major restaurant or hotel deep clean at least one major piece of equipment each week, as well as running the normal clean down after kitchen service has finished. While kitchen staff are usually expected to clean during shift, and directly after the kitchen has closed, dedicated night cleaning staff may be employed to carry out the more onerous, dangerous or difficult jobs.

A deep clean involves more work still, bad is typically practised by busy establishments on either a biannual or an annual basis. Deep cleaning requires the removal of all equipment so it can be cleaned behind; plus the dismantling and cleaning of that equipment and then finally its re-installation in its proper place.

Night cleaning services staff conducting a night clean can expect a serious amount of tiring work in a short space of time. With the right planning and the right leadership, a night cleaning team can deep clean all the kitchens in a hotel; and may also clean the body of the restaurant itself.

There are vast health and safety considerations to take under advisement when planning a deep clean. Night cleaning services must be provided with the proper protective clothing and trained in the use of potentially caustic or irritating chemicals. In addition they must be given adequate time between shifts to recover and rest. Working with heavy industrial cleaning equipment themselves, as well as dismantling potentially dangerous items like the de-carboniser mentioned above, a night cleaning staff member must be physically strong and mentally alert at all times.

Routine night cleaning, which is done every night after the chefs and their staff have gone, ensures a very high standard of health, safety and cleanliness in an establishment. The night cleaning services team may in this case conduct rotary cleaning – where one or two large pieces of cooking equipment are dismantled and properly cleaned every evening.

Night cleaning services conducted properly raise the level of cooking staff morale, whilst preventing contamination.