Houston Restaurants & Hospitality

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).

Overnight & after-close Health-code-aware crews Food-contact-safe sanitizers Color-coded FOH/BOH microfiber Background-checked W-2 staff
Most Houston restaurant requests answered same business day.
Commercial restaurant cleaning technician in Houston vacuuming dining room carpet
FOH, Restrooms & BOH Floors — Done Right We don't pretend to be hood-cleaners. We're the crew that handles everything else, the way the Health Department actually scores it.
Insured & Bonded
$2M general liability
Background-Checked Crews
W-2 staff, uniformed
OSHA & EPA Standards
List N disinfectants
Houston-Owned Since 2016
Woman-owned, family-run
No Long-Term Contracts
30-day cancellation
Free Walkthrough in 24h
Custom proposal in 48h
12,000+
Houston food establishments inspected
by City Health Department
0
Hood cleanings we do — NFPA 96 trade
(we'll refer you to a certified specialist)
EPA
List N disinfectants for FOH
high-touch surfaces
9 yrs
Cleaning Houston facilities
since 2016
Why Houston Restaurants Choose TCE

We picked the lane on purpose — and we stay in it

Houston is one of the most-inspected restaurant cities in the country. The City of Houston Health Department alone covers 12,000+ food establishments, with annual unannounced inspections under Chapter 20 of the Houston Food Ordinance, plus complaint-based visits whenever a guest calls 311. Harris County Public Health covers the rest of the unincorporated metro. Either way, the deductions look the same on the score sheet — and most of them are cleaning deductions, not cooking deductions.

So here's where we stay, very clearly: front-of-house dining rooms, restrooms, kitchen floors and floor drains, walk-in cooler floors, bar-station detail, patio and entryway, and exterior storefront. That's the open lane in Houston restaurant cleaning, and it's where most of the points are lost on inspection day.

And here's where we don't pretend to belong: NFPA 96 hood, duct, and exhaust cleaning is a regulated specialty trade requiring fire-suppression awareness, certifications, and equipment we don't carry — Albedo's Return, Kitchen Guard, Hood Master, and Houston Hood Cleaning are the certified specialists you want for that. Grease trap pumping requires a TCEQ-permitted hauler — we'll happily recommend one. We will degrease your kitchen floor tile and walk-in floor all day long. We will not touch your hood plenum or your trap. That distinction is how restaurants stay out of trouble with the fire marshal and the Health Department both.

We've been cleaning Houston facilities since 2016. We're a Houston-based, woman-owned cleaning company, and restaurants are one of the verticals where the bar is shockingly low — most of our restaurant clients hired us after a previous vendor either skipped the bathroom on Saturday night, left chemical residue on the tabletops, or quietly upcharged "extra grease cleaning" every other invoice. We fix all three.

What we bring on day one: color-coded microfiber by zone (an FOH cloth never touches a BOH surface), food-contact-rated sanitizers on every tabletop, commercial alkaline degreasers on the kitchen tile, a sign-off photo for your GM by morning, and a fixed monthly proposal that doesn't quietly creep upward. We earn the relationship every visit.

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.

Health Code

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.

Disinfectants

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.

Out-of-Scope

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.

Out-of-Scope

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.

Inspection write-up

"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.

Manager complaint

"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 overreach

"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.

Guest complaint

"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."
General Manager 4,500 sqft fast-casual concept · Rice Village
★★★★★
"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."
Owner 3-location Houston bakery + café brand
★★★★★
"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."
Hospitality Director 200-seat hotel restaurant · Galleria

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.

Houston (citywide) The Heights Montrose EaDo Rice Village Galleria / Uptown Memorial CITYCENTRE River Oaks Bellaire West University Tanglewood Spring Branch Energy Corridor Westchase Downtown Midtown Jersey Village Cypress Spring The Woodlands Kingwood Atascocita Humble New Caney Porter Baytown Mont Belvieu Sugar Land Pearland

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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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.

Pass Your Next Houston Health Inspection With Floors That Actually Look Like It.

30-minute walkthrough after service. Fixed-monthly proposal in 48 hours. Crews that show up overnight every overnight. Honest about what we do — and don't do — every step. No long-term contracts.

Most Houston restaurant requests answered same business day · Walkthroughs typically within 48 hours
Call (832) 925-3800 Free Walkthrough