How to Professionally Wash Restaurant Towels

White restaurant towels can usually be bleached and are a popular choice.

Restaurant towels get used from the front door to the back of the kitchen on a daily basis. Exposure to a variety of restaurant-related spills and stains often leaves towels stained and soiled. Many restaurant towels are designed to stand up to the rigors of constant cleaning. Professionally washing restaurant towels requires nothing more than a washing machine and a few common household stain fighters. It only takes minutes to wash restaurant towels like a laundry pro.

Things You'll Need

• 2 plastic washtubs
• Bleach
• Distilled white vinegar
• Concentrated laundry detergent (stain-fighting)
• Baking soda

Instructions

1. Divide the dirty restaurant towels into three separate groups. Place lightly soiled and unstained towels directly into the washing machine. Place beverage-stained and non-greasy food-stained towels into a plastic wash tub and greasy stained towels in another wash tub.

2. Run a cold water rinse cycle on the towels in the washing machine. Rinse the other two tubs of towels with cold water. Pour off the rinse water.

3. Read the washing instructions and warnings on the labels of the beverage- and non-greasy food-stained towels to see if they are bleach-safe. Move any towels that may be damaged by bleach to the tub with the greasy towels.

4. Add a gallon of water to both wash tubs. Pour ¾ cup bleach into the tub of bleach-safe towels. Pour 1 cup distilled white vinegar into the tub of greasy towels.

5. Soak the towels for 20 minutes. Pour off the water. Rinse the towels with cool water.

6. Wash all the towels in the washing machine on the hottest setting. Add ½ cup baking soda and concentrated laundry soap to the wash. Examine towels after each wash load completes and rewash any towels with highly visible stains.

Tips & Warnings

• Most new restaurant towels work better if they are washed prior to their first use.

• Ask restaurant employees to divide dirty towels into the three categories to save time on the laundry.

• Wash the lightly soiled towels in the washing machine when there are enough for a load or the restaurant needs more towels. The stained and greasy tubs can be washed later in separate loads when they have had time to soak.

References

• The Farm: Sixty Uses Of Baking Soda
• New Mexico State University: Getting Clothes Clean