Linen and laundry procedure for a café or restaurant: wiping cloths, aprons, napkins and a laundry log

At 9 p.m. the closer finds the clean towel shelf empty. The last delivery from the linen service was short, nobody counted it, and the line has been reusing this morning's cloths since lunch. Tomorrow's opener will find a wet pile in a bus tub by the back door.

Laundry is a small job that touches food safety twice: dirty cloths spread what they picked up, and clean ones get dirty again if they're stored in the wrong place. This post gives you the Food Code rules, a par sheet so you don't run out, a routine for washing in-house or with a linen service, and a log.

General information. Your state or local health department enforces its own edition of the Food Code, and its rules can differ. Section numbers and quotes below are from the FDA Food Code 2026.

What counts as a linen

The Food Code defines linens as "fabric items such as cloth hampers, cloth napkins, tablecloths, wiping cloths, and work garments including cloth gloves" (§1-201.10(B)). So the rules below cover bar towels, aprons, chef coats, napkins and the cloth in the bread basket, not only the red-bucket rags.

How often each one is washed

And the standard everything is held to: "Clean LINENS shall be free from FOOD residues and other soiling matter." (§4-801.11). The reason the Food Code gives for daily washing of wet cloths is to "reduce the microbiological load in the cleanser and sanitizer" (Annex 3, §4-802.11). The sanitizer side of wet cloths, mixing and testing the bucket, is in our sanitizer bucket procedure.

Where soiled and clean linens go

In practice: a lidded bin or a washable bag at each station for wet cloths, away from the prep table; a clean-linen shelf off the floor and away from the dish pit splash zone; and street clothes in lockers, not hung on the dry storage rack.

Washing in-house or using a linen service

In-house. If you launder "work clothes or LINENS" on the premises, "a mechanical clothes washer and dryer shall be provided and used" (§4-301.15(A)). There's one exception: if you only launder wiping cloths meant to be used moist, or you air-dry them, you don't need the washer and dryer (§4-301.15(B)), and those cloths may be washed in a washer, a sink used only for laundering wiping cloths, or a warewashing or prep sink that's cleaned first (§4-803.12(B)). Everything else is "mechanically washed" (§4-803.12(A)).

A few more rules if the machines are on site:

• Placement. The washer and dryer go where they're "protected from contamination and only where there is no exposed FOOD; clean EQUIPMENT, UTENSILS, and LINENS; and unwrapped SINGLE-SERVICE and SINGLE-USE ARTICLES" (§4-401.11(C)).
• Air-drying. Cloths washed without a dryer are air-dried "in a location and in a manner that prevents contamination" (§4-901.12).
• Restaurant laundry only. On-site laundry facilities "shall be used only for the washing and drying of items used in the operation of the establishment" (§4-803.13(A)). Staff can't bring their gym clothes.

The Food Code doesn't set a wash temperature or a detergent. Follow the machine's and the detergent's instructions, and wash raw-meat cloths in a separate load if your kitchen keeps them apart.

A linen service. The service picks up soiled bags and drops clean, counted linens on a schedule. What the Food Code asks of you doesn't change: soiled bags stored by §4-803.11 until pickup, clean ones stored by §4-903.11. What you add is checking the count against the delivery ticket, because shorts and stained items are where the money goes.

Staff uniforms. Federal wage rules count a required uniform and its laundering as a cost that's primarily for the employer's benefit, so it can't be pushed onto a minimum-wage paycheck. Our uniform and dress code policy has the rule and an issue log.

The linen par sheet

A par is how many you need clean on the shelf at the start of a day, so a short delivery or a broken dryer doesn't leave the line without cloths. Fill it in from a busy day, not an average one.

Linen par sheet · [location]

Reorder or call the service when total in circulation falls below: …………………… · Reviewed: [date]

The laundry procedure

Laundry procedure · [café or restaurant name]

During the shift

1. Wet cloths live in a sanitizer bucket between uses. A cloth that's dirty goes in the soiled bag, not back in the bucket.
2. Raw meat cloths are [color] and stay at [station]. They go in the soiled bag at [station], not with the others.
3. Dry cloths for plates and glassware stay dry and do nothing else.
4. Cloth napkins and basket liners go to the soiled bag after every guest. No re-folding.
5. An apron that's wet, sticky or visibly soiled is changed. Clean aprons are on [shelf].

At close

6. Every wet cloth goes in the soiled bag tonight, whether it looks clean or not. No wet cloth starts tomorrow.
7. Soiled bags are tied and moved to [the soiled linen spot, away from food and clean storage].
8. Clean linens are counted against the par and the count goes on the log.

Washing in-house (skip if a service washes everything)

9. Wiping cloths and work clothes in [machine]; raw meat cloths in their own load.
10. [Detergent], as its label says. [Machine settings.]
11. Dry in the dryer, or air-dry at [spot] where nothing drips on food or clean items.
12. Fold and store on the clean shelf, off the floor. Nothing personal in the machines.

Linen service days: [days] · Pickup by: [time] · Account and rep: [name, phone]

When it goes wrong

• Short of cloths: [backup: single-use sanitizer wipes, used as their label says / the spare pack in [place]], and tell the manager.
• Delivery short or stained: note it on the log and the delivery ticket before the driver leaves; call the service the same day.

Manager responsible: [name] · Procedure reviewed: [date]

The laundry log

One line per day. If a service does your laundry, the "In" columns are the delivery; if you wash in-house, they're the loads.

Laundry log · [location] · week of [date]

Shorts reported to the service: [date, who, credit received ……………] · Manager review: ……………………

Your linen checklist

• [ ] Par sheet filled in from a busy day
• [ ] Soiled linen bags or lidded bins at each station, and one spot to collect them
• [ ] Clean-linen shelf off the floor, away from splash, not in the restroom or mechanical room
• [ ] Raw meat cloths a different color and washed apart
• [ ] Every wet cloth bagged at close, every night
• [ ] Washer and dryer on site, or wiping cloths only and the §4-301.15(B) exception
• [ ] Linen service tickets checked against the count
• [ ] Lockers or a place for staff clothing that isn't food storage

Where Mays fits

• Close-out tasks. Add Every wet cloth in the soiled bag and Soiled bags to the back to your closing checklist template, and Clean shelf at par to the opening one. Checklists run on the days you pick, and a Photo answer shows the clean shelf. See Creating a checklist template and Scheduling and assigning checklists.
• The laundry log as a form. Build a Laundry log form under Tasks → Types with Counter or Number fields for each item, a Yes / No for At par? and a Text field for shorts, then add it as a Custom form task on the closing checklist. Tasks → Data shows each day's counts in columns, with a Total row and Export CSV. See Building custom forms and Task Data.
• The linen service as a vendor. Add it under Inventory → Vendors with its rep and delivery days, and enter its invoices with the rest of your bills, so the weekly cost sits next to your other vendors. See Vendors and vendor catalogs and Vendor invoices.

What Mays doesn't do: it doesn't count linens in and out on its own or compare a delivery ticket with your par; that's the form above, filled in by hand. A form's Min and Max stop someone submitting a number outside them, but nothing tells you the clean shelf is below par unless you set a Task Form Field Threshold alert on that field under Insights → Alerts & Reports (see Alerts and scheduled reports).

Wet cloths go in the bag every night, clean ones come back counted

Most of the Food Code's laundry rules fit in one sentence: wash wet cloths daily, napkins after every guest, and everything else when it's dirty, and keep soiled and clean apart. Set a par so the shelf is never empty, bag every wet cloth at close, and count what comes back.

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