Stainless ice bucket & scoop hygiene
Applies to: the large stainless-steel ice bucket/bin at the bar and the ice scoop used with it.
Target: daily wash; immediate action on any contamination.
- Keep a dedicated ice scoop stored OUTSIDE the ice, handle-up in a holder — never buried in the ice.
- Have food-safe detergent and sanitizer and a clean cloth kept for the ice station.
- Never use a glass to scoop ice, and never touch ice with bare hands.
- Empty the bucket completely on a set schedule (do not keep topping up old ice indefinitely).
- Wash the interior and rim with hot water and food-safe detergent, reaching every corner and seam.
- Sanitize the bucket at label dilution and let it air-dry.
- Respect the sanitizer's full contact time before refilling with ice.
- Wash and sanitize the scoop the same way; store it handle-up outside the ice.
- If anything falls into the ice (glass, hands, a dropped scoop), discard the affected ice immediately and, for glass, empty and wash the whole bucket.
- The scoop is always stored handle-up outside the ice, never left buried in it.
- No glassware is used or stored near the ice bin.
- The bucket is washed and sanitized on schedule and the ice looks and smells clean.
Ice is a food and the scoop is the most common contamination point — a scoop left buried in the ice, or a glass used to scoop, is how most ice contamination happens. A broken glass near the bin means the entire bin is emptied and washed, no exceptions.