For many restaurant operators, washrooms are an afterthought. For customers, washrooms may be a critical component in judging whether they'll return to the establishment.
Operators who don't invest in maintaining clean, hygienic washrooms are missing out on a big opportunity to win and keep those customers, said Ian West, category director for washroom business with Neenah, Wis.-based SCA Tissue North America.
"You are providing a total experience to your customer. From the time they walk in to the time they walk out, they are looking around and making judgments on your facility," West said. "And that washroom is very much a part of that judgment process."
A study by the American Society of Microbiology noted that many customers, particularly women, viewed unsanitary washrooms as conveying a lack of respect, West said.
"Many of them went further than that and said that if you failed to meet my washroom expectations, I'm going to make a decision about whether I come back here or not," West said.
Touchless is the trend
People's awareness of contamination issues has risen considerably over the last few years, and it's helping to drive behaviors. Customers now are looking to minimize or eliminate their contact as they move through a washroom.
By eliminating potential sources of germs, touchless dispensers can help reduce their spread. Other touchless innovations involve automatic toilets and water faucets at the restroom sink.
"With these systems, restroom visitors are not required to touch handles, levers or buttons to flush toilets, turn on water, or dispense washroom tissue and towel products," said Sean Nichols, bathroom and facial tissue category manager for Dallas-based Kimberly-Clark. "Some public restrooms continue the no-touch theme by using doorless entryways, so that freshly washed hands don't have to grab a dirty door handle on the way out of the restroom.
West doesn't particularly care for air hand dryers in washrooms. In fact, he said, studies have shown that air dryers can increase the amount of bacteria on a person's hands.
"It takes one piece out of the process which in all studies has proven to be critical, which is the physical drying of the hands," he said. "You don't get that rubbing abrasion when you use air dryers."
Hand dryers operate by taking air from an environment that may not be particularly sanitary and blowing it across a person's hands. And with most dyers, people walk away from them with their hands still damp.
"How many people have you seen who walk away from these things and wipe their hands on their pants?" West said. "There is nothing worse than damp hands as a way to spread contamination."
According to a study commissioned by Mason, Ohio-based Cintas Corp., many of the top considerations for customers related to how well the restrooms were stocked with supplies. For example, more than 84 percent of respondents equate empty toilet paper dispensers with restroom dissatisfaction and more than 76 percent of respondents are dissatisfied if the soap dispensers are empty.
