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Cintas White Paper Showcases Strategies for Becoming America's Best Restroom

CINCINNATI—— Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS) has released a complimentary white paper to help businesses enhance the appearance, functionality and cleanliness of restroom facilities. Titled “Becoming America’s Best Restroom,” the paper provides businesses with a multi-level approach to creating an exceptional restroom experience for customers. Inspired by Cintas’ annual America’s Best Restroom® Contest, it highlights key components and maintenance strategies of the most distinguished restrooms in the nation.

“Businesses often don’t recognize the negative impact that poorly maintained restrooms can have on the customer experience,” said John Engel, Senior Marketing Manager, Cintas. “Our paper outlines the specific steps that any business can take to improve overall restroom satisfaction, brand image and the bottom line.”

For your restroom to become one of “America’s Best,” the paper recommends these restroom maintenance steps:

• Define “Clean” for Your Core Customers—Through an independent survey of restroom users, Cintas identified the main factors that influenced customer satisfaction of a restroom, which included the availability of restroom supplies such as toilet paper and soap. Consider who visits your restroom and identify potential priorities for them. For example, mothers will be concerned about the cleanliness of the facilities and baby changing areas where young adults might be more concerned with amenities and supplies. Through a comprehensive restroom maintenance program, facility managers can ensure the specific needs of customers are met.

• Develop a Checklist for Cleaning Protocols—To ensure that a restroom consistently exceeds user expectations, establish and document cleaning procedures.  An effective cleaning strategy will include a recurring combination of spot cleaning, daily cleaning and deep cleaning methods. Schedule cleanings between peak business times to ensure restrooms are maintained throughout the day. By establishing a regular cleaning checklist and properly training employees on procedures, even the busiest restrooms can maintain high levels of cleanliness.

• Use Products That Perform—In addition to supplies such as soap and toilet paper, select products to protect, maintain and deep clean restroom surfaces. This includes products that will keep the restroom looking and smelling clean during use, such as air fresheners, auto flushes and urinal screens.  Restroom products that maintain include cleaning solutions and tools such as mops, wipes and chemical dispensing systems. Finally, use deep cleaning services that combine chemicals, agitation and extraction to remove all contaminants and debris from restrooms on an ongoing basis.

• Measure Cleanliness—To validate the effectiveness of cleaning methods and products, qualify cleaning efforts with tools such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) meters or black lights. An ATP meter quickly detects the presence of microbial contamination on restroom surfaces to determine if the correct solutions and procedures are being used. Blacklights can also detect surface contamination throughout the restroom.

• Partner for Success—To simplify the restroom cleaning process, businesses will often form strategic partnerships with a facility services provider. Typically, in-house employees will perform daily maintenance tasks while service providers ensure that restrooms are constantly stocked and regularly deep cleaned. Since facility service providers handle all restroom supplies, the need for timely inventory management and messy stock rooms is eliminated. Additionally, when deep cleaning is executed by trained technicians with professional-grade equipment the process is performed quickly and effectively.

“Through our America’s Best Restroom Contest, we have witnessed first-hand what consumers look for in their restroom experience,” said Engel. “The paper provides valuable insight to help businesses follow the best practices for developing a successful restroom maintenance program so they too can become America’s Best Restroom.”

To access the white paper, visit http://www.cintas.com/FacilityServices/Press-Releases/.

The 2012 America’s Best Restroom finalists have been chosen and voting is now open to the public at www.bestrestroom.com

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