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Survey: Two-thirds of Americans would refuse to patronize restaurants with dirty restrooms

April 23, 2013

Foodservice professionals have a lot to think about when trying to deliver a quality dining experience, but restrooms need to be a major consideration, according to a recent consumer study from Clorox Professional Products Company. The survey, which polled 1,005 U.S. adults earlier this year, found that 39 percent have immediately left a restaurant or other business because the restroom smelled liked urine. Three in four Americans are disgusted by urine stains (76 percent) and urine odors (75 percent) in public restrooms.

Other finding included that:

• Two-thirds of survey respondents would refuse to patronize business establishments, such as restaurants or hotels, with unclean restrooms.
• More than half (55 percent) of the respondents said they would likely review a business more negatively (online or offline) based on whether the restroom was clean.

Restrooms are one of the toughest jobs cleaning professionals face, according to another study that also polled nearly 1,000 cleaning service industry decision makers and found that they rank removing urine stains (47 percent) and urine odors (52 percent) as most important among various restroom cleaning priorities.

To address this, Clorox Professional Products Company is launching Clorox Urine Remover for porous (grout and concrete) and soft surfaces (carpet and upholstery).

"Urine presents one of the toughest jobs in cleaning commercial facilities and it demands a smart and effective way to solve," said Jennifer Case, marketing manager, Clorox Professional Products Company.

Clorox Urine Remover can also be used for other fluids and solids such as vomit, feces, pet stains and grease, Case said. Clorox Urine Remover ships late this month and is available in two sizes: a 32-ounce spray bottle and a 128-ounce refill bottle with a built-in spray nozzle.

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