DeKalb County publishes every restaurant score. Here is how the points work, which deductions a cleaning contract can genuinely prevent, and which ones stay yours no matter who you hire.
DeKalb County has more than 2,000 permitted food service establishments, and most are inspected at least twice a year. Your score is not a private matter — it goes up in the window, and local outlets including Patch, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Atlanta News First publish the numbers as a matter of routine.
If you run a kitchen in Decatur, East Atlanta, Avondale Estates or anywhere else in DeKalb, it is worth understanding exactly how the points work, and being honest about which deductions a cleaning contract can prevent and which ones remain yours regardless of who you hire.
How the scoring actually works
You start at 100 and lose points from there. The letter grade follows the total:
- A — 90 to 100
- B — 80 to 89
- C — 70 to 79
- U — below 70
Individual items carry between 1 and 9 points. The weighting is not arbitrary: items with a higher risk of actually making somebody ill cost more. Temperature control and cross-contamination sit at the top of that scale. A dusty stock shelf does not.
Here is the detail most operators underestimate. Repeat violations cost more points than first-time ones. The same problem found twice is treated as worse than two different problems found once each. That single rule is the strongest argument there is for consistency in whoever cleans your building.
What cleaning genuinely prevents
A properly scoped nightly contract addresses a specific set of line items — the ones that come down to accumulated soil rather than staff behaviour:
- Floors, especially under and behind equipment. The area beneath the line and behind the reach-ins is where inspectors look precisely because it is where people stop cleaning.
- Floor drains. Neglected drains are a recurring source of both odour and findings.
- Walls and splash zones behind cooking equipment. Grease migrates further up a wall than most people expect.
- Restrooms, including the parts customers never see. Behind the toilet, the base of the pedestal, the underside of the sink.
- Hand sink surrounds. An obstructed or filthy hand sink is a high-point item because it discourages the single most important behaviour in the building.
- Ice machine exteriors, shelving, and the dumpster surround.
What cleaning does not fix
This is where an honest contractor differs from a salesperson. No cleaning company can protect you from:
- Temperature control. Cold holding, hot holding and cooling procedures are yours, and they carry the heaviest point values on the form.
- Handwashing compliance. A spotless hand sink does not make anyone use it.
- Date marking and rotation. Labels and stock order are kitchen management.
- Food storage order in the walk-in. Raw above ready-to-eat is a finding no cleaner can prevent.
- Employee illness policy and a certified manager on duty.
If a cleaning company implies that hiring them protects your score outright, be careful. They are describing something they cannot deliver.
Hoods and grease ducts are a separate trade
We clean everything around the cooking line, but hood and grease-duct cleaning is certified work carried out under NFPA-96 by a licensed provider, and it should be contracted separately with documentation kept on file.
We say this on every restaurant walkthrough, because assuming your janitorial contract covers the hood is one of the more expensive misunderstandings in this industry — and it tends to surface at exactly the wrong moment.
Why consistency beats intensity
Go back to the repeat-violation rule. If the same item is written up twice, it costs you more the second time.
That has a practical implication for how you buy cleaning. A crew that rotates every few weeks never builds knowledge of your building — which drain runs slow, which corner behind the fryer collects, which shelf everyone forgets. A crew assigned permanently to your site learns those things in the first fortnight and stops them becoming repeat findings.
It is the reason we assign the same people to the same building rather than sending whoever is free. It costs us flexibility. It is also the single most useful thing a cleaning contract does for your score.
What nightly food-service cleaning costs in DeKalb
Rough monthly figures for nightly service, front of house, restrooms, hard floors and degreasing:
- 1,800 sq ft — $1,480 to $1,802 per month
- 2,500 sq ft — $1,987 to $2,419 per month
- 4,000 sq ft — $3,074 to $3,743 per month
Fewer nights costs proportionally less. A restaurant with heavy weekends and quiet Mondays and Tuesdays may not need all seven, and we will say so after looking at your actual trading pattern rather than selling you the default.
Common questions
How often is a DeKalb restaurant inspected?
Most permitted food service establishments are inspected at least twice a year, and inspections are unannounced. Follow-up visits can happen sooner after a poor score.
What score do I need to avoid trouble?
90 or above earns an A. Below 70 is a U, which brings follow-up action. In practice, most operators aim to stay comfortably in the 90s rather than close to a boundary, because a single high-point item can move you a full grade.
Can you clean between close and morning prep?
Yes — that is when nearly all of our food-service work happens. We agree a hard finish time in writing, because a crew running late in a restaurant does not simply inconvenience you, it delays your entire next day.
Do you provide a certificate of insurance?
Yes, usually the same day. Most landlords and property managers require one before a vendor starts work.
Which areas do you cover?
Decatur, Kirkwood, East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Stone Mountain, Tucker, Downtown and Midtown. See service areas, or bar and restaurant cleaning for full scope.
