Microfibre for Hospitality and Food Service
A venue lives and dies on what the customer notices. Water spots on a wine glass, a smeared table, a coffee machine with milk crust on the steam wand. None of it is a big failure on its own, and all of it quietly tells a customer how the kitchen probably looks.
Behind that there is a second problem the customer never sees, which is that a damp cloth sitting on a bench is one of the highest risk items in any food business. We supply cafes, restaurants, pubs, hotels, catering companies, clubs and commercial kitchens across Australia, in carton and pallet quantities, from our Gold Coast warehouse.
The wiping cloth problem
A cloth used on a bench at 10am, wrung out and left folded next to the pass, is warm, damp and loaded with food residue. That is close to ideal growing conditions. By the time it is used again after lunch service it can carry a far heavier bacterial load than the surface it is about to wipe, and every pass spreads that across a food contact surface.
Cotton makes this worse because it holds moisture and releases soil back onto surfaces. Microfibre helps in two specific ways. It captures and holds soil in the fibre rather than smearing it, and it works properly with water alone on most jobs, so you are not relying on a chemical residue to do work the cloth should be doing. What it does not do is fix a bad rotation. A microfibre cloth left damp on a bench all day is still a bad cloth on a bench all day.
The fix is boring and it works: enough cloths in circulation that they get changed often, a bucket of sanitiser solution for cloths in use rather than a bench, and a hard rule that anything that touches raw protein or the floor goes straight to the wash.
Food safety and cross contamination
What the Food Standards Code requires
Under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, food businesses have to keep premises and equipment clean and sanitary and take reasonable steps to stop food being contaminated. The Code does not tell you which cloth to buy or what colour it should be. It tells you the outcome you have to achieve, and leaves the method to you.
In practice, environmental health officers want to see a system, not just clean cloths on the day. Separate equipment for raw and ready to eat areas, a documented cleaning schedule, and staff who can explain the rule when asked. Colour coded cloths do a lot of that work for you, because the system is visible on the shelf rather than buried in a folder nobody has opened since the last inspection.
Microfibre removes, it does not sanitise
Worth being blunt about this, because it is the most common misunderstanding in the category. Microfibre physically lifts soil, grease and microorganisms off a surface and holds them in the fibre. It removes them. It does not kill them, and it is not a sanitiser.
On food contact surfaces you still need a two step process: clean the surface to remove soil, then apply a food grade sanitiser and give it the contact time on the label. Microfibre makes the cleaning step faster and more effective, and it reduces how much chemical you need elsewhere in the venue. It does not replace the sanitising step, and any supplier telling you otherwise is selling you a compliance problem.
Colour coding front and back of house
The standard four colour system used across Australian commercial cleaning maps neatly onto a venue:
| Colour | Area |
|---|---|
| Green | Kitchen, food preparation, food service, bar |
| Blue | Front of house, dining room, tables, glass and general low risk |
| Red | Toilets, urinals and washroom floors |
| Yellow | Hand basins, mirrors and above floor washroom surfaces |
Many venues add a fifth colour inside the kitchen to separate raw protein prep from ready to eat, which is the split that actually matters most for food safety. Whichever scheme you run, the rule that makes it work is that the colour never leaves its area, including into the laundry.
Choosing the right cloth by area
| Job | What to use |
|---|---|
| Kitchen benches and prep | Multi purpose knitted cloth in 250gsm or 310gsm knitted cloths, colour coded, in high enough volume that changing them often is not a decision anyone has to think about. |
| Heavier kitchen soil | 330gsm and 365gsm cloths. More absorbent, longer service life, better on grease. |
| Coffee machines | Dedicated barista cloths. Separate cloths for the steam wand, the group heads and general bench work, never interchanged. |
| Glassware polishing | Waffle weave or a low pile glass cloth. Lint free is the whole point here, since a polished glass with fibres on it is worse than an unpolished one. |
| Tables and large surfaces | Large 40x70cm cloths. Fewer changes per turnover, faster table resets between covers. |
| Windows, mirrors and splashbacks | Tight low pile glass cloth. Streak free with water alone, which matters when you are cleaning glass in front of customers. |
| Bathrooms | Red and yellow coded cloths, or single use rags where you would rather not send the cloth back through your laundry at all. |
| Floors | Flat mops with colour coded microfibre pads. Far less water than string and bucket, and the pads go through the same wash as everything else. |
| Grease and one off messes | Tear away microfibre roll or single use rags. Cheaper to bin than to launder. |
Coffee equipment specifically
Baristas are the one role in a venue where the cloth is genuinely part of the craft. Milk residue on a steam wand bakes on within minutes and then needs scrubbing, which is why the wand cloth has to be damp, close to hand and used every single time.
Our barista cloths are 300gsm charcoal microfibre at 30x60cm with a stainless steel eyelet, so they clip to a belt or a rail and stay within reach instead of ending up under the grinder. There is also a compact 30x30cm 350gsm cloth for tighter stations. The convention worth teaching is three cloths on the bar: one for the steam wand only, one for group heads and portafilters, one for the bench. Charcoal hides coffee staining, which is the practical reason those cloths are dark rather than a design choice.
A starting kit for a venue
- 250GSM Microfibre Cloths 40x40cm. The volume cloth. Available across the full colour range, so one product covers every zone in the venue.
- 310GSM Microfibre Cloths 40x40cm. More absorbency for kitchen work and spills.
- Premium 330gsm Microfibre Cloths. For venues that would rather buy once and launder properly.
- Microfibre Barista Cleaning Cloth 30x60cm. Charcoal, stainless eyelet, belt hook included.
- Barista Cleaning Cloth 30x30cm 350gsm. Compact format for tight bar stations.
- Glass Cloth 40x40cm. Windows, mirrors, splashbacks and back bar glass.
- Waffle Weave Microfibre Cloths 380gsm. Glassware polishing, stainless and drying.
- Large Microfibre Cloths 40x70cm. Tables, benches and pass work.
- Wipe Once Microfibre Rags. Bathrooms, raw protein areas and anything you would rather not launder.
- Tear Away Microfibre Roll. Grease and one off jobs.
- Microfibre Mop Pads and Flat Microfibre Floor Mop. Colour coded floor care.
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Microfibre Wash detergent. Purpose built for microfibre laundry, in 1L, 5L and 20L.
Laundering and rotation
Most venues underbuy cloths and then wonder why the ones they have wear out. If a kitchen only has enough cloths for one service, staff will keep reusing a cloth that should have gone in the wash two hours ago. Buying enough to run a full rotation is cheaper than the alternative.
Wash microfibre on its own, separated by colour and by area, with a detergent made for the job. Never use fabric softener, which coats the fibre and permanently destroys the capture effect. No bleach. Never wash microfibre with cotton tea towels or aprons, or you will be picking lint out of it for the rest of its life.
One decision worth making deliberately: whether cloths go through your linen hire contract or stay in house. Linen hire is convenient but you lose control of what detergent they use, and softener in a commercial laundry will quietly ruin a good cloth in a handful of cycles. Venues that care about cloth performance usually keep microfibre out of the hire contract and wash it themselves.
Bulk supply, pallet quantities and custom branding
We are a direct importer, not a reseller, working with manufacturers in South Korea, China and Vietnam under our own ISO9001:2015 modeled quality management system. Stock is held on the Gold Coast and orders ship daily across Australia.
Our capacity goes well past what is listed on the site. Hotel groups, venue groups, catering companies and distributors regularly order by the pallet, and we can quote on volumes and specifications that are not on the shelf. Embroidery, printing and custom wash tags are handled in house or outsourced through our partners, which suits multi site groups who want cloths that cannot migrate between venues.
Get in touch about a bulk or branded order. Call 1800 016 006 or email sales@microfibreworld.com.au.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a wiping cloth be changed in a commercial kitchen?
Frequently, and more often than most venues do. A damp cloth left at room temperature between uses grows bacteria quickly, so cloths in active use should be kept in sanitiser solution rather than on a bench, and changed out regularly through service. Anything that touches raw protein, the floor, or a spill of unknown origin goes straight to the wash.
Does microfibre sanitise food preparation surfaces?
No. Microfibre physically removes soil, grease and microorganisms from a surface and traps them in the fibre. It does not kill them. Food contact surfaces still need a clean step followed by a food grade sanitiser applied for the contact time stated on the label.
What colour cloths should be used in a kitchen?
Green is the standard colour for kitchens, food preparation and food service under the four colour system used across Australian commercial cleaning. Blue is typically used for front of house, red for toilets and washroom floors, and yellow for hand basins and above floor washroom surfaces. Many kitchens add a fifth colour to separate raw protein prep from ready to eat areas.
What is the best cloth for polishing glassware?
Waffle weave or a low pile glass cloth. Both are lint free, which is the deciding factor for glassware, and both polish without needing chemical. Plush high pile cloths are excellent on many surfaces but will leave fibres on a wine glass.
Can microfibre cloths go through a commercial linen service?
They can, but check what the laundry uses first. Fabric softener permanently ruins microfibre, and many commercial laundries run it as standard. If you cannot get a guarantee that softener is excluded, keep your microfibre out of the hire contract and wash it in house.
Do you supply hotels and venue groups in bulk?
Yes. We hold stock on the Gold Coast, ship daily nationwide, and supply carton and pallet quantities to venues, hotel groups, catering companies and distributors. Contact us for a volume quote.
