How to Clean a Restaurant's Ice Bin

Remove the ice from the ice bin. Scoop the ice out with the ice scoop and dump into the sanitized buckets. Wear waterproof and insulated gloves as you remove the ice in order to prevent your hands from getting cold and cramping or going numb.

Store the ice appropriately, if you intend to replace the ice into the cleaned ice bin instead of making new ice. To store the ice, sit the ice in clean bucket or containers in a large, restaurant-size walk-in freezer.

Unplug the ice bin and allow the bin to cool down and allow frost along the insides of the ice bin to melt. Open the plug at the bottom of the ice bin and allow the bin to drain. Promote faster melting by pouring hot water into the bin.

Wipe all inner and outer parts of the ice bin down with a food-safe sanitizer. Though no visible dirty spots are likely to be present, the sanitizer will kill the tiny, invisible bacteria inside the ice bin. After wiping down with sanitizer, thoroughly rinse the entire bin with hot water.

Allow the hot water to drain from the bin and dry out the insides of the bin with cloth or paper towels. Plug the ice bin back in after and allow the ice bin to cool back down to freezing before replacing the ice in the bin or making new ice to place in the bin.