It is essential for restaurants to provide safe foods and offer a clean and sanitized environment for their consumers to dine in. With the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers generally pay more attention to personal hygiene, sanitation, and cleanliness.

The present study explored how consumers perceived the cleanliness of restaurants and compared it with the actual cleanliness based on ATP testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, perceptions and actual cleanliness were compared with the touch frequency of a surface. Two different data collection methods were used to collect data regarding perception and touch frequency as well as the actual cleanliness of the front of the house areas. The results showed that consumers perceived the restaurant surfaces as generally clean, and they touched the most surfaces frequently. However, the actual cleanliness was not consistent with the consumers’ perceptions.