Cleanliness is essential for two equally important reasons: customer appeal and customer health. Your local health department comes into the picture, too, and its inspectors are the guardians of customer health. If you don’t meet the healthdepartment standards you can be fined or even lose your permit to operate. But most health regulations establish only minimum standards for cleanliness and safety so your goal should be to exceed them. A clean bar is an attractive bar. It has sparkling glassware, gleaming countertops, clean ashtrays, and fresh-looking garnishes, and everything is neatly arranged. The underbar should be in the same condition, with shiny-clean stainless steel, all bottles in order, and ice bins full to the brim with fresh ice. Remember, this is all visible to customers, if not directly, then in the mirror. Even though the underbar functions as the ‘‘kitchen area’’ of the bar, in a real kitchen, the chef can make a mess and clean up later since he or she is working behind the scenes. The bartender has no such luxury. Train your bartenders to start clean and work clean.