Your restaurant has delicious food, an impeccably trained staff and an enticing ambiance, but a pest problem can ruin the dining experience for your guests and can harm your business reputation. Restaurant properties have many of the things that pests love — food, moisture, frequently opened doors, foot traffic and shipments coming in. Without a commercial pest control partner, it can be challenging to keep pests out of food establishments.
While restaurants can attract a variety of unwanted pest guests, here are some common offenders that can threaten restaurants:
Cockroaches
These ugly bugs are among the most feared restaurant pests because they are well known to be vectors for bacteria. They can also trigger allergens and allergy symptoms in some people. Cockroaches are especially creepy because they skitter in and out of cracks, crevices and dark corners swiftly, likely leaving customers and employees shuddering and revolted. Capable of establishing large infestations quickly, cockroaches can hitchhike into restaurants aboard shipments and deliveries, and often hide in the dark voids of buildings. Terminix® Commercial offers an effective 5-Step Commercial Cockroach Control System that includes:
- Step 1: Removing all accessible cockroaches by vacuum, drastically reducing the population
- Step 2: Treating inaccessible spots where cockroaches live
- Step 3: Preemptively treating cracks and crevices where cockroaches try to run and hide
- Step 4: Using bait that kills all stages of cockroach development
- Step 5: Applying insect growth regulators for long-term control
Rodents
Besides being unsightly and unsettling for restaurant guests to encounter, rodents can damage packaging, products, equipment and structures. The damage can come from gnawing and from unsanitary droppings that rodents leave behind. Rodents can enter buildings through doorways and through surprisingly small cracks and holes. Their gnawing, feeding and breeding can pose threats to the health and safety of a restaurant.
Flies
Flies can sneak into your restaurant via open doors, windows, cracks and other openings. They can be irritating, annoying and difficult to control. Depending on the type, some flies can also bite. They can thrive in restaurant trash receptacles and drains, increasing in population during the summer months. Terminix Commercial offers several different types of Insect Light Traps (ILTs) for effective fly control, including unobtrusive decorative options.
Stinging Pests
If your restaurant has an outdoor dining or waiting area, stinging pests can pose real problems. In addition to frightening customers and making their visit unpleasant, insect stings can be painful and may trigger allergic reactions in some people. Wasps are particular nuisances because they can sting repeatedly. Stinging pests can be hard to control and may build nests that can be difficult to remove due to location or because of the swarms around them.
Stored Product Pests
Almost all restaurants have food stored on the premises, which can be a big attractor for stored product pests, such as moths, weevils, beetles and others. Even if your restaurant has never had a food pest problem before, these creatures can arrive along with your next food shipment and set up residence in your shelving, cabinets and cupboards. Stored product pests can breed and build huge populations in a short amount of time, and widespread infestations can have more than one source which makes them challenging to control. These pests can leave behind eggs and larvae, contaminating food items. Many types of food items are at risk for stored product pests, including whole grains, wheat, corn, barley, rice, beans and nuts.
Ants
There are many different types of ants that can pose problems for restaurants, so proper identification is key for determining the proper treatment. Some ant species can be controlled using ant baits properly placed by a pest control professional, while others require different strategies. In most cases, it’s also necessary to trace the ants back to the colony for effective treatment. Ant infestations can be frustrating, and getting help from an experienced commercial pest control professional is recommended to help get ants effectively under control.
Treating Pests Without Reservations
If you see any of these pests in your restaurant, or if you want help preventing them from showing up in the first place, call Terminix Commercial right away. Terminix Commercial has extensive experience in delivering effective pest control to restaurants and food service businesses. In addition to treating your pest problems, which will help you meet health code requirements in regards to pest control, our trained professionals can offer you and your staff tips for helping avoid and eliminate conditions that may attract pests. At Terminix Commercial, we want customers to come back to your restaurant, not pests.
