Pest Control for Restaurant

Food safety and cleanliness should be a top priority for the restaurant owner. The last thing you want is to make your customers getting sick or catch a glimpse of mice sharing food with them. There are no shortcuts where customer care is concerned. You must ensure that those who ate at your restaurant feel safe to come back to your restaurant. By increasing pest control measures, deep cleaning of your restaurant, and additional training for staff on the high standards of food handling, you can keep pests like ants, cockroaches, and mice away from your restaurant and maintain your food safety.

Here are a few “hot spots” around any restaurant that demand particular attention:

• Dining & Food Preparation Areas
• Food Storage Areas
• Trash Cans
• Floor Drains

Dining & Food Preparation Areas

Seats and tables at your restaurant should be wiped down. The area beneath or around the table should be swept any time a party leaves. In your food preparation areas, you should be on the lookout for any loose particles, drips, and splashes on the tables, equipment, and even waitress stations.

Food Storage Areas

You need to keep dry food products in tightly-sealed food storage containers. A loosely closed bags and boxes are an open invitation for pests. You must store your food at least 6″ off the ground and 12″ away from walls so that you can efficiently clean and inspect the area.

Trash Cans

You can use a liner in all trash cans inside your restaurant. All trash cans should have lids. Start investing in a step on the box, a swing top lid, or a tight-fitting lid for your standard round commercial trash can. Another critical and too-often-overlooked requirement of trash can maintenance is keeping the bin itself clean.

Floor Drains

Floor drains in a janitor’s closet, or warewash area can be an unfortunate breeding ground for pests, especially flies. You must check beneath the drain grate for loose debris regularly. Also, keep the drain itself clean with an enzyme-based cleaner.

In addition to knowing the “hotspots” for restaurant pest control, it’s also essential to understand what pests present problems for restaurants. The most common pests you are likely to encounter in any restaurants are:

1. Rodents
2. Cockroaches
3. Flies
4. Stored Product Pests

Rodents

Mice and rats will trigger intense feelings of fear and disgust for many customers at your restaurant. They are famous for spreading diseases like Salmonella, Listeria, and E. Coli, among many others. They not just contaminate restaurants with feces and urine but also use their teeth to chew through food packaging as well as electrical wiring and plumbing.

Cockroaches

Cockroaches will also trigger a very unpleasant reaction from your customers. They can spread many pathogens, like those that cause food poisoning. Cockroaches are especially bothersome for restaurant owners because they can live weeks without food and water. Once they entered your restaurant, they can stay forever. Bear in mind that, even discovering one cockroach in your restaurant is taken seriously by the customer.

Flies

Flies can do as much if not more damage to the safety and cleanliness of your restaurants. They can carry hundreds of diseases and spread them out to your customers. Just imagine how many surfaces they can contaminate in such a short time, that is the easy way to see why they are such a significant concern in restaurants.

Stored Product Pests

Pests such as weevils, beetles, mites, and other small insects can enter your restaurant by hiding in the flour, grain, nuts, and other packaged products. They grow, eat, and spread within these products. They are creating bacteria and cause allergic reactions or irritate your patrons’ digestive tract. Hence, you should carefully examine the incoming product and inspecting the existing stock for any signs of an infestation.

Preventative measures can be varied for some restaurants, but here are a few ways for your consideration:

• Direct Lighting Towards Doorways
• Invest In Dumpsters
• Close Any Entrance
• Pest Control Management

Direct Lighting Towards Doorways

Ultraviolet light was used to lure many insects into glue traps and bug zappers as a means of pest control. These are great tools for attracting flying pests away from your restaurant or taking care of any insects that may sneak inside. You can install the lighting away from the building while directing light toward doorways.

Invest In Dumpsters

Dumpsters are the primary concern because they’re sure to attract pests and become a public eyesore if not properly maintained. You can invest in a dumpster that’s appropriately-sized for your needs to help prevent overflow. You need to regularly clean the area with a hose in a manner that allows water to flow into a drain. Dumpsters should be placed away from your main building and equipped with lids that shut tightly.

Close Any Entrance

It would help if you kept the doors and windows closed when possible. You can consider investing in an air curtain to deter flying insects. Door sweep seals gaps between the bottom of the door and the floor/threshold for added protection against insects and rodents. The best pest control practice is to regularly inspect your facility’s exterior and seal any cracks and holes that pests may use to sneak inside. By making sure your restaurant is sufficiently sealed, and other areas of potential entry are secure, pests will never get in.

Pest Control Management

Food safety in your restaurant depends on pest control management. When you hire ongoing commercial pest control services, your restaurants stay protected from failed audits and a bad reputation. It is definitely not good news coverage to have someone report pests present in your restaurant. So, what you need to do to prevent such an occurrence? Pest control no longer relied on treatment but prevention. Prevention is really is the cure, after all. If you are looking for an effective pest control plan for your restaurant, reach out to Atalian Global Services Vietnam.

We only use approved processes and safe chemicals. We have a professional mobile team and will serve you in 24 hours. We will ensure pests don’t damage your business going forward. Book us now!