How to Prevent Restaurant Pests During Warm Weather
Going out to eat during the spring and summer is always a fun experience — especially when restaurants have an outdoor patio you can sit on.
For those in the restaurant business, you know how hectic this time of year can get. The last thing you need to worry about is having an infestation of pests wreaking havoc in the kitchen, or even in the dining room and patio areas!
When the weather warms up, it’s important for restaurant workers to…
Maintain Cleanliness in the Dining Room
Pests (like rodents, cockroaches, and ants) are always on the hunt for food. The last place you want a pest looking for food is on your customers’ plates!
- Make sure there are never any spills, food droppings, or crumbs anywhere in the dining room. Have managers walk around the dining room, actively looking for any spills or food droppings.
- Ensure that all busboys/busgirls are cleaning tables thoroughly in between old and new arrivals. Have them wipe down tables with a sanitizing spray after they’ve been cleared, so any scents are also eliminated.
- When placing an emphasis on keeping a clean dining room — don’t forget about the bar area. Spilled drinks and sticky mixers that are left to sit can attract just as many pests as a dropped dinner roll.
Don’t Let the Kitchen Become a Mess
It’s easy for the kitchen to go from spotless to a disaster in a matter of minutes once the lunch or dinner rush starts. So before this happens, make sure you have the proper processes in place to prevent your kitchen from becoming a mess — which is an open invitation to nearby pests.
- Mop the floors after every dinner shift with an organic cleaner.
- Sanitize all surfaces in the kitchen with a non-chemical cleaner to remove stains, spills, and scents (while also not being harmful to the next piece of food that touches the surface.)
- Make sure all cleaned surfaces are dried in a reasonable amount of time. Use fans for wet floors and dry rags for countertops and other surfaces. Most pests love moist environments — not to mention the potential mold growth you can encounter.
- Keep items organized, on stocking shelves, and avoid stacking cardboard boxes in the kitchen’s storage area. Pests love clutter, and an area crowded with cardboard boxes is a place where pests are commonly found.
Keep the Outside Clean
Outside of the restaurant, there are two areas that need to be monitored — the patio and the waste area.
- Patio – If the restaurant has an outdoor patio where customers can eat, make sure you show it the same love and attention as you do the dining room. Spills and food droppings can attract nearby pests, which can eventually lead them into the actual building.
- Waste Area – The dumpster behind the restaurant should be as far away from the building as possible. When bringing trash and waste to this dumpster, make sure all of it goes into the dumpster and none of it falls to the floor beside it. If there are any garbage cans, make sure they are washed out regularly to prevent any waste, spills, and scents from creating a welcome mat to the building.
Luckily for the restaurants and businesses in the New York metro area, our pest management professionals offer commercial services to help keep pests away from your bottom line!
The last thing you need is for a customer to complain or to have the health inspector shut you down.