One fly buzzing through your restaurant may have slipped in when someone opened the door. But when flies keep showing up around food, drains, bars, or trash, it is time to pay attention.
If you’re a restaurant owner, this guide will show you the 10 signs your restaurant may have a fly infestation and what you can do about it.
10 Signs Your Restaurant Has a Fly Infestation
1. You Regularly See Flies in Dining Areas
One fly does not automatically mean you have an infestation.
Repeated sightings are different. If employees or customers regularly notice flies around tables, windows, service counters, or beverage stations, take a closer look.
Remember, even a few flies can make customers question how clean your restaurant really is.
2. Flies Gather Around Food-Prep Areas
Flies that repeatedly gather around food-prep areas of the kitchen may be finding something that attracts them. Exposed food, crumbs, grease, and residue can all be part of the problem.
3. Small Flies Hover Around Your Bar or Produce
Those tiny flies hovering around your bar may be fruit flies.
Fruit flies are commonly attracted to ripe or fermenting produce and sugary liquids. Check fruit storage, bar mats, drip trays, juice and syrup spills, and beverage stations.
Cleaning what you can see is a good start. But if fruit flies keep coming back, look for sticky residue and organic material hiding in harder-to-reach places.
4. Drain Flies Appear Around Sinks and Floor Drains
Small flies hanging around your drains could be drain flies.
Drain flies are associated with damp areas and organic material. They may breed in the buildup that develops inside poorly maintained commercial drains.
Regular commercial drain care can help address the organic buildup that can create a breeding ground for drain flies.
5. Flies Keep Landing on Food or Food-Contact Surfaces
Flies around prepared food, utensils, prep counters, and other food-contact surfaces should never be brushed off.
Follow your restaurant’s established food-safety procedures for affected food and surfaces.
Then start looking for the source of the flies. Finding that source is an important step toward getting the problem under control.
6. Your Fly Traps Fill Up Quickly
Fly traps can help capture adult flies and show you where activity is happening.
Pay attention if traps suddenly start filling faster than usual. A sharp increase can be a clue that you have more than a stray fly or two.
Just remember that traps only catch the flies that reach them. They may not eliminate the breeding ground that’s the source of the problem.
7. You Notice Dark Fly Spots on Walls or Surfaces
Flies themselves aren’t the only sign you may have a problem.
Small dark specks on walls, windows, or other surfaces where flies gather may be fly droppings. Repeated spotting in the same areas can help you identify where flies are most active.
8. Fly Activity Increases Around Trash or Dumpsters
Restaurant trash can be a feast for flies.
Leaking garbage bags, overflowing cans, food residue, and dirty dumpsters can all attract flies. And an outdoor fly problem does not always stay outdoors.
Empty waste containers regularly. Use tight-fitting lids, clean the containers, and keep dumpster areas as clean as possible. A cleaner waste area gives flies fewer reasons to hang around your property.
9. You Find Larvae or Maggots
This is a serious sign of potential fly infestation.
Finding larvae or maggots means flies are reproducing. Look for decaying organic material, trash, food waste, and other areas where flies may be breeding.
10. The Flies Keep Coming Back
You clean. You set traps. The flies disappear.
Then they come right back.
Flies that return can mean the underlying source is still there. Food residue, standing water, waste, dirty drains, and organic buildup can continue to attract flies.
What Types of Flies Are Common in Restaurants?
Knowing what kind of fly you are dealing with can give you clues about where to look.
House flies are commonly attracted to food and waste. Fruit flies often show up around ripe produce, sugary liquids, bars, and fermenting organic matter.
Drain flies tend to gather around drains and other damp areas where organic material has accumulated. Blow flies are often associated with decaying organic material.
If you cannot identify the insect or find its source, bring in a qualified pest-control professional who can.
What Causes a Fly Infestation in a Restaurant?
Restaurants are busy places. Food gets prepared, drinks get poured, dishes get washed, and trash gets taken out all day long. That creates plenty of opportunities for food, water, and organic material to collect.
Common trouble spots include:
- Food scraps and spills
- Grease and organic residue
- Dirty commercial drains
- Standing water
- Sugary residue around beverage equipment
- Ripe or exposed produce
- Food debris underneath equipment
- Trash cans and dumpster areas
Routine cleaning is important, but grime can hide in places your team may not reach every day. Removing these feeding and breeding sources can play an important role in long-term fly management.
What Should You Do If Your Restaurant Has Flies?
Start with the source, not just the flies you can see.
Protect food and follow your established food-safety procedures. Clean spills, crumbs, grease, and food residue promptly. Then inspect the places where flies appear most often:
- Sink drains
- Floor drains
- Mop buckets
- Bars
- Beverage stations
- Trash cans
- Underneath kitchen equipment
Remove standing water. Keep food stored properly and trash containers covered. Do not forget to clean exterior waste areas, too.
Traps may help control some adult flies, but they do not necessarily eliminate the breeding ground.
If flies continue to return, you see swarms, or you find larvae or maggots, contact a licensed pest-control professional. Then make sure your sanitation program is doing its part to eliminate the grime and buildup that attract flies in the first place.
Fight the Grime That Attracts Flies with Enviro-Master
If grease, food residue, dirty drains, and grime are attracting flies, it’s time to do something about it.
That is where Enviro-Master gets to work.
Our commercial cleaning services tackle the dirty, high-impact areas that restaurants deal with every day. Our Drain Treatment Services use enzyme bio-active foam to help break down organic buildup inside commercial drains and drain lines, where some flies like to reproduce. Our power-washing service can keep dumpsters cleaner and less appealing to flies.
Your restaurant works hard. We work even harder to keep your kitchen clean, so flies don’t take over.
Contact Enviro-Master today to learn how our commercial cleaning services can help you maintain a cleaner restaurant from the kitchen drains to the back door.
