Flies are a pest that can ruin your customers’ dining experience. Here’s some preventative measures and best practices for keeping flies from getting into your restaurant.
Restaurant Fly Control
Fly tapes, fly swatters, homemade bleach remedies, and other fly traps are no match for flies looking to feast in restaurants. As restaurant owners, we can only imagine how frustrating it must be to find effective way of fly and pest control, so we’ve laid out some preventative measures for you. If you are dealing with the all-too-common problem of fly infestation, we’ve got must-know info on how to prevent flies in your restaurant, so those nasty insects don’t ruin your customers’ dining experience and cause sanitation and hygiene problems in your kitchen.
The fact restaurant owners can’t change is that flies are naturally attracted to conditions found in foodservice establishments, namely decaying organic waste, fruits, and really any unrefrigerated food. Warm, moist areas common in hot kitchens are also attractive to flies.
Fly Infestation: A Restaurant Owner‘s Worst Nightmare
Their pesky presence is exacerbated by the fact that female flies can lay hundreds, yes, hundreds, of eggs at one time, which means infestations happen very rapidly and are difficult to control. Flies can only live a few days without food, but if they have a food source, they can live up to 50 days… think how many more eggs females can lay in that time – that’s why it is best to get ahead of a series fly problem before it occurs!
To underscore the problem, consider these gross stats: one fly can carry 750 MILLION germs on its tiny little feet, not to mention what flies transmit through vomit and feces — gross, we know. Diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, tuberculosis, food poisoning, and more, can easily be transferred from fly to food, and then to your customer. Imagine one of your customers gets a serious typhoid fever because of a fly problem in your restaurant – this would be a nightmare for any restaurant owner.
These buzzing insects are more than annoying, they transfer pathogens that cause life threatening diseases which could kill your business or worse.
How to Control Flies in the Food Industry
Eliminate Breeding Sites: Trash cans, bins, and bags should always be tightly sealed. Compost bins are big breeding grounds for flies and should be kept far away from the kitchen/restaurant if used. It might seem like common sense, but making sure your indoor and outdoor trash cans have lids is essential to keeping flies and other pests out of your restaurant. Unfortunately, a lot of food gets thrown away into restaurant‘s garbage cans which is major attraction point for flies.
Drain It: Drains are filled with fats, oils, and grease, and are an often-overlooked food source and breeding ground for flies. Enviro-Master’s fly control service uses an organic bio-blocking technology that releases enzymes that eat away at the fats, oil, and greases that attract flies and other common pests. It keeps drains grease and fly free and deodorizes smelly drains.
Control Contact: But making sure there is no food left out on your dining room tables or food preparation surfaces will seriously help with restaurant fly control if you’re cleaning up on a regular basis. All leftovers should be tightly sealed and stored immediately. Refrigerate when possible and do not leave food out on countertops or food prep surfaces. Frequently wipe down food preparation areas such as chopping blocks, cutting boards and countertops. Make sure you store food utensils in a sealed area.
No Flies Allowed: Easier said than done, of course, but install physical barriers to keep the flies out. Keep all open windows and doors closed or screened to help with fly prevention. You can also use electric fans or air curtains at entry points to keep flies away.
Commercial kitchens require constant vigilance when it comes to keeping the flies out. That’s why our weekly drain service, which works 24/7 to keep your drains grease and fly free, is so popular. Call us today or fill out or contact us form to learn more about how we can kill the germs that can kill your business.
