Keeping Your Restaurant Pest-Free

Pest management is mandatory for every restaurant. The presence of even one pest can cause a restaurant’s image and reputation to go down the drain, jeopardize customer and employee health due to diseases spread by pests, and potentially lead to a lawsuit and permanently closing the restaurant doors. For any restaurant that cares about the safety and health of its customers and staff, preventive pest control is critical.  Take the proper steps to maintaining a successful business by keeping your restaurant pest-free.

1. Inspect the restaurant

Search the interior and exterior of the restaurant for any locations that could be potential entry points or homes for pests including cracks, crevices, light fixtures, patios, landscaping, and waste management areas. Even if you do not have an existing pest problem, it is quite easy to spot areas that attract pests.

2. Keep pests out

Once you have inspected the inside and outside of your restaurant, keep the pests out by addressing any areas that could attract pests. Seal cracks or crevices with caulk, purchase a seal if your door isn’t already fully sealed, get containers that eliminate the scent of and potential access to waste and garbage, spray safe pesticide around outdoor light fixtures or other areas that could make a good location for wasp nests, spider webs, or other pests, and keep trees and other landscaping well-maintained and under control.

3. Stay clean

Once you have inspected and eliminated all entry points and attractive living areas as best as possible, now you must ensure that the restaurant stays clean at all times. Sanitation should be the top priority for any restaurant; pests go anywhere that has food or water so of course a restaurant is the ideal place for them.  This requires restaurants to be even more careful than any other industry about pests. One crumb on the restaurant’s kitchen floor could easily attract ants or rodents. A wet mop that isn’t properly cleaned and put away leaves a moist and therefore perfect breeding environment for flies.

At the end of the day, staying clean isn’t only beneficial for pest prevention, but is actually strictly enforced by government safety and regulation organizations.

4. Get quarterly pest control treatments

The best preventive measure you can take for keeping your restaurant pest-free is to get professional treatments done at least every season. As sealed and clean as you keep your restaurant, the likelihood of a pest somehow getting into the restaurant is high so having that extra level of pest control is worth the couple hundred dollars a year. A commercial pest control professional will inspect the entire property, give the restaurant specific preventive advice to further eliminate pests, as well as treat current infestations.