While running a successful restaurant is more about serving delicious food and delivering an indelible experience, your clients can’t take off their mind; you also need to maintain the highest standard of cleanliness.
More importantly, a commercial kitchen that handles food must maintain impeccable hygiene. However, quite unfortunately, every restaurant – be it a street-side cafe or a fine dining restaurant – has always been threatened by pest infestation. One of the most pressing problems, pest infestation in kitchens is a rampant battle across Australia. It’s not only reputation damaging, but also leads to serious losses.
How to Encounter Pesky Pests in a Commercial Kitchen?
Keeping your restaurants clear of the annoying pests requires paying special attention to the areas in the kitchen which require regular cleaning. It’s important to understand which are the commonly spotted pests and where they lurk to effectively counter and limit the infestation.
Which are the Common Pests Found in Commercial Kitchens?
1. Ants
Ants are an extremely tricky pest to control as their tiny size gives them an advantage. They can easily gain access to the kitchen through tiny cracks and crevices to search for shelter and food. Dealing with ants is a two-way process that includes:
- Remove the root of the problem
- Prevent the recurring infestation
When you spot an army of ants crawling around the kitchen, try to track down its colony, and spot the point of their entry. Seal up all the vulnerable openings, gaps and crevices. Also, you can place baits at their point of entry. Just like dealing with any pest problem, implementing strict cleaning standards is the key to reduce the risk of an infestation. For example, food residues and crumbs attract ants, therefore it must be removed immediately.
2. House Flies
The buzzing sound flies is not only annoying for the staff but can be disconcerting for the patrons. Besides, the irritating sound, house flies are a carrier of pathogens, bacteria and germs and can pose serious health concerns. Just like ants, the small size makes it difficult to prevent the flies from entering the kitchen. Flyscreens have been quite helpful in preventing the flies from contaminating the food; however, it’s important to reduce the sources of attraction. Never leave food or drinks lying around, always clean the spills and remove the food crumbs; to prevent the flies.
Again maintaining hygienic and clean kitchen is what it takes to deter the flies. If you’re unfortunate to suffer an infestation, call a professional exterminator. They possess the proper equipment and insecticides to eliminate the infestation and prevent it in future.
3. Cockroaches
Spotting cockroaches in the kitchen can be an alarming sight! Though small in size, these creepy critters pose serious health concerns by spreading bacteria and disease, as they roam around the kitchen. Compared to other pests, eliminating roaches is a tough job. They are practically indestructible and require professional intervention to get rid of the cockroach infestation. There are a few simple things that you can do to keep the roaches off your kitchen. A clean, hygienic is less vulnerable to suffer an onslaught from the roaches. Make sure you get rid of the rubbish and spillages to keep the kitchen tidy and deter the cockroaches.
The simple prevention tips mentioned here will help you keep the pesky pests at bay. However, if you find the pest problem going out of control, call a professional. Equipped with skills, experience and tools, these professionals will make your commercial kitchen pest-free.