Serving up smart pest control tips
Folks in Dallas enjoy dining out, and their love for delicious food and great service keeps you in business. As hard as you work to make your restaurant profitable, a pest infestation can ruin inventory, run off customers, and put a dent in your reputation. Prevention is your best defense, so get your staff involved in a team effort against expensive invaders.
Back-of-House Strategies
Fresh inventory gets checked in against daily and weekly orders, but kitchen staff should give everything a second inspection before moving it to storage or the walk-in. Anything that pushes food costs over 35% sets off alarms, so there’s no room in the budget for losses from pest contamination. Red-flag meal moths around flour sacks and cockroaches in produce boxes. Stress the importance of rotating inventory, regularly sweeping out storage, and mopping floors after every prep.
Front-of-House Strategies
Your waitstaff knows the restaurant’s layout from top to bottom, so have them keep a close eye on the floor. Count on them to help spot signs of rodent traffic or cockroach crossings. Quickly cleaning up spills during service keeps everybody safe on their feet, but it also discourages foraging pests. Make sure station trash cans stay tightly covered and dish bins are promptly delivered to the wash.
Outside Game Plans
If your staff parks behind the restaurant, they can help keep an eye out for rodent freeloaders cruising the loading dock and dumpsters. Wasps and bees are seasonal problems here in North Texas, but employees coming and going should notice these winged pests before arriving customers are hit with a swarm. Singing birds in tall shade trees add a lovely ambiance to your restaurant. Their droppings discourage business by ruining hungry diners’ moods and expensive car paint jobs. Ask the host staff to check sidewalks, entrances, and patios for anything that needs to be cleaned up before you open the doors.
When your entire staff rallies around smart pest control plans, everyone wins. It isn’t easy to keep determined pests out of your restaurant and away from customers, so give us a call if you need professional backup. At ABC Home & Commercial Services in Dallas, we specialize in handling hospitality properties, and we’re always ready to join your team.