Flies in a restaurant are never a good issue to have.  However, did you know that most food service operations will deal with these pests at some point?

As an exterminator I’ve seen some things that frankly have turned my stomach.  One that doesn’t is a restaurant with flies, fruit flies to be exact.  I know that seems odd, but to an exterminator this is just another day at the office.  Frankly, it’s a rare restaurant that won’t at some point have an issue with these pests.

Fruit flies in a restaurant

The fruit fly is a mainstay at bars around the world.  They’re attracted to fermenting material in drains and in moist cracks and crevice.  When a problem gets bad it’s not unusual for patrons at a bar to be swatting them away during a meal.

The first call the bar owner makes is to the exterminator.  However, good exterminators don’t spray for fruit flies, in fact after we identify the issue it’s up to the owner to put the plan into effect.  Our goal is help guide the owner through the sanitation process and provide accurate source inspections

All fruit flies gather near or in standing water or food material.  The wetter the material the better.  Some perfect areas for fruit flies are in drains, under wet matts, beer trays, under equipment and at the bottom of garbage cans just to name a few.  Solving the issue is all about sanitation.  Using pesticides to fog a room may knock them down, but true control is about eliminating the breeding source.

Solutions to fruit fly issues

Next, to solve a fruit fly problem the owner must use an antimicrobial cleaner such as Bio Mop. When used according to label directions it will slowly eliminate the organic matter that the flies are breeding in. I’ve seen hundreds of owners dump boiling water and bleach down drains only to be disappointed that the flies are back in a few days. Bio Mop and products like it are what we recommend almost exclusively.

Last, in order to solve a fruit fly problem the bar owner is going to have to do a bit of detective work to find every source they can.  This is the hard part as fruit flies breed in odd places.  At Envirocare Pest Control we provide expert food establishment assessments and can diagnose and handle most all pest issue that occur.  We can be reached at 1-888-879-6481

Now what about those roaches?