Mr. Meek

Security & Safety

How to Keep Pests from Turning Your Five-Star Restaurant into a No-Star Restaurant

By Frank Meek, International Technical & Training Director, Orkin, LLC

As a hotelier, you are constantly trying to differentiate your hotel brand. Whether it's upgrading mattresses in guestrooms or extending check out past noon, hotels are always seeking new ways to stand out from the competition. Many hotels entice tourists and business travelers by offering on-site fine dining at four- or five-star restaurants; however, this strategy attracts unwanted "visitors" as well - pests.

Just like humans, pests need food and water sources to survive, and what better place to find a nice meal than in a hotel kitchen. In addition to entering hotel kitchens through open doors or cracks in the exterior of the building, pests can enter by hitchhiking in on employees' belongings and hiding in shipments. Pest management in the kitchen is vital, as it can serve as the gateway to infestations elsewhere in the hotel. Once inside, pests can proceed to other parts of the hotel by hiding in guests' or employees' belongings or catching a ride on a room service cart. The best way to defend your hotel's kitchen from pesky invaders is to attack pest problems before they start.

Kitchen Invaders

The first step to preventing pest infestations in your hotel is identification of the target species. The four most common pests found in hotel kitchens are cockroaches, flies, stored- product pests and rodents. Let's take a closer look at each of these pests to determine why they are a problem and how you can identify their presence.

Cockroaches

As one of the earth's oldest species with fossil evidence dating back nearly 350 million years, roaches have pestered humans since the beginning of our existence - and for good reason. Roaches carry an average of 25 different disease-producing bacteria that can lead to foodborne illnesses such as diarrhea, food poisoning, pneumonia and leprosy. In addition, research from the American Allergy Institute shows that cockroach excrement and cast skins contain allergens that aggravate allergies and asthma.

Although there are over 4000 species of cockroaches worldwide, the German cockroach is the species most commonly found in food preparation areas. These 1/2- to 5/8-inch long insects have brown or tan bodies with two dark stripes and will eat almost anything. Since roaches are thigmotropic in nature, meaning they prefer the side or top of their bodies touching other objects, they spend 75 percent of their lives in cracks and crevices. With all of the dark hiding spots found in between appliances and cooking equipment, hotel kitchens make an ideal place for cockroaches to reside.

Flies

Did you know that it is actually less sanitary for a fly to land on a piece of food than for a cockroach to walk across it? Flies' bodies can be coated in bacteria, and they place this bacteria on a surface every time they land, potentially spreading common sources of foodborne illness such as E. coli, shigella and staphylococcus. Flies also can carry many disease organisms inside their body. Due to the way they feed or try to feed on everything they land on, these organisms also are easily transmitted.

Even though there are more than 18,200 species of flies in the United States, you will probably only notice house flies, vinegar flies and drain flies buzzing around your hotel. Easily identified by four lengthwise stripes on the thorax, house flies prefer to eat foods containing sweet or decaying material. Vinegar flies, also known as fruit flies, have a distinct two-toned abdomen (black on top and gray underneath) and tend to breed near fermented materials such as fruit, dirty garbage containers and floor drains. More commonly known as moth flies, drain flies are densely covered with long hairs that relay a fuzzy appearance and are often found in drains and on mops.

Rodents

Rodents seem to frighten humans more than any other pest, which makes sense given that rats and mice are known carriers of a host of diseases, including salmonella, plague, rat-bite fever and Hantavirus. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the worldwide damage caused by rats and mice exceeds $200 billion each year. This results from the fact that rodents can gnaw through lead, aluminum and even cinderblock if given enough time.

Rodents have very poor eyesight, so they tend to travel the same path and stick close to the wall, leaving greasy rub marks along the way. Employees should look for rub marks and other signs of rodents, including droppings, burrows and gnaw marks on plastic pipes or electrical wires.

Stored-Product Pests

Although hotel guests will probably never see stored-product pests, they should definitely not be ignored. Despite their small size, stored-product pests devour many types of food and contaminate much more than they eat, so even a small infestation can severely harm your inventory. In addition to affecting your bottom-line with ruined commodities, some species of stored-product pests secrete chemicals that alter the flavor of food products, while others cause allergic reactions and irritate the human digestive tract if ingested.

Based on their eating habits, stored-product pests fall into two major categories: internal feeders such as granary and rice weevils that feed on the inside of the product, and external feeders including Indian meal moths and cigarette beetles that feast on the exterior of the product. Employees should inspect food supplies and food storage areas for signs of an infestation, such as webbing, live larvae and adult pests, and remove any infested commodity immediately to prevent the problem from spreading.

Battleground Tactics

Now that you know what pests you're up against, let's discuss how to deter them from the places they love the most. Proactive sanitation is half the battle and can help you prevent a single pest sighting from becoming a major infestation.

Kitchen pests often enter hotels unnoticed by hiding inside incoming shipments. Inspect all supply boxes with a black light to illuminate any pest urine and monitor for signs of infestation, including droppings and bite marks. Keep a sample of all grain products in a glass jar to monitor for stored-product pest larvae. To prevent pests from making the storage area their home, rotate products from the storage area on a first in, first out (FIFO) basis. Make sure to store dry foods off the floor and away from walls, and seal all containers tightly.

Simple sanitation practices such as vacuuming and immediately cleaning up food and drink spills discourage pests from hiding underneath or inside kitchen equipment. To eliminate the grimy buildup on appliances and equipment that is hard to remove through regular cleanings, conduct a "deep cleaning" of your kitchen once or twice a year.

Since cockroaches and flies like to hang out in sink and floor drains, use a biological drain cleaner to remove leftover organic material. Consider washing the kitchen floor with the drain cleaner to help remove any elements that attract pests in the first place. Finally, line all trashcans and regularly remove waste to dissuade pests from gathering near waste disposal areas.

Remember that effective pest management is a team effort. Work with your staff and pest management provider to implement a regular sanitation routine. With all your troops in line, your team can win the war against kitchen pests together.

An industry veteran, Frank Meek has been with Orkin since 1986. In 2003, he was named among the future leaders of the pest management industry in Pest Control Technology magazine’s “40 Under 40” ranking. Currently, as the International Technical and Training Director, Mr. Meek provides technical support and training in both sales and service to Orkin's international franchises, helping them grow and develop in their specific markets. As a board-certified entomologist, Mr. Meek teaches Integrated Pest Management principles and can explain how to use all available methodologies to prevent pest infestations in various commercial settings. Mr. Meek can be contacted at 404-888-2898 or fmeek@rollinscorp.com Extended Bio...

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