Ants in Your Restaurant? Here’s How to Keep Your Facility Pest-Free

As a restaurant owner, one of your essential duties is making sure your facility is a clean, safe space for customers to come and enjoy food and drinks. If your restaurant is infested with ants, this has negative implications for the quality of your food, service, and the overall experience your guests will have. Not to mention, failing to keep up with pest control could result in your restaurant being shut down!

What Kind of Threats Do Ants Pose?

Sure, ants are annoying. But did you know they can pose serious health threats as well? This is one of the main reasons an infestation can lead to your restaurant being shut down. Ants have been known to carry dangerous bacteria like Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Clostridium, and Streptococcus.

In addition to health risks, certain ant species can cause serious structural damage to your restaurant by chewing through wood.

Not to mention, once a customer spots ants (or other pests) in your restaurant, they’re unlikely to ever return. Word of mouth spreads quickly about pest problems, so their negative experience could have a lasting impact on the success of your restaurant.

Signs of an Ant Infestation in a Restaurant

If you’ve just spotted a single ant in your restaurant, does this mean the entire property is infested with ants or could that lone creature have made its way in? Well, ants are very social beings, and they tend to travel in packs or “colonies.” If you see one ant, it usually means hundreds, if not thousands of others are nearby.

Here are some telltale signs your restaurant has an ant problem:

Nests: If ants are nesting in your restaurant, you’ll tend to find the small piles of dirt or soil they call home around the property.

Customer complaints: Even if you haven’t seen ants yourself, take your customers seriously when they say they’ve spotted ants or other pests. While you’re busy with everything that goes into running a restaurant, customers might have a different perspective that allows them to see what you might miss. Any mentions of ants and other pests should be addressed right away.

Noise: Once your restaurant is closed for the night, you might be able to hear certain species of ants behind your walls or in your floors. Carpenter ants can be particularly noisy as they chew through wooden structures in your restaurant.

Ant frass: What looks like small piles of sawdust around your restaurant is actually ant frass. It’s a waste product excreted by carpenter ants who chew through wood. In addition to wood debris, frass contains ant feces which is especially problematic and unhealthy when it’s found near where food is consumed or prepared.

Types of Ants in Restaurants

While there are nearly 12,000 known species of ants, there are a handful that are known for infesting restaurants:

• Pavement Ants
• Odorous House Ants
• Carpenter Ants
• Pharaoh Ants

The best way to avoid an ant problem in your restaurant is avoiding the problem before it’s created in the first place. Here are some easy steps you can take to help prevent ant infestations in your restaurant.

Keep it Clean

Ants love sweet, sugary, greasy, and protein-packed foods. These are all things you’ll find in abundance in most restaurants, which makes these locations a prime breeding ground for the pests. Your first step for safeguarding your investment from ants is to keep it clean! Floors need to be swept, vacuumed, and mopped at least once a day. Food needs to be properly stored where ants can’t reach it, and any spills or messes need to be tended to right away.

Maintain the Property

Many ant species are drawn to moisture. If your property has leaky pipes or any structural leaks, this will greatly increase the likelihood of ants finding their way into your restaurant and causing a problem.

When a restaurant is properly maintained, not only will it help keep ants out, but it’s also useful for keeping it clear of other pests like mice and rats.

Keep Stored Wood Away from the Restaurant

You might have guessed it from their name, but carpenter ants love wood. They especially love damaged, damp wood like the kind you’d find stored outside. If wood is stored around your restaurant, it needs to be away from your property so the ants burrowing in it won’t get inside the building. The same goes for removing dead trees, stumps, and other landscaping that could pose a potential threat.

Get Professional Ant Control Help

As soon as you suspect an ant problem in your restaurant, it must be dealt with right away. Before you know it, a small problem can become a big deal.

The best, most effective way to deal with ants in your restaurant is with professional help. At Brilliex Pest Control, we offer commercial pest control, including ant removal and extermination. We use safe and eco-friendly products whenever possible to ensure not only an effective result, but the healthiest option, too.

We use an integrated pest management (IPM) approach that entails applying careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of ant populations. We also keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and we reduce or minimize risks to human health and the environment.

The Importance of Regular Pest Control for Your Restaurant

Our Brilliex licensed exterminators will provide a comprehensive inspection of your business and recommend safe solutions to eradicate the ant infestation. Often, this includes a regular maintenance program to ensure your property remains free of pests. With year-round pest control service and maintenance, you’ll have the peace of mind that your property is safe and free of pests.

Call us today and we’ll get to work on dealing with ants and your other pest controls needs right away.