Can a Restaurant Get Shut Down For Roaches?
Hi. I’m Jack Bastide. You are in the right place if you are wondering if Can a Restaurant Get Shut Down for Roaches. This article will cover this and many other important questions about keeping your restaurant safe from getting shut down by a roach infestation found during a health inspection.
Can a Restaurant Get Shut Down For Roaches?
Yes, a restaurant business can get shut down for roaches. Roaches are dangerous and can cause illness in customers and employees. They have no place in a restaurant. But there is good news. There are ways to eliminate roaches by yourself or by using professional pest control. We’ll show you how.
Restaurant owners can employ the services of a pest control company or use proper sanitation and careful application of insecticides to stop a roach infestation and avoid being fined or closed down by licensed health inspectors and risk losing customers.
Do All Restaurants Have Roaches?
While not all restaurants have roaches, they can be fairly common. It can be difficult to keep them out, but not impossible.
No matter how careful they are, most restaurants will eventually have roaches. This can be dangerous, resulting in failing a health inspection and losing customers.
Roaches love moisture and food-abundant areas. Restaurant owners and employees cannot completely eradicate moisture from the premises.
Even after a thorough cleaning, there will still be food particles in specific places like the sink, cabinets, etc.; these invite roaches.
We recommend calling a commercial pest control company as soon as you see any signs of roaches. They can handle the problem quickly before a failed health inspection can shut down your business and scare away customers.
What Are Signs of a Cockroach Infestation?
There are many signs that a roach infestation has occurred. The most visible sign is the presence of cockroach feces or droppings in numerous places where they inhabit.
These feces are tiny black droppings resembling pepper or coffee. If you notice it, that’s one thing. If your customers do, that’s a whole other story.
Another visible sign of roach infestation is the presence of cockroach egg capsules, otherwise known as ootheca.
These egg capsules contain eggs for the continuous existence of the roaches. Most species of cockroaches lay the egg capsules just anywhere and leave them there to mature.
The capsules are reddish-brown and approximately the same size as bean seeds.
Roaches shed their skin at least 5 to 8 times during their lifespan. Therefore, cockroach wings or certain body parts in secluded areas can mean an infestation.
A strong, repulsive smell oozing out of a particular section of a restaurant could indicate a cockroach infestation.
How To Get Rid of Cockroaches In a Restaurant
Two major ways exist to get rid of cockroaches in a restaurant building. The first way is to hire exterminators or commercial pest control services to do the job for you.
This might take a few days or weeks, but the professionals will do a great job solving your roach problem. This will allow you to pass a commercial health inspection and keep your customers returning.
The second is doing it yourself with an insecticide. If you’re looking for a cheaper and more cost-effective way of getting rid of cockroaches, you should consider doing it yourself.
You can get your products at Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart or Amazon. But follow the instructions because these chemicals can harm you, your employees, and your customers.
Make sure to apply the product in small openings around the restaurant building, especially in the kitchen, sink, and other dark, hidden places.
The insecticide application should be under controlled measures, especially in a restaurant, to avoid food poisoning. Cleaning leftover food particles is another important measure to keep away roaches from the restaurant.
How Do You Get Rid of Roaches Without An Exterminator?
There are many ways to control roaches without the service of an exterminator. Below are some preventative measures to keep in place to control cockroaches.
Eliminate Moisture – Ensure no water-logged areas around your home, especially in the kitchen. Recall that roaches love moisture and are attracted to where they can find water. Therefore, getting rid of water logging around the kitchen is very important.
Eliminate Food – Thoroughly sweep or clean food leftovers in the kitchen. After preparing a meal, take considerable time to clean and sweep the environment and ensure that food particles or leftovers are not left unattended in your kitchen, as this will attract the roaches.
Use Roach Killing Products – If you already have an infestation, use boric acid and other commercially available products to control and eliminate roaches. Just be careful because these chemicals can be dangerous for employees and customers.
What Kills Cockroaches Instantly Naturally?
One of the fastest natural remedies for the termination of roaches is the use of boric acid. Boric acid naturally occurs in fruits and is completely harmless to man but a nightmare to roaches.
When ingested by the roaches, it reacts with their digestive system, thus killing them instantly.
Borax powder is another way of getting rid of roaches. When ingested by the roaches, this powder causes them to dry up and instantly leads to their death.
What Temperature Kills Roaches?
Just like humans, roaches thrive in a temperature range of between 75°F and 85°F. They are adaptable to temperature changes, but extreme heat of 115° or more can kill them. On the lower end, they will stop reproducing at about 45° F and will die when it gets much colder than that (15 degrees or below)
How Fast Do Roaches Multiply?
Roaches multiply fast, mainly because the female roaches produce one egg capsule, an ootheca, per month on average. One ootheca contains approximately 16 eggs.
Fun fact: While roaches prefer to reproduce sexually with males and females, a female can produce offspring without males. Female roaches can lay new egg capsules without fertilization; this scientific phenomenon is known as parthenogenesis.
Parthenogenesis is the ability of an organism to produce offspring on its own without needing the opposite gender. So, an infestation of roaches can occur with just one female cockroach.
Do Cockroaches Make Noise?
Yes, Roaches make noise. The sound made by roaches is called “chirping. However, this sound can only be heard in dead silence close to where they inhabit.
Aside from the night period, they are not known to make any noise, so many conclude that they are noiseless creatures.
What Does Cockroach Poop Look Like?
Cockroach poop is dark and tiny relative to its mass. They are often compared to tiny specs of coffee grounds or pepper. Their feces are easily noticed on white surfaces.
Do Cockroaches Bite?
Yes, cockroaches bite. While it is not common, they have been known to bite humans.
Roaches are both flesh-eating and vegetable-eating creatures. Research has proven that they can eat human flesh, whether dead or alive.
Skin irritation is one of the major side effects associated with the bite of a cockroach; this may be accompanied by other symptoms like red bumps on the affected area, and some more serious cases might involve shortness of breath.
Do Roaches Like The Cold?
No, cockroaches despise cold as much as they despise heat. Roaches don’t survive too well in areas characterized by temperature extremes, whether hot or cold.
Although some roaches can survive in cold regions like Antarctica, not all species have that characteristic.
Conclusion – Can a Restaurant Get Shut Down For Roaches?
A roach infestation can be very bad for your restaurant business. It is dangerous and can cause bacteria and health problems for customers and employees. You also risk being shut down or fined heavily by city officials and health inspectors. Therefore, all necessary preventive measures above should be used to control infestation. If things get out of hand, hire an exterminator.
Jack Bastide is a Restaurant Consultant focusing on Restaurant POS technology. Check out our world famous restaurant resources page for a comprehensive offering of hand picked resources and tools to help your business. You can also check out some of our other restaurant business articles.
