Horrible Fly Problem in Restaurant Need HELP!

Does the dining area have a roof where you could add ceiling fans or corner fans for a good breeze? A strong enough constant air movement would help with the flies and feel good in the Texas heat as well.

 

Also it might pay to investigate your neighbors- we have a fly problem in our backyard at home and couldn't work out why they were so bad.
Turns out the owner behind us keeps a large aviary of racing pigeons, so obviously their droppings attract flys.

 

Cut a lemon in half. Stud each half with 6-8 cloves. Put on a plate and place on table.

 

I would do all of the above. Check the surrounding area for the source of the flies. Screen off the seating area. Invest in some bug zappers. Contact the Dept. of Environmental Conservation. They might have some answers and be able to help with sourcing the flies.

I'm not a fan of pest control companies. They only seem to be good for generating their own income. 

 

I would do all of the above as well. Solving a problem with pest control companies is always a lottery for me, so I wouldn't recommend it. You may check the article on pestcontrolhacks and, obviously, you won't use sticky tapes and repellent plugs near food, but getting a few bug zappers is a must.

 

I agree. They must be coming from someplace.

 

They are probably coming from standing water in the big open field right next to your restaurant. I wonder if you could spray or treat the field somehow (maybe before fly season starts??) to slow down or stop the flies.

Unfortunately I don't have any advice for you that hasn't already been proposed. Let us know if you find a solution.

 

Dunno about that. Mosquitoes certainly but most flies are born on and live off of rotting organic matter.
I've heard that setting up fans so that there is a constant cross wind can help with mosquitoes because it keeps them from landing, I would think the same would be true for flies.

 

I think you're right, I suspect I got my mosquitos and flies mixed up.

 

Has to have something to do with the field next to your place. Your problem may not be solvable without a move.

 

Could very well be. Ever take a walk over there to see what might causing the problem? Not saying that you can do anything about what you might find but at least you'll learn something. Also, does anybody else in your area have this problem?

I think moving is a last resort. Fully screening in the outdoor area would be the first thing to consider.

 

The OP posted once almost two years ago.....I’ve been wondering the whole time what happened.

 

Love it when someone dredges up an old thread and nobody notices. If it wasn't for other people who might have a similar problem, we just wasted our time.

 

I've learned to be pretty aware of these threads but this one got by me for sure. I advocate for closing old threads that haven't had a new response in (x) number of months/years, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards for this site for whatever reason. A lot of other forums I visit do that type of thing to prevent these types of events from happening.

 

The older threads don’t bother me so much because sometimes it’s still relevant but what really gets me is when people post once and members spend time giving advice and the OP never acknowledges or gives an update.

 

I've wanted to post on an old thread but didn't want to be that guy that brought something back that maybe had been covered since. FWIW I read the old threads lol

 

Once again I don’t really see a problem with older threads as long as someone doesn’t ask “chef chop chop” who posted once in 2002 if he decided to go to culinary school or not. If you start a post saying something like “ I realize this is an old thread but still feel it is very relevant” then nobody would really be too bothered.The thing with the professional form is that there are only so many topics and people tend to ask the same questions over and over.If it’s an interesting subject then who cares if it’s three years old.It’s not so bad now but in the past it was pretty common for older members to drive away new posters and the site is worse for it.The home cooks seem to have a better community and make a post about what they had for dinner run for years.

 

Call the services that take care of insects