Overcoming the Challenges of Cockroaches in Restaurants

Restaurants continue to be a source of frustration for PMPs. It’s not that restaurateurs and managers don’t want to help; it’s that they’re already moving so fast, they have little time and energy left for wiping up every crumb and scrubbing every greasy surface. And sanitation isn’t their only issue.

‘SPECIAL’ DELIVERIES? “Sometimes it’s a challenge to get cooperation when it comes to sanitation and preparation in restaurants. However, I find that chain restaurants have very good protocols in place, and we do get a lot of cooperation in those accounts,” said Greg Bausch, vice president of American City Pest & Termite, which serves the Los Angeles and Orange County markets in California. “Honestly, though, sanitation is just the start. What restaurants need to watch out for most are cockroaches coming in with their deliveries. We’ve seen it happen: When we’re there at night, deliveries come in and some of the boxes may be infested. Restaurant managers tell us they witness it, too.”

For years, Bausch said he has had conversations with restaurant managers about the wisdom of inspecting deliveries before they come into the building, but it’s not practical for most restaurant locations. “When deliveries are made, they want them inside right away. You can’t just leave those products in the alley behind the business until someone can get out there to inspect them. What I recommend is an immediate inspection that includes removing all the product from the boxing or packaging material and discarding that material immediately. That would help a lot.”

Elliott Adams of Ease Wildlife & Pest Services agrees. “You’ll treat the restaurant, and they’ll be fine for a couple weeks — until they get a shipment. Then the roaches are back. Having worked in restaurants for almost 10 years, I understand the issue: You can make it part of your protocol, but the person in charge is almost never the person receiving the shipments. And with the high turnover in restaurants, that manager is always trying to teach someone new what to look for. That’s too much for some restaurants, and so they often decide that when the cockroaches come back, they’ll just call us back. It can be hard to get them to commit to those stringent inspections.”

SHUTDOWNS ARE THE WORST. Bausch said he’s found the most challenging situations to be when a new restaurant customer calls saying they have a heavy infestation and got closed down. “They’ll say, ‘Hey, we need help right away. The health inspector is coming back in three days.’ We show up and do our inspection but, depending on the circumstances, their timetable may be unrealistic. We communicate up front what it will take to reopen the restaurant — how many services over what time period — and we give them a proposal. If they go with us, we do our best to get them reopened as soon as possible.”

CLIENT EDUCATION HELPS. When the state legislature of South Carolina split its Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) into two separate agencies in mid-2024, the Department of Agriculture was charged with inspecting more than 24,000 restaurants across the state. They’ve embraced that responsibility over the past two years, beefing up staff, inspections and enforcement.

Sara Sooklall of Lane’s Professional Pest Elimination welcomes their increased presence. “The inspectors push restaurant owners to see cockroaches as a public safety concern. That makes our job easier,” she said. “We are always educating our customers about the health risks associated with cockroaches, but when the Department of Agriculture gets involved, they seem to take it more seriously. The prospect of being cited for health code violations and running the risk of being shut down helps restaurant owners understand the value of cooperating with our team on pest management efforts.”

Interestingly, the percentage of customers (including commercial and residential) who view cockroaches as a threat to public health hasn’t changed much over the past five years. In 2021, 69% of PMPs said their customers recognize the threat; five years later, that percentage has grown just 4 points, to 73%. The answer may lie in the “don’t know” category. About one in five survey respondents (19% in 2026, 21% five years ago) said they don’t know if their customers are aware of the risk — an indication that more conversation may be needed to get everyone on board.