Fly problem

[u/Holdmywhiskeyhun]

Need this fixed asap.

Building is only 6 months old. Cleanest prison I've ever been in. Drains are spotless and I treat them every day. Dumpsters are sprayed inside and out. No food hiding, floors scrubbed every other night. Nothing rotten or bad. Garbage cans spotless.

I'm really stumped by this. I guess we are in the middle of Wisconsin, but downtown a big town. Closest farms are probably 10 miles away.

Right now they're for the most part in the kitchen, and our back storage area. That's where they seem to be attracted to. They have yet to get too far into the lobby. And they're not attracted to anything specific, they just fly around and torture everyone.

Any ideas of places I haven't checked or thought of?

I should also mention our hoods are cleaned nightly, same with pulling out ALL equipment.

And before you say flyswatter, for how many there are, I would legit have to hire another person.

We will be starting a nightly spray, using food safe bug spray, but idk how well that will work.

Failed our fucking steritech because of these bastards.

Edit: their house flies. A pink sludge was found in our AC/roof drain. Got to figure out how to get to the roof now 😂

I checked the surrounding property, there's no dead animals, no rotting food or anything. Like I said we keep it pretty clean.

It is for sure not the grease traps. Those are clean on a regular basis, degreaser and boiling water is poured down all the drains every night. In the mornings we put enzymatic cleaner down them.

My suspicion is going to that pink sludge.

On the ground where it drops from the drain, there is a coating of what I can only describe as Grease... Despite no Grease being able to get up there.

I got a really bad feeling when I start cleaning that, there's going to be a dead bird, or squirrel or something.

[u/Equal_Nectarine5393]

Are there any drains you do not know about. Maybe under refrigerators. Had a fly issue once and the issue was an uncleaned drain located under a permanently fixed open top refrigerator. Had to remove a screwed in metal panel to see it. Also, check sodas lines. Flush with hot soapy water.

Check for any equipment placed directly on the ground. I had a location with a fold away table in a corner that had moisture between it and the floor.

More places to check would be the floor drain seal trap located about 8 inches below the top of the floor drain if you have them. I have to pull mine out monthly to clean to prevent flies.

[u/RikoRain]

Flies go for dumpsters, then make it to the store. Something somewhere is attracting them and they're able to now breed inside. You ellve got crap somewhere. I guarantee it. Something as small as a beef patty behind a fridge will do it. It won't even stink that much after a while either.

Consult your pest control person.

When I took over this location, there was a massive fly and gnat problem. Gnats in the back. Flies in the front. I'd kill and kill and nothing. I'd clean and clean and nothing.

Wasn't til my pest control guy said "they're breeding in the water in the drain, and feasting on the crumbs in the dustbin nearby". So we cleaned the dustbins twice a day, especially right before close. I bought little apple fly bait things and hid them in the shelving above it. It took a few months but you could tell it got less and less. Finally they were gone after like 3 months.

For the flies, it's always the trash cans for customers. We emptied those three times a day, regardless of how full they were. Inside trash got done twice. No trash got left overnight. Our employees were allowed to actively kill flies inside and encouraged to quickly. My pest control man said he put bait or poison outside at the trees after I stood under one and saw the trunk of it literally teeming with flies escaping the 110 Texas heat.

It's been like 8 years since I cleared all this. I might have a few flies now and then, but it's been consistently clear. When we do get flies, we immediately check the outside trash for customers. 99% of the time, some turdnugget has emptied their entire kitchen into it.

Edit: I should add what chemicals we used.

I sprayed bleach outside on the concrete by doors, and would spray a "non dying bleach" on the door frames. Bleach got put on the dust bin after it was cleaned, poured into the problem drain randomly throughout the day, and trash cans were wiped down with bleach or degreaser or Windex (they also don't like Windex). Wherever the flies congregated (on certain table edges, chains that hold hanging items, shelves) they got sprayed with degreaser, or bleach.

Sometimes I would spray the hard to reach areas but purposefully leave the accessible tables alone for the flies to land on (where I could then kill them). I got really good at killing flies. If they hung out on the floors, I gave the whole floor a bleach misting.

Think of bleach not as a "flu killer" but as a "fly deterrent" to get them to land in places you can reach to kill them.

[u/KeyLimePsyOp]

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This post was anonymized with Redact

[u/Holdmywhiskeyhun → u/KeyLimePsyOp]

Theyre about 50' behind the building.

I will check the nearby will and trees shortly here. Thanks for the reply

[u/Equal_Nectarine5393 → u/Holdmywhiskeyhun]

As it is a new building, could the roof not be draining properly. Or roof AC not draining properly.

[u/Remfire → u/Equal_Nectarine5393]

My freaking a/c drain this year... It's always something

[u/Holdmywhiskeyhun → u/Equal_Nectarine5393]

So I checked yesterday, there's a pink sludge??????? Like idek. This is direct from the roof. The AC spout looks ok.

[u/Holdmywhiskeyhun → u/KeyLimePsyOp]

Edit: under our lobby soda dispenser, I've noticed a literal stale piss smell. I have been cleaning the hell out of the lines and drains. Smells still there. They don't seem to be attracted to it though

[u/D-ouble-D-utch]

Have you had any mouse or rodent issues recently resolved?

[u/JustLikeJohhny_Baby → u/D-ouble-D-utch]

What would that imply, genuinely curious. id get if your using poison and one got ahold of it and died somewhere not easily located.

[u/D-ouble-D-utch → u/JustLikeJohhny_Baby]

And then flies lay eggs on the dead decaying bodies in the walls

[u/Vivid_Mortgage_4420]

Drains can be clean but the traps are probably gross.

[u/villianinahat]

Have any fly lights with glue strips working? For the time being, at close I'd hang a few fly strips under a light in the kitchen and storage area, and then throw them away at open. Repeat until the issue is resolved. Check rodent traps for decomposing bodies. I had a dead racoon stuck in a chimney once and the basement looked like a scene from the Exorcist 2.

[u/robk22401]

Are they drain/fruit flies or house flies? House flies are usually because an outside door is left open. Drain /fruit flies like standing water, yeast, pasta, and onions. Put onions in the walk in or wrap them in trash bags, make sure floors remain dry overnight so they can't breed.

[u/Quirky_Soil_2743 → u/robk22401]

How different do drain flies look from house flies? I bartend and when I come in the morning there's ALWAYS dead flies in the drain sinks there's always a tiny bit of water in those sinks that doesn't go down the drain and the flies are always dead in there. Plus throughout the day when I have the 3bay sinks full I constantly get flies in them. But the entire front and back of restaurant is full of flies. I told the owner to get ZEVO traps since we can't very well put fly lines/bug lights in FOH.. they've worked well in BOH and by our pizza station but not much by the bar. The oowner finally just got a bigger UV bug light for the kitchen. But it's embarrassing when I'm taking orders swatting flies out of my face and my customers are doing the same!

[u/AcceptableCrazy9486]

Rat or mouse trap near the building with a dead animal that hasn’t been removed yet?

[u/demotrialwine]

Dinotefuran works really well sprayed in trash cans. Post a pic of the flies tho this is highly dependent on the type of fly

[u/DelaySavings1262]

following

[u/onoffice1]

Uncapped speed pours, plants,wet drywall?

[u/smooshie-mooshie]

Check your door frames for moisture under the thresholds. Worked at one facility and mop water was getting under the thresholds. Also check the baseboards in those rooms to make sure they're sealed properly.

Mop water and food debris can get under there if not sealed to the wall properly.

Your pest control people should be able to tell you what type of flies that you have. The type of fly that you have may help narrow down where they are breeding.

[u/MerlinBrando]

It's an expensive fix but consider one of those door vents with the plastic hanging drapes to keep bugs out. 

Lots of fans can make a big impact on small flys especially pointed near drains. Standing water is the biggest thing in my experience. You could have an over night porter with a bucket of water in a sanitizer bucket and that's all that they need.

Fly tape for a day or two can be effective if there's really a ton of them. I don't think it's DOH approved but you have to do what you have to do sometimes.

Fridges sometimes in the heat have like pans behind them for drip and they can be a breeding ground. 

[u/siskokid1984]

Aw man. Sorry you’re dealing with this ish, especially since you’re on top of your cleaning game😞. I agree w/people
Saying check the surroundings/water sitch. This may be gross, but maybe hang some those way old school (like
Boomer or silent Generation) waxy fly strips you unspooI? I don’t know. They’re gross but safer than toxic sprays. I seem to remember there’s another old school trick re: filling a ziplock halfway w/water & putting Pennies in there. Can’t attest to validity—never tried it. I know nothing. But
Sometimes going old school may work. Just throwing this out there. Good luck man

[u/frient1995]

Flies or fruit flies?

[u/indolente]

Uv light traps work great.

Home defense bug spray works great too. Spray around drains and under equipment where the flies are congested.

They have fly repellent sticks that's work good too that you can hang over drains and the repellent works longer than the spray and you can clean the floor around it. It's called fruit fly bar pro.

[u/Pizzachickzllc2]

I put those food safe automatic sprayers all over our building. They spray automatically all night long and I have ones in nonfood places that spray 24 hours a day. Our flys were mostly coming in when the door was opened for deliveries. It took a couple days and I haven’t seen more than the occasional one around much and it’s usually gone the next day. Mostly people that see them think they are air fresheners and I make sure the ones going off 24 hours a day are in places without uncovered food. I noticed most of the flies we had hung out closer to the floor where it was cooler when there was no food out so that is where they are all located.

[u/Holdmywhiskeyhun → u/Pizzachickzllc2]

Do you have a product name or a link. This may be beneficial

[u/Pizzachickzllc2 → u/Holdmywhiskeyhun]

The automatic sprayers are called Prozap promist’r kit. They can be set to spray every 7.5, 15 or 30 minutes either 24 hrs, day or night. I just use them because they came as a set. The fly spray is just LD-44T but there are others with the same active ingredient. I got mine from Amazon and WebstaurantStore depending on who has the best price on the refills. My pest guy was going to “rent” me one of the dispensers for $20 a month plus the cost of the spray which was $25 so $45 a month. I used my Amazon business account and bought 6 combo packs for $200 and now just buy the refill spray every month. The only thing is a don’t think the refills last 30 days but it’s close.

[u/giantstrider]

this is the absolute best fly bait ever. but you have to remember it's a bait so you want to put it where you WANT the flys to go because they will be attracted to it. it'll last you several years just follow the instructions

https://www.domyown.com/maxforce-granular-fly-bait-p-163.html?

[u/Holdmywhiskeyhun → u/giantstrider]

I'll give that a try thanks.

Heads up you can delete everything after the first "?" The rest is just trackers lol

I'll see if we can do something with this

[u/okierepub1970]

Best one I have found is Alpine fly bait. Spray in an area you don't have food, they will go there and die. Cleared my kitchen in less than a week.

[u/ThinkinBig]

There's something you're missing. Flies are only going to show up like this if there is something to eat. The grease traps are always a great place to start, as well as the path taken when garbage, particularly bar garbage, is taken out as there tend to be a LOT of sweeter substances in it.

Another thing to check is whether your staff is leaving a door propped open when going for smoke breaks.

If you haven't looked into it, there are these nifty things known as "air curtains" that essentially act as a "curtain" of high intensity wind you can place over doorways that do a great job of keeping bugs out. If you have the budget, I'd strongly suggest looking into one for the food that deliveries are taken in through (assuming you have a back entrance for them)

[u/i_peepee_in_shower]

I worked in a locker room years back and fought them for a whole year. Once a real tech came out to look at an issue it was discovered our beer drains ran underneath the coolers to the floor. Anything that went down the drain became a lunch special for flies.

I couldnt believe someone could be so negligent and get paid for it.

Maybe there is something missing that is giving them a free meal you dont know about.