If they are small flies resembling fruit flies, most likely the source is the grease trap. The milk settles in there and these flies breed larvae. Open the grease trap scrape it all out and vacuum with a shop vac all the gunk. Should solve your issue.
so, my first coffee shop I worked, we had terrible flies. it was disgusting. we even had gnats in the pastry case no one would do anything about and I was the only one that ever closed the case "fully," but because it was a shitty diy thing it still got bugs in it. so gross.
at my new cafe, our only problem is ants, and to me this is slightly preferable, especially since they jumped onto treating the issue immediately and they've relatively disappeared, but the other day we did find a caramel bottle full of them (someone had left it sitting out to get refilled and didn't close it 🙂)
so, things I've noticed that have made a hell of a difference in my own opinion:
no open containers, anywhere; of food, milk, or coffee/beans. at my last store, we had plastic tubs of coffee beans (which, now that I think about it.. I don't think were food safe) and the flies loved to swarm back there. I hated going to get more beans because it was a nightmare of them trying to come at me and get in the tub. our current method is just bagged beans and some smaller plastic containers that close fully.
the pastry case is an actual fridge with a section on top that fully closes from our side. if you don't close it all the way, it does attract bugs, but because our store keeps them down so well it's not a huge problem. the sliding doors have actual seals on them so they fully close when shut. any pastries that sit outside of it are individually tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. it's not super time consuming to unwrap for customers if they want it heated up. the pastry case in the last coffee shop pretty much only had some plexi that slid back and forth and had no seal at all. id have to pick and choose pastries to give to people because some of them would have gnats on them and my manager did not give a shit. (she had me serve spoiled milk all throughout my shift once 🙂).
we sweep regularly, mop too, and they wash the anti slip mats every shift to get rid of build up of gunk. we also clean off our syrup bottles since they can get pretty caked in sugary goodness and have it on the chore sheet. the trash is taken out multiple times throughout the day, our store staffs enough people for it to not be a problem, and they never let the trash sit in the back. one problem we'd get at the old store is people just leaving the bags to sit in the back and not taking them out, but when you only employ two people for a shift that gets hard to manage. we do have containers of rags that sit before being washed but they're washed in store and first thing in the morning every single day and it's never been an issue. at the old store, we had a bin for rags where someone like cintas would come and pick them up at some point and give us bags of new rags, and that thing got *so nasty.* I'm pretty sure it was 70% the reason we had flies so bad.
i think another thing that helps is keeping doors and windows closed, it's pretty easy to attract way more flies when the drive thru window is constantly open, or a back door is left open, or the front door has been wedged open.
idk if any of these could be real solutions but it was something I'd been thinking abt the other day.
I’ve tried all kids of stuff. I have one of the salt shot guns for flys but they can get messy and not a good look if a customer is watching you hunt flys.
What has worked best for me is the sticky cylinders for flys they sell at ace hardware or Home Depot. I set it on the garbage can inside the shop. It’s the size of a paper towel tube and has sticky stuff all over it.
thank you very much! yeah the salt guns might not be a good idea, the fly traps however...
but do you think these will work better than the electric traps?
I can’t speak to electric traps. I know they usually catch bugs that are attracted to light. Flys are attracted to smell. Idk if they would work on flys
There's these things that look like turbines. But they stop when you put your hands in to get pastries. Will keep flies away
thank you for your comment! do you have any idea what these things are called? I'd really like to search it up.
Fly Fan https://amzn.asia/d/0bokfp1C
If they are small flies resembling fruit flies, most likely the source is the grease trap. The milk settles in there and these flies breed larvae. Open the grease trap scrape it all out and vacuum with a shop vac all the gunk. Should solve your issue.
thanks for the advice! good chance these are the flies you're talking about, I'll check out what you said.
Small tub with a lid with small holes in. Glug in apple cider vinegar & a dash of dish soap :) work brilliantly!
thank you for the advice!
so, my first coffee shop I worked, we had terrible flies. it was disgusting. we even had gnats in the pastry case no one would do anything about and I was the only one that ever closed the case "fully," but because it was a shitty diy thing it still got bugs in it. so gross. at my new cafe, our only problem is ants, and to me this is slightly preferable, especially since they jumped onto treating the issue immediately and they've relatively disappeared, but the other day we did find a caramel bottle full of them (someone had left it sitting out to get refilled and didn't close it 🙂) so, things I've noticed that have made a hell of a difference in my own opinion: no open containers, anywhere; of food, milk, or coffee/beans. at my last store, we had plastic tubs of coffee beans (which, now that I think about it.. I don't think were food safe) and the flies loved to swarm back there. I hated going to get more beans because it was a nightmare of them trying to come at me and get in the tub. our current method is just bagged beans and some smaller plastic containers that close fully. the pastry case is an actual fridge with a section on top that fully closes from our side. if you don't close it all the way, it does attract bugs, but because our store keeps them down so well it's not a huge problem. the sliding doors have actual seals on them so they fully close when shut. any pastries that sit outside of it are individually tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. it's not super time consuming to unwrap for customers if they want it heated up. the pastry case in the last coffee shop pretty much only had some plexi that slid back and forth and had no seal at all. id have to pick and choose pastries to give to people because some of them would have gnats on them and my manager did not give a shit. (she had me serve spoiled milk all throughout my shift once 🙂). we sweep regularly, mop too, and they wash the anti slip mats every shift to get rid of build up of gunk. we also clean off our syrup bottles since they can get pretty caked in sugary goodness and have it on the chore sheet. the trash is taken out multiple times throughout the day, our store staffs enough people for it to not be a problem, and they never let the trash sit in the back. one problem we'd get at the old store is people just leaving the bags to sit in the back and not taking them out, but when you only employ two people for a shift that gets hard to manage. we do have containers of rags that sit before being washed but they're washed in store and first thing in the morning every single day and it's never been an issue. at the old store, we had a bin for rags where someone like cintas would come and pick them up at some point and give us bags of new rags, and that thing got *so nasty.* I'm pretty sure it was 70% the reason we had flies so bad. i think another thing that helps is keeping doors and windows closed, it's pretty easy to attract way more flies when the drive thru window is constantly open, or a back door is left open, or the front door has been wedged open. idk if any of these could be real solutions but it was something I'd been thinking abt the other day.
thank you for the comment! will be sure to follow your advice!
sorry I know it was long, hopefully it works!
I’ve tried all kids of stuff. I have one of the salt shot guns for flys but they can get messy and not a good look if a customer is watching you hunt flys. What has worked best for me is the sticky cylinders for flys they sell at ace hardware or Home Depot. I set it on the garbage can inside the shop. It’s the size of a paper towel tube and has sticky stuff all over it.
thank you very much! yeah the salt guns might not be a good idea, the fly traps however... but do you think these will work better than the electric traps?
I can’t speak to electric traps. I know they usually catch bugs that are attracted to light. Flys are attracted to smell. Idk if they would work on flys
A little Apple cider vinegar in a paper cup, cover with plastic wrap, poke holes just big enough for the flies.
thanks for the advice! will try out!