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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Roaches Not Welcome
20 May, 2009 By: Heather Gooch PMP Buzz Online eNewsletter
Pest management professionals (PMPs) face many foes on the front lines of control and prevention in the field, but no pest keeps them on their toes like the German cockroach (Blatella germanica).p>
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Founded in 1940 by James Clark, Clark Pest Control, Inc. is one of the largest family-owned pest management companies in California.
For nearly 70 years, Clark Pest Control has developed a stellar reputation for not only the service it provides to customers, but also for being an employer of choice.
Today, the company’s more than 200 employees serve thousands of clients from five service centers in California.
Visit www.weneedyou.com for additional information. |
Like any worthy adversary, the German cockroach's strength lies in its ability to adapt. Just when the industry makes strides against their ranks, German cockroaches rebound and learn to avoid a PMP's most trusted tools.
In preparation for battle against the industry's most resilient enemy, the results a PMP can provide for customers are only as good as his training and the treatment method he chooses.
In an effort to stay one step ahead of this finicky cockroach, Clark Pest Control, Inc. of Bakersfield, Calif., recently tried out Bayer Environmental Science's newest cockroach bait gel, Maxforce FC Magnum, at one of its toughest accounts — a local restaurant.
The account presented a significant challenge not only in terms of the level of infestation, but also because of poor sanitation.
"Patrons were actually seeing the roaches in the dining room," recalls John Means, a supervisor with Clark Pest Control, Inc.. By the time his firm took over the account from another pest management provider, the conditions were so extreme, the infestation was spreading across the restaurant's parking lot and into the properties that surrounded it.
"As many PMPs know, accounts with commercial kitchens often need results as soon as possible," Means says. "In this particular restaurant, the infestation had worsened to the point where we needed to do a cleanout, so the treatment had to be really powerful."
Customer Cooperation
The first thing Means did when Clark Pest Control, Inc. landed the account was visit the head cook: "The kitchen is his domain, and if sanitation was to be improved, we would need to have his buy-in," he explains. "He also was able to point out the places the roaches were coming from the most."
Those places turned out to be particularly centered around the aging kitchen equipment which, while still useable, had lots of undisturbed nooks and crannies that were difficult to reach and keep clean.
After his kitchen inspection, Means discussed the situation with the manager. He underscored the importance of improving the staff's clean-up efforts.
"I was up front about the fact that we needed his staff's cooperation," he says. "I told him it's not going to work unless we're all on the same page. No matter how good our treatment is, if within month or two you're back to the same sanitation routines, it's not going to succeed long-term."
Knock 'em Down
For the first visit, Means brought in a three-man crew early in the morning to crash the population with a flushing agent and vacuum treatment. The restaurant was broken into "zones" for each technician to focus on — the lobby and bar area, the restaurant and restrooms, the kitchen and prep area.
With an initial cleanout complete, Means' crew treated their respective zones with Maxforce FC Magnum.
Means was pleased with the application. "It didn't dry out, which is a definite plus when there's so much food competition around," he says. "Also, the bait could be applied precisely, so we could pinpoint areas we wanted to cover and keep them hidden from view — but not from the insects."
Brian Marquez, supervisor in Clark Pest Control, Inc.'s Bakersfield office, agrees that his firm's technicians like using the product because they know they'll get fast, effective results.
"Using Magnum reminds me of when we first started using Maxforce FC Select," Marquez adds. "The cockroaches come out of their cracks and crevices to get to the bait."
Happy Customer, More Business
The owner of the restaurant saw significant results within three days of treatment.
"He called before my next regularly scheduled weekly visit and was walking on air," says Means, noting that the man was so pleased, he signed Clark Pest Control, Inc. on for some other properties he owned. It wasn't long before the restaurant's neighbors called to ask the firm to treat their properties with Magnum, too.
The three-technician crew came back weekly for four weeks, and today the account receives a standard monthly visit by a Clark Pest Control, Inc. commercial technician.
Means attributes the success to a combination of Magnum and customer cooperation, noting that at the onset, he had been prepared to walk away if he felt the restaurant would not be able to improve its sanitation efforts. But luckily, he didn't have to: "I could tell he meant it when he said things would improve, and they did. That's why we still have them as a client today."
Visit www.weneedyou.com or www.backedbybayer.com for additional information on Clark Pest Control, Inc. or Maxforce FC Magnum.
You can reach Gooch, a freelance writer and former managing editor of Pest Control magazine, by e-mailing heather@goochandgooch.com.
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