Food Service Pest Reference · Free tool
"I Saw a Pest" Response Card
One page for the host stand and one for the line. What to do, in order, in the first hour, and what to say.
Prepared by Trenton S. Frazer, M.S., BCE #B3413 · Version 1.0, November 3, 2026 · Not legal advice
How to use this document
Print both cards. The dining-room card goes at the host stand and in the server station; the kitchen card goes by the time clock and the hand sink. Read them with staff once; after that they only need to be where the sighting happens. Not legal advice.
Dining room card
- 1. Go to the table now. Say: "I'm sorry. We take this seriously, and I'm taking care of it." Nothing else.
- 2. Remove the plate. Comp the item or the meal without being asked. Do not argue, do not explain, do not mention your pest company.
- 3. Keep the plate and the insect. Put the insect in a bag or cup with the date and time. Photograph the plate and the insect in place if the customer allows; otherwise afterward.
- 4. Write it in the sightings log before the end of the shift: date, time, table, what, who saw it, who was told, what was done. Attach the photo.
- 5. Text a photo of the insect to (801) 477-0223 for a same-day identification. Call the pest company with the identification and the location. Log the call.
- 6. If the customer posts about it: one calm, short reply from the manager, with the date the pest company came. No argument.
Kitchen card
- 1. Don't spray it. A store-bought can in a kitchen is a critical citation, and it can repel and scatter cockroaches to other areas without killing them (UC IPM). Report it.
- 2. Catch it or photograph it. A specimen in a bag or a clear photo is an identification.
- 3. Say exactly where: "by the dish machine, bottom left, behind the drain line" is worth more than "in the kitchen."
- 4. Tell the manager now, or write it in the sightings log yourself.
- 5. If they are dead insects after a treatment: remove them (gloves, bag, trash outside), wipe the area, and log it. Dead pests left in place are their own line on a report.
- 6. Keep the back door closed. Most pest lines in the county are the back door.
What not to say, anywhere
- "That's not ours."
- "We have a pest company."
- "It's never happened before."
- "Everyone downtown has them."
- Anything about the customer's motives.