Wasp Control for Whitstable Restaurants, Pubs and Commercial Premises
Ice cream, chips and cold drinks on a sunny seafront bring in the crowds and the wasps, and a kiosk owner needs a plan that works with a queue at the hatch.
A hatch, a queue and a wasp
A seafront kiosk does its best trade on the sunniest days. The queue forms, the hatch is open, ice cream is scooped and cold drinks go out as fast as they can be poured. Those are also the days when wasps are most active, and a service hatch gives them a straight path to everything sweet.
In Whitstable, on the north Kent coast, a hot weekend brings thousands of visitors to the front, and the businesses serving them have little time to deal with problems. A wasp at the hatch is hard to ignore, because customers see it as they wait. The colony peaks in August, with between 2,000 and 10,000 wasps or more, so the busiest weeks of the year are also the hardest.
Keeping the hatch comfortable depends on reducing the attractions and finding the nest that supplies the wasps.
One thing that helps is to treat the hatch like a stage. Customers are watching what the staff do. Calm, tidy handling gets a good reaction, while flapping at a wasp over a cone gets people backing away. A relaxed team is the best advertisement a kiosk has on a busy day.
Reading the seafront for signs
A seafront has its own features. Sea walls, beach huts, shelters, railings and sheds offer gaps and cavities, and kiosks often back onto a bin store or storage area. Take a look at what is around your pitch.
- The back of the kiosk, including the bin store and gas bottle cage.
- Gaps in the roof edge, fascia or eaves of the unit.
- Timber structures such as fences, decking and shelters.
- Beds, banks and planters on the promenade side.
- Cracks in walls, steps and sea defences where soil has gathered.
Stand at the hatch during a quiet moment and watch where wasps arrive from. If there is a steady stream from one direction, you have a clue. Take a photo from a distance and note the time.
Serving from a small hatch
A small space makes cleanliness even more important. Wipe the counter and the hatch frame after every few orders. Keep syrups, sauces and toppings closed between uses. Scrape sticky ice cream drips as soon as they land. Have a lidded bin at the hatch and another further away for the main waste.
Offer cold drinks with lids and straws, and keep unwrapped cones and cakes behind glass. Place a clean cloth over any open tubs when you step away. Tell customers that napkins are available to clean sticky hands, since a sticky child is a magnet.
Do not use household sprays at a food hatch. They may contaminate the products and are unsuitable for use near customers, and they will not stop more wasps arriving. Staff should avoid swatting, which tends to make a wasp more persistent.
Seagulls are another reason to keep food covered, and the same habits that deter them also help with wasps. Cover everything, keep bins shut and tidy the area around the unit at the end of each shift, so that nothing is left out to draw both kinds of visitor overnight.
Quiet treatment around trading hours
Wasp Exterminator Kent treats nests at kiosks, cafés, takeaways, shops, offices and homes. Our price for a nest is £120 per visit, which includes one visit guaranteed, and an extra nest found on the same property costs £60 per nest. No call-out charge is made, and no extras are added for where the nest is or when we attend.
We work seven days a week, with same-day service, and offer evening and weekend appointments. For a kiosk that closes at dusk, a late visit leaves the front clear for the next day’s trade. Everyone who attends is fully insured and qualified, and they carry out safe and effective work.
Tell us if the unit is on a promenade, a leased pitch or a pier-style structure, and whether any permission is needed to reach it. Ask at booking whether the empty nest can be taken down once it has been dealt with.
Leased pitches and shared structures
Many seafront units are leased from a council, a landlord or a management company. If the nest is on a shared structure, such as a wall, a shelter or a row of huts, speak to whoever manages the site. We cannot advise on the legal position, so check your lease or licence for who is responsible.
Where several traders are affected, one call from a single person is sufficient. An additional nest on the same property is £60 each, so it makes sense to let us know about all the sites at once.
Keep a note of the date and position of the nest and what you did. It is useful for your own records and for the next season.
If you share a storage compound with other traders, tell them what you have found, since a nest in the compound wall or a neighbour’s shed can affect everybody.
How to book
Note where the wasps are coming from, the time of day when it is quietest and a contact number for the technician. If a member of your team is allergic to wasp stings, mention it when booking so that we can prioritise the visit.
Our number is 01622 410 019, and there is an online booking form on the contact page, and either route works for an urgent job outside office hours.
Once the work is finished, keep the hatch routine going until the end of the season, as wasps from other nests may still visit sweet food.
Finally, keep the contact number for the technician in the kiosk, written down, so that the evening manager can act if wasps suddenly increase on a hot Saturday.
An early call is nearly always easier to manage than a late one.
Wasps on your property in Whitstable?
Fixed price £120 per nest, no call-out charge, same-day service available.