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[Update] Video Shows Just Salad Is Sometimes Just Rats
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 26, 2018
Modified Nov 26, 2018
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 26, 2018
Modified Nov 26, 2018
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Rat are ubiquitous in NYC, even at our finest fast food joints, our oldest buildings and our least reputable movie theaters. But generally, we all live our lives hoping the rats stick to their designated areas—subway trash mountains, the Upper West Side, etc—and stay away from the places that make our food. Unfortunately, you can't always get what you want. Unless you're a rat, in which case it seems pretty easy.
Passerby Eli Colon spotted at least six rats running amok after hours inside the midtown Just Salad location, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, and documented the incident in a Facebook video.
Colon said that he spotted the rats running around the empty store after eating at a different restaurant in the same foodcourt. "Our main concern is how a place with a sanitary grade of “A” [has] mice like that—and we were just passing by, not searching for mice, and those were that noticeable. I'm sure there have to be more," he told Gothamist. "Also questioned about the standards and processes used by the sanitary organizations that rate these places, and how reliable those are. The fact that just a small amount of mice droppings could be lethal to humans is a big concern."
Colon added, "Based on all [of this], I would definitively not eat at any [Just Salads] and [it makes] me reconsider eating at restaurants throughout the city."
We should note that some of the rodents look more like baby rats, which seems both less bad (because baby animals, even rats, are generally cute) and more awful, because it implies this is their home, and their rat parents have been making sweet rat love on top of those salad preparation stations.
This isn't the first time Just Salad has expanded their menu to include more than just salad, but they haven't had any major publicity problems with rats in the recent past. It does seem like they may be trying to catch up with Chop't, which famously offered New Yorkers a limited edition dead rodent wrap a few years back.
Between this video and the romaine lettuce E. coli contamination that has kept me awake for the last week, the universe might be trying to tell us something.
Update: Just Salad CEO & Founder Nick Kenner responded to the incident, saying that this particular Just Salad location will be closed by the end of December and moved elsewhere in midtown.
"This location is underground in a concourse area prone to mice activity," he said. "We closed this store for several days to give our team the Thanksgiving holiday off and did not notice the issue in a timely matter. Rodent activity has been a struggle for the concourse area in general."
"We are closing our 30 Rock location at the end of December and are excited to be moving it around the corner to a clean environment above ground at 52nd St. between 5th and 6th Ave. We have never had this type of issue at any other location in our 10+ years in business and have A's at every single location."
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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