Ducky’s closed due to pest-control problems

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This article was published 24/10/2019 (2148 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Everything’s not ducky with Ducky’s Fish and Chips. The longtime Notre Dame Avenue fixture was ordered closed by the provincial health protection unit on Oct. 21, after an inspector found the operator had failed “to take effective measures against the entry of pests” and was operating with “poor general sanitation.”

As well, the health inspector found the restaurant was operating without a permit to operate a food establishment.

It’s not the only notable Winnipeg restaurant that has been closed in the past few weeks.

The Old Spaghetti Factory at The Forks was closed Oct. 19 for three days because of the presence of rodents and poor general sanitation; the revolving Prairie 360 Skyline Restaurant and Lounge was closed on Oct. 4 for five days for not taking effective measures to stop insects from coming in; A-Plus Sushi on Corydon Avenue has been closed since Oct. 12 because of rodents and poor general sanitation.

Ducky’s owner, Wayne Hogue, who bought the restaurant last month, said he had already realized the restaurant needed an overall cleaning, along with a new paint job — and he was in the midst of doing the work when the health inspector walked in.

“I just took it over,” Hogue said Wednesday. “As part of the sale, I said, I want it to be clean. I wouldn’t want to eat at a place if its health care is not up to par.”

Hogue said he immediately hired an exterminator to come in monthly and started cleaning the place overall “for the first time in years,” as well as ripping out and replacing carpet and other fixtures. He said the exterminator put the required traps out and told him everything was fine.

Hogue said he didn’t realize, even though he bought everything when he purchased the restaurant, including the name, corporate numbers and other permits, that the health department permit expired when the former owners turned the place over to him.

“I hired an employee who has been here for two years to run the place — I don’t know how to cook the fish or make the batter,” he said. “When the inspector asked for the permit, my employee took it down from the wall and that’s when I was told I needed a new one. No one told me.”

Hogue said he’s using the week or so needed for the permit to come in to pull the deep fryers and other fixtures to clean and paint.

“I’ve been coming here for 20 years. I decided to buy it when I heard a new owner might turn it into a hamburger place,” he said.

“I’ve never owned a restaurant.

“I want to make it the best I can get it.”

Mike LeBlanc, veteran health inspector and manager with the health protection unit, said once the restaurant gets its permit, and the inspector’s blessing for the cleanup, it will be allowed to reopen.

“We don’t close because of a permit issue — we close because of sanitation,” LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc said a big problem for restaurants across the city in recent weeks has been an explosion in the mice population.

“We’re seeing a very large uptick in rodent activity,” he said.

“Rodents like to find a warm place for the winter, so they come inside.”

LeBlanc’s advice to restaurants: don’t cheap out on exterminators.

“Some get contracts for monitoring, and then people say they’ll do it themselves — but it can get out of control in a week or so.”

Entomologist Taz Stuart, of Poulin’s Pest Control, said restaurants should take heed.

“There’s multiple factors involved and we’ve had multiple years with the rodents rising, but this fall, mice, rats, raccoons and skunks have all gone up,” Stuart said. “Mother Nature has been a big factor.

“People’s houses, businesses, restaurants are all being affected by rodents trying to get in.”

Stuart said they always provide restaurant owners with written reports stating what they have to do to keep rodents out. It’s up to the owners to follow through.

“We tell them a door sweep needs to be replaced — mice can get in through a hole the size of a dime — but we can’t order them to do it,” he said.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca