Cutting pest-control cited as possible reason for restaurant closures in Manitoba By: Kevin Rollason Posted: 6:31 PM CDT Wednesday, Mar. 15, 2023

When the cleaners are away, the mice will play.

Rodent infestations have forced several restaurants and food stores to close since the beginning of the year, and the restaurant association said it could be a sign some owners have cut back on pest control to save money.

Eight of the 11 establishments closed by the Manitoba health protection branch so far this year have been hit by rodent infestations.

That includes the Baraka Pita Bakery at 1783 Main St., which was closed from Feb. 23 until it re-opened with the health department’s blessing on Feb. 28.

“We’re open now and everything is OK,” Baraka’s Saeed Aboumrad said on Wednesday, insisting they hadn’t cut back on pest control.

“We had a problem and fixed it.”

The health order said the restaurant had “failed to take effective measures against the entry and presence of rodents, and failed to keep the establishment clean and in good repair.”

Shaun Jeffrey, executive director of the Manitoba Restaurant and Food Services Association, said the weeks before spring and winter are prime times for mice to seek shelter. Restaurant owners have to do everything they can to keep rodents out of their businesses.

“We know, and I know, it is a very important part of operating a business,” Jeffrey said.

“But a lot of operators have tried to cut costs. Coming out of the pandemic they’ll cut monthly costs for things like pest control and it is one you should never touch. You want to monitor pests consistently, you have to know what is happening.”

Jeffrey said some owners think it’s too expensive, but he said it is too expensive not to keep rodents at bay.

“It can be expensive, but only if you don’t do it regularly,” he said.

“If they come in every month, it won’t be as much as when they have to solve the problems because it has become a huge issue. You need to be proactive instead of reactive.”

Julie Swanlund, acting chief of public health inspections, said inspectors check 6,000 restaurants across the province, including 3,000 in Winnipeg.

Swanlund said she doesn’t know what happens in individual restaurants, but she does know there has been an increase in rodent infestations recorded by inspectors.

“You will see this happening with poor sanitation,” she said. “Sanitation and rodent issues go hand in hand. We really want to ensure restaurants are doing their due diligence and doing weekly and monthly cleaning.”

Swanlund says inspectors look behind kitchen appliances and in other hard-to-access spaces to see how well they are being cleaned and if rodents have made their way in.

Inspectors work with restaurants to fix the problem before the decision is made to close the establishment. Closures affect less than one per cent of the province’s restaurants.

“When we do a closure, we’re at the point we feel we can’t let anything further happen.”–Julie Swanlund

“When we do a closure, we’re at the point we feel we can’t let anything further happen,” she said. “They’re at the point where someone might get sick eating there.

“We don’t take it lightly.”

Taz Stuart, a pest control expert, said owners must be diligent about keeping their establishments clean.

“If you have a bunch of crud and dirt and food on the floor, mice will want to get in,” Stuart said.

“You also need to have exclusion measures in place so rodents don’t get in and you need to have an integrated pest control in place. Those are the best ways to reduce rodents.”

Stuart agreed there is no savings if restaurants cut back on pest control services.

“If people cut back because they say they can’t afford it, really they cannot afford not to do it. It is a hit on their bottom line, but it is more of a hit when health inspectors come and close your place. This is a type of insurance. You’re making sure you don’t have a health inspector come in and say what are all these rodent droppings?

“You don’t want your name on (the health department’s) closure list.”–Taz Stuart

“You don’t want your name on (the health department’s) closure list.”

Lincoln Poulin, president of Poulin’s Pest Control, said it is sometimes tough to convince people they need pest control.

“The problem with pest control is when we do our job, people figure they don’t need us,” Poulin said. “During the pandemic, a lot of restaurants closed and now they’re coming back and they find there is an infestation there because no one was around to see it.”

Poulin said he knows of one restaurant owner who decided to have pest control four times a year instead of monthly. Mice moved in six weeks later and they were desperate to get them out.

“You never want your restaurant closed down because there’s a loss of business, and the fines, and the hit to the reputation,” he said.

“There are certainly more mice going around, it’s springtime. I haven’t run the numbers to see how many more. All I know is, we are busy with mice.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is one of the more versatile reporters at the Winnipeg Free Press. Whether it is covering city hall, the law courts, or general reporting, Rollason can be counted on to not only answer the 5 Ws — Who, What, When, Where and Why — but to do it in an interesting and accessible way for readers.

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