Midtown Just Salad To Close After Rodent Video: Report

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A Midtown Manhattan Just Salad location is closing one week after a video surfaced showing multiple rodents infesting the restaurant's floors, according to reports.

Just Salad CEO and founder Nick Kenner told the New York Post that the Rockefeller Center location "is no longer suitable for Just Salad and our customers," and that the company plans to close the store immediately. The executive previously told NBC News, which first reported on the video, that the Just Salad location was moving out of Rockefeller Center at the end of December.

A video posted to Facebook by user Eli Colon on Nov. 26 shows multiple rats or mice scuttling around on the Just Salad location's floors in an area of the restaurant where employees prepare salads. The video has more than 8,500 views. Colon's video makes sure to include the prominent display of an "A" grade from the city Health Department.

Just Salad executives initially blamed the rodent problems on its building, saying the entire Rockefeller Center underground concourse struggles with rodents, NBC News reported.

"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," Kenner told NBC in a statement.

The city Health Department conducted a restaurant inspection of the Just Salad location after the video surfaced and ordered the business to be shuttered. The inspection revealed multiple violations at the restaurant including food that was adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with regulations and evidence of mice in the restaurant's food areas.

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