The judge hit the franchise with a $700 penalty – $200 for the mice droppings, $400 for the permit violation and $100 for the other grievances.
Owners of the Dunkin’ Donuts shop where The Post caught a mouse munching on the goodies were slapped with a $700 fine yesterday – even after they swore they’ve cleaned house.
“From the first, the place was clean – they just found a little mice droppings,” said John Kimbough, a consultant who represented the Riese restaurants-owned doughnut franchise at the Health Department hearing where the fine was set.
The hearing came after city health inspectors paid a visit to the shop at 560 Fifth Ave. on Dec. 30 – the same day The Post ran pictures of a mouse sitting on a glazed doughnut in the store’s window.
Inspectors cited the food court – which also houses a Pizza Hut and Roy Rogers – for several violations, including “numerous fresh mice droppings … throughout the basement and storage areas.”
The place wasn’t vermin-proof, and there was open rodent bait in food-preparation areas, missing ceiling tiles and spilled grease and soda on the floor, the report said. The food court also was operating without a valid permit, the report added.
In the hearing, Kimbough owned up to the various problems – but told administrative hearing Judge Ilene Shifrin the franchise has made the necessary changes, and is now squeaky clean.
Kimbough said the mice droppings that inspectors found were in the spot where a refrigerator unit had stood for a long time, and were simply uncovered when the cooler was moved.
He said an exterminator comes through the restaurant twice a week. And he offered the report from the Health Department’s follow-up inspection on Jan. 14 – which says the “previous violations” were “corrected” – as proof of the changes.
Shifrin hit the franchise with a $700 penalty – $200 for the mice droppings, $400 for the permit violation and $100 for the other grievances.
Fines for health-code violations can range from $100 to $2,000, depending on the offense and whether the restaurant has been cited before, officials said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the location has been fined in the past. A spokeswoman for Riese – which owns more than 100 restaurants in the city – said the company will pay the fine.
“We are committed to running all of our establishments in a safe and clean manner,” said the spokeswoman, Dawn Rowan, of Rubenstein Associates. “The store at 560 Fifth Ave. has been reinspected several times since the original incident” and is “clean and in compliance” with health regulations.
The Post’s expose drew national attention – including a series of gags from talk-show host David Letterman – and prompted several City Council members to call for doubling the number of restaurant inspections each year.
It also prompted the Massachusetts-based Dunkin’ Donuts corporation to file a breach-of-contract suit against the franchise in Manhattan federal court.
Dunkin’ Donuts spokeswoman Jennifer Rosenberg yesterday said the company is involved in talks with Riese over the mouse flap – and it’s possible the suit will be dropped.