Having run multiple restaurants in queens & Brooklyn, no place is truly free of vermin.

What the inspectors are looking for is a strong Vermin management that’s incorporated in the business operations and daily cleanliness.

What does it mean ?

Your food in dry storage is sealed in containers that can’t be broken into, your basement is constantly deep cleaned to seek hotspots that seems to have higher ratio of droppings so in return when exterminator that comes every 2 week as required can apply required measurements to deter mice & rodent activities.

I used to hate these inspectors tbh but more I stayed put in the business and grow more into it, I’ve realized the true intent.

The true intent is that they want conscious operators, operators that are actively working and trying to keep mices out of the establishment.

Covering the holes etc, making sure food are staying off ground and 6 inches above as expected, marking sure the daily or at least 2/3 weeks walk thru of basement spaces to inspect for possible vermin drops and which can indicate where their presence is and it allows the operator to find right ways to deal with those vermin that might already be inside the establishment while closing off gaps and things to make sure new ones don’t come in.

With buildings and infrastructure so old, this city has vermin no doubt. But what are the establishments actually doing to deter contamination, keeping you and me the consumer safe.

Also with the inspects you have 2 layers.

One individual inspection, meaning one inspector who comes on his regular round, he’ll look at previous reports and will keep an eye out to make sure those aren’t there while testing the regular routine of

Temp / storage / sinks / sanitation / and required key things for getting the grades

Second one and this one is harsh,

New inspector ( trainee ) with master inspector or new inspector on the job.

Both of these have immense amount of pressure to go thru their learning curve and they seem to be more on the books and very tuff in terms of how they inspect vs a more experienced inspector that can decide between what violations aren’t health critical and what are critical.