Eat & Drink
Cora Pizza Shut Down due to Rat Infestation
Long-time Annex and University of Toronto student favourite Cora Pizza didn't get off so lucky yesterday. While a mouse infestation at a Warden station coffee shop earned a conditional pass, Cora Pizza, (the One Stop Pizza Shop) has been shut down by Toronto Public Health (TPH) due to what has been described as worsening food safety and hygiene conditions in their kitchen. Specifically, closure was forced when the operator failed to prevent a rodent infestation and to prevent gross unsanitary conditions.
Complaints about the pizzeria have been ongoing and he situation appears to have gotten worse since previous failed inspections were remedied.
According to a Toronto Public Health inspector, discovered during yesterday's (December 21, 2009) inspection was a bucket (that was used for pizza sauce) showing obvious "signs of contamination with dirt and mold," but worse yet was the finding of "dead rats and rat droppings in the kitchen."
Previous inspections in March and June of this year found a long list of infractions, including failure to:
- ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated
- use proper procedure(s) to ensure food safety
- provide hand washing supplies
- provide adequate pest control
- (along with many more significant and minor infractions)
In June, the restaurant was also slapped with bylaw infractions for failure to "upon request by any person, produce the food safety inspection report or reports relating to the currently posted food inspection notice for such establishment." (By law, operators of restaurants with TPH's red "CLOSED" notices posted are required to produce the most recent inspection report to any person who requests to view it.)
On a related note, it would appear that honesty isn't on Cora Pizza's menu. This morning, when I visited the shop and asked staff about the reasons for their closure, I was curtly told that they were "fixing a gas line" and that they'd "be open in about an hour or two." Unaware that it was within my rights to request to view the recent inspection report, I didn't request to view it.
Despite an expanding history of food safety and hygiene infractions, Cora's maintains a loyal following, and is ranked highly on blogTO readers' list of best pizza slices in the city. The pizzeria will remain closed until fixes are implemented and approval from Toronto Public Health is achieved.
DineSafe, the City of Toronto web site that reveals restaurant inspection findings to the public, has all the detailed inspection history and findings.
I spoke with Jim Chan, Manager of Toronto Public Health's Food Safety Program, who filled me in on some of the challenges and progress made by DineSafe. The program is responsible for monitoring compliance at over 16,000 food premises (including over 6000 restaurants, and street vendors, hospitals, schools, etc.) with a force of just 81 inspectors. That said, operator compliance at food premises has gone up dramatically - from 78% (in 2001), to a very impressive 92% (the average compliance for 2007-2009 inclusive). In 2009 alone, TPH has mandated 37 premise closings and laid 463 charges. Worth noting as well, is that infractions deemed to be "crucial" and "significant" are on the decrease.
Discussion
57 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
Those are some of the taxes you pay for living in a big city...
THESTORY
May Cora Pizza be the next addition to the Dead Pool.
Finger-foods (bar pretzels etc...), street-meat, movie theatre popcorn; none of these are exactly pristine food items either. But they do (or should) meet a standard level of cleanliness that we're willing to accept.
Wake up folks, we all live among Rats and Swine... Some just wear neckties and are in Politics... Some are in our food...
I'm not trying to make excuses, but in this case i give kudos to DineSafe and city staff.
I'll have the City close you, jerk.
Wheee! Rats!
bars hit with liquor violations can choose when they close, and often schedule needed renovation work to happen during that time.
The Pho place near it was shut down earlier this month by the city's public health department...makes me wonder if that entire restaurant strip along that block has major infestation issues!
Hey BlogTO...I think we've hit a critical mass here so, when are you going to start a "Best of Restaurant Health Violations" archive? The DineTO site lists offenders but the stories and commentary posted here beat all.
Why on earth would you want to pay a 25 cent surcharge for more food inspectors? You pay taxes, don't you? The city has cut down on many services because of mismanagement on their part. Don't volunteer to pay surcharges for their mistakes. Focus your attention to city hall instead. They are public servants - servants to us, the taxpayers.
This is sort of irrelevant to food safety, but it relates back to the point of Cora's being dishonest. If any of you have ever paid attention while paying, they never close their register and thus, there is no record of their sales. This means they are able to greatly understate their year's revenues and get away with paying minimal taxes.
I wouldn't worry about the owners though, they've most likely made enough profits off their underhanded practices to sustain themselves through retirement.
My point is that if there are mice at a seemingly nice place like Cielo, they are everywhere. The most disturbing aspect of our experience wasn't that there was a mouse, but that it had clearly been there for some time... it even had a neat little mouse hole chewed in the wall!
Just because a place is family-owned, doesn't mean they throw cleanliness out the window. It would be pretty short-sighted to sacrifice cleanliness for profit in the food service industry. Eventually, your shortcuts will catch up to you.
I would venture that family-owned and operated restaurants, in general, probably care more about cleanliness than minimum wage employees at Harvey's, because it's their name and neck on the line if the place gets shut down.
The worst that can happen to a negligent fast food employee is that they'll have to find another McJob.
Chain restaurants have policies and procedures for cleaning, but that doesn't make them cleaner and it certainly doesn't make a minimum wage McJobber care more about cleanliness than a small business owner.
Cora's may be as dirty as a toilet bowl and you may be able to personally vouch for how thoroughly you mopped Harvey's family-friendly family floors, but you aren't going to convince me that this is some kind of universal truth based on corporate ownership structure.
Face it, it's a chain run by a corporation that has tons of capital to impose their min. wage employees to do what it wants. Including superficial window dressing and standardized cleaning practices.
To say that smaller restaurants, like Cora, do not care about cleanliness is shortsighted and juvenile. Put down your text book from your business course at Seneca and open your eyes to the real world.
Now, for whatever reason, whenever a post about rats in a restaurant appears on blogto there is always a group of people that defend it under the premise that all restaurants have rats and sanitation problems and that it isn't a big deal. Every. Single. Time.
After working in a place that served food (that wasn't a fast food outlet), I can tell you this is absolutely not the case. This kind of behavior from restaurants is simply not acceptable. People need to stop defending it.
Regardless of the cleanliness of the place, the food SUCKED ROYALLY.
My autistic step-brother makes better food.
So stop whining about rats and feces and start eating at establishments that serve better fare.
I think that's precisely what the poster was suggesting, viz "Cora's is a family owned pizza store whose primary objective is to sell as many pizzas as they can at an affordable price. If this means slacking on sanitation and food safety standards, so be it...time and money they spend on cleanliness is profits lost to them."
and
"...chain restaurants pay more attention to cleanliness and sanitation than these small family-owned stores (in general)."
That's exactly it. These large corporations have standardized cleaning and disinfecting procedures which are carried out by their employees. Do small restaurants have these kinds of protocols? I didn't think so. Also, I said "in general" smaller restaurants pay less attention to cleanliness and sanitation than chain restaurants. Obviously, this is not an absolute. Is this wrong for me to say? Since when did small family owned restaurant have teams of 5-6 employees cleaning the entire store every night? Let's face it, these small restaurants just simply don't have the time or labor to be doing what these larger restaurants are capable of. If you don't believe me, look at the proportion of small family owned food places closed compared to corporate franchises.
Your unstated premise seems to be that corporate run food service is safer. Guess what buddy, it ain't.
the place has always looked like shit and i'm surprised that it hasn't been closed down.
question for those who may know - if a restaurant gets a red card several times can it be closed by the medical officer of health?
Between May 17 and 28, 2010 I delivered 2,000 fliers for Cora Pizza. Cora Pizza promised me that they would pay me $40.00 per thousand fliers.
Cora Pizza is refusing to pay me my money.
The dead rats indicate that what pest control system was in place was working. However, it was not adequate, as rats and mice populate every 20 days. Cora Pizza still does not have a proper pest control system in place.
Sure they have a cute little sign that says they have a current approved pest control system in place. However, as soon as Cora Pizza received that stupid sign, Cora Pizza cut back on the pest control system.
I promise that, currently, the rat traps that are set-up have rotting bait in them. There are rat and mice droppings in the back of the pizza shop as well as in the basement.
I will post more - read on and you can decide which one of these articles is the most gross.
Let's see....how does Cora Pizza save money.
Why one of the issues Cora Pizza was cited for and closed down in December 2009, was because Cora Pizza was picking used pizza plates and pizza bags out of the garbage and giving them back to the customers.
Hurray!
The cleanest of the dirtiest plates went up front to be used for when people buy a slice of pizza. The really lucky customers also got a used pizza bag from the garbage.
Trust me, this always caused a major fight. I would take the used paper plates and bags out of stock rip them in half and throw them back into the garbage.
The dirtiest of the dirtiest paper plates went into the bottom of the boxes for the take out pizza. After all no one would notice anyway.
For every paper plate reused from the garbage Cora Pizza got to save 5 cents.
For every pizza bag Cora Pizza reused from the garbage, they saved 25 cents.
Remember, Cora Pizza advertises the freshest slices.
Another way for Cora Pizza to save money is to buy old rotting and moldy vegetables. Sometimes the vegetables are washed, however that is very rare.
Only one person in that store washes the vegetables contrary to what ever anyone tells you.
What is even really nice, is when they decide to smoke when they are prepping your food. Oh boy, doesn't that sound yummy.
Do you think that they would actually sanitize a knife or cutting board properly? HA! HA! Not likely.
Depending upon who is handling the food at the time will depend upon whether or not they wash their hands first, or the vegetables.
Depending upon who is prepping the vegetables means that the mold and rotting spots are cut off. However, if it is one of the directors, they do not cut off the mold or rotting pieces. That costs money you know.
Now why would I bring up the subject of washing hands and sanitizing equipment before prepping any food. Why soap costs money of course. So does sanitizing liquid. Hot water costs money. Paper towel costs money.
Oh yes I know, you can see the soap and paper towel in the front of the store. It is there for show only. I promise that, one of the Directors of Cora Pizzeria Inc O/A Cora Pizza has issued specific instructions that the staff can only use hot water, soap and paper towel when the health inspector is there.
Why? Because it costs money to use hot water, soap and paper towel all the time. So essentially, the employees get crapped upon for wanting to wash their hands, if they are the type of employee or director who actually washes their hands. More on that gross bit in another gross posting.
Never buy pizza first thing in the morning from Cora Pizza. They put out the left overs from the day before to sell first. Why does Cora Pizza do this? To save money. You see, when you throw away the left over pizza, that is money.
Speaking about throwing away pizza, here is another way Cora Pizza saves money. I promise that, on more than one occasion I have witnessed one of the directors of Cora Pizza pull a slice of pizza out of the garbage, clean it off and place it back up front for sale. This caused an immediate argument, and I walked out in disgust. Why does Cora Pizza pull pizza out of the garbage to sell to you? Because it saves money.
What do the directors of Cora Pizza do with all of this money they save? Why they go to Cuba or Italy for anywhere from one week to one month.
Do you really think that Cora Pizza cares if the freshest slice you get from Cora Pizza is multi-cross contaminated?
Do you think that Cora Pizza cares if your health and life are being endangered because of their actions?
Do you think Cora Pizza cares that you get a used pizza plate or bag from the garbage?
What is important to Cora Pizza is, they got their money from you.
If you should happen to get sick and possibly die, I am quite sure that is something the directors are never going to think about while they are laying on the beach in Cuba.
Fresh slice of pizza anyone.
As of the date and time of this post, you can find the used pizza plates in the kitchen area of Cora Pizza. They are on a shelf situated between the large size and medium size pizza boxes. Those plates from the garbage are the ones that go into the bottom of the pizza boxes and were used for pizza deliveries on June 01, 2010.
Anyone up for a fresh slice of pizza from Cora Pizza?
Oh yes, and someone has actually upgraded the rodent traps and cleaned up the rodent droppings. I was shocked.
If I understand correctly, an intervention has occurred to the betterment of Cora Pizza and not by public officials either.
I am challenging everyone who has been involved in these discussions to give Cora Pizza a break. They have changed their ways substantially, and I believe that you will be markedly impressed by the situation at Cora Pizza. They have invested quite a lot of time and money correcting their errors and ways of conducting business.
I am challenging you and blogto to drop by Cora Pizza and you can see for yourself how much they have changed. You will find the store to be clean and white. Due to these actions I believe that, every post that I have published is now mute.
Notwithstanding the aforementioned, I am publicly requesting that blogto remove all posts that I have published. Comments with respect to me not being paid for the delivery of fliers or other comments which are not related to food safety are not consistent with the comment policies posted on the blogto website. I have made this publication and the request for deletion of my postings of my own volition.
So everybody, take up the challenge and drop by Cora Pizza and say hello to the little guy behind the front counter who works very hard - as he always has - at keeping the place clean and proper. I know you will be pleasantly surprised. Let's face it, the pizza at Cora's does taste awesome. Even I eat there because it beats the crap out of the other pizza shops in the area. The pizza is not all dried up with little toppings and you are not being charged an outrageous price for the value you are receiving.
Cheers everyone and please consider my challenge. I know you will not be disappointed.
All I am saying is that my good friend behind the counter has been busting his balls as he always has - to make Cora Pizza a better place to visit and eat at.
The owner's of Cora Pizza have finally gotten the message apparently. My friend who works the day shift behind the front counter deserves a lot of praise for kicking the owners in the ass. Why don't you stop by and thank him for taking care of you and making sure that you are not being sold garbage food.
All this being said, if Cora Pizza screws up one more time, they will be closed permanently and that is a message the owners have loud and clear.
Cora's is not hurting business wise - it is cyclical on the students.
Cora Pizza is going to be sold in one way or another. If my friend takes over the ownership of Cora Pizza you will see me around the pizza shop helping out.
With my background in administrative law, if anyone tries to pull off any stupid stunts that may endanger a persons life I will just pick up the phone and make a complaint to the police under the respective sections of the Criminal Code. There are many different ways to endanger a persons life.
As a retired military guy I understand cleanliness and refuse to work in a dirty filthy shit hole. Oh yes there is one more thing. In my previous posting I made an error and used the word mute instead of moot. Silly me, making decisions before 2 coffee o'clock.
I'm covering the Papa Ceo/Cora Pizza war for men's magazine Top Shelf. I would love to talk to you. Please email me at billy.courtice@rogers.com Thanks.