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Weird-Mart: Tales of the Bizarre from the Walmart AislesAs a city dweller, believe me, I know. There are few things more disgusting than rats. I've dealt with rats in my parking garage where, much to our horror, we found evidence of rats rummaging around our Ford Taurus. When there was construction on my street, I was afraid to use the sidewalk at night for about six months one year for fear of having a furry rodent scurry across my shoes. Most recently, a soup kitchen and food pantry near my home suffered a rat infestation and had to shut down to clear the beasts out.
Rats are a fact of life in the city. As horrifying as each of these incidents were, they were eventually brought under control. The truth is, rats, cockroaches and other vermin can be controlled. And in a well-managed business or building, they should never get out of control.
That's why the recent, much-publicized rat infestation in a Greenwich Village KFC/Taco Bell (the restaurant chain is a division of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)) was so shocking. There probably are a few rats scurrying around in the sub-basements of many buildings in the city. But these rats were able to make it upstairs, in broad daylight. And so many of them! Some reports put the tally at dozens scurrying around.
For business owners, there are lots of lessons in this sorry tale. Here are a few of them -- followed by some rat-related information that may prove useful if you ever have to fight a rat infestation yourself:
Ignore a problem and it's bound to get bigger. As Michael Fowlkes wrote on BloggingStocks, the company initially deemed this a "temporary escalation" of what was previously understood to be a more ordinary rat problem.
You never know when someone with a video camera will show up and turn an isolated event into a national story. Gee, none of the other rat infestations I've dealt with turned into national news stories. To be sure, that's in good part because they didn't happen during the day at well-known national restaurant chains. But what really gave this story legs is that news crews quickly mobilized and caught all the disgusting action on tape.
It's often the small businesses that really get hurt, not the big investors. Sure, the stock of Yum Brands fell after the fiasco, but only by about 50 cents the day the news broke. The owner of that franchise is bearing the brunt of the pain. And I bet that KFC/Taco Bell franchises in other urban areas were hurt temporarily by this news. Truth is, even if you're not part of the problem, you can feel the pain.
And here is some rat information that may prove useful if you ever encounter the critters on your watch. I learned these fun facts reading Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants, by Robert Sullivan. If you want more tips, read this fascinating (and only mildly gross) book:
Rats reproduce very quickly. One pair of rats can potentially produce 15,000 descendants a year. So if you see signs of rats, don't wait to get rid of them.
You can't just poison your way out of a rat problem. They actually reproduce even quicker after their population is whittled down due to poisoning. The way to get rid of them is to eliminate their food source.
If you see a rat during the day, you have a serious problem. That means there are so many that some of them have to venture out during the day to find food. They are nocturnal and prefer to sleep during the day (another reason the KFC outbreak is so disgusting).
About 50,000 people are bitten by rats each year. Many are sleeping children who may have food residue on their faces. Rats have an excellent sense of smell.
The life expectancy of a rat living in New York City is about one year.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
2-28-2007 @ 8:37PM
JIM said...
CONSTANT AND REGULAR MAINTAINANCE AND THOROUGH CLEANING WILL USUALLY KEEP ANY PLACE FREE OF PESTS OF ALL KINDS. PUTTING FOOD AWAY, KEEPING IT IN A SEALED CONTAINER, REFUSE IN GARBAGE BAGS IN TRASH DUMPSTERS ARE MORE OF WHAT TO DO REGULARLY. DON'T WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO COMPLAIN. LOSING CUSTOMERS IS DEFINIELY MORE COSTLY THAN DOING IT RIGHT. 5% WILL SUE AS WELL.
2-28-2007 @ 8:42PM
florence said...
They passed and inspection the day prior can you believe?
No wonder the food at Taco Bell and KFC tastes so nasty.
I stopped going to both restaurants long before this and I live in California. That's what you get when you cross cheap food with cheap labor.
3-02-2007 @ 2:34PM
Mike D. said...
I went to the KFC in Miami on 152 street and about 117 ave. and i saw a bunch of dead roaches on the floor it was pretty gross, they were about two inches big and the were all smashed up all over the floor. I therw the food away and left. I don't think I'll be eating their anymore.
2-28-2007 @ 8:55PM
BRIAN SHEEHAN said...
The four legged variety of rat never bothered anyone. Its the two legged corporate variety that claim they are serious about the clean up when in fact the only thing they care about is the money. They should do a George Bush: don't clean it up, claim its cleaned up, hold a press conference and claim 'Mission Accomplished.'
2-28-2007 @ 10:01PM
Peter Maholchic said...
My grandfather worked in a brewery in PA. I remember as a very small child that we had a lot of kitty kats around the grounds that my good old grandpa would feed every morning. Rats do have a keen sense of smell and even though the grain was kept in sealed containers you would be surprised the extent that a rat will go to to get at food.
However, you would be surprised the extent that a full grown kitty will go through to get to a rat.
I've seen one of my kitties with a rat almost as big as she was.
2-28-2007 @ 10:43PM
Andrew said...
Regarding this comment: "I stopped eating KFC when I learned that they were reporducing a chicken like protein in labortories. It went to the Supremem Court because they were calling it chicken and it was not. That is when the name had to be changed to KFC, unless a particular branch was actually using real chicken."
This is an old urban legend, and it is NOT TRUE. The KFC is just a marketing issue. You can read about this at this link: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/kfc.asp
3-01-2007 @ 2:09AM
Max said...
If the news is only concerning about the rats at the KFC now, how about wait for the train after hour in the subway anywhere in NYC? You got surprised and no one talk about the workers have to do that dirty job late night.....wake up city.
3-01-2007 @ 3:13AM
Vegas said...
It is the responsibility of the individual franchise owner to maintain the integrity of his/her property. Although, KFC and Taco Bell are at the bottom of my fast food list, I would hope that this isolated incident would not ruin the reputation of all KFC/TACO Bell franchises. I have a personal friend who owns a Dairy Queen and him and his wife personally scrub and wash down shelves and floors several times a week. The infestation of rats in the New York franchise indicates the owner is LAZY and UNCLEAN. When the first sign of rats appeared the owner carelessly disregarded the matter and allowed it to get out of hand. And if there is such a thing as a franchisee having his licensed revoked, this particular one deserves not to own a restaurant.
And being that most of our smaller businesses are now being run by the Third World Country and the Asian population, to these people, rats are an everyday part of life. In some of these countries, the rat is worshipped as an entity close to a God! So, in the near future, don't be surprised if the rat population of New York far exceeds that of the people -- if it hasn't already...
3-01-2007 @ 5:15AM
Tim Orris said...
We need to create a value to rats,probably the pelts since meat is likely poisoned and disease carrying. If hunter trappers could make ten dollars a piece for the first million rats turned in, the problem would be controled in a month.