DOH Shutters Tiny Empire Due to Basement Bathroom
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The Tiny Empire has been compromised. Less than three months into its run slinging overpriced juice on Lafayette Street, the Department of Health came a-calling and ultimately shuttered the joint.
Apparently the visit was much ado over a misunderstanding with the city agency over “zoning,” and not terrible kitchen conditions. Concerned about the PR fallout from such a DOH closure, Tiny Empire immediately cleared the air with an Instagram post.
“We are solving a zoning problem regarding our restroom which is located one flight down,” they note. Here’s the full explanation from Tiny Empire.
To our die hard Tiny Juicers we wanted to alert you that our SoHo location has been temporarily closed by the NYC DOH. Don’t fret this is not a health issue; we would NEVER endanger your Empires. We are solving a zoning problem regarding our restroom which is located one flight down. This was verbally approved by the DOH then revoked upon inspection. There are NO heath hazards, this is a question of arbitrary policy.
We appreciate your patience as we work to solve the problem speedily and will alert you as soon as this location is reopen. In the meantime we are still open in Williamsburg and would be happy to see your faces.
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And, for the record, this is the inspection writeup filed last Thursday, which netted 36 violation points:
- Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding;
- Toilet facility not provided for employees or for patrons when required.
Tiny Empire opened this location, its second overall and first in Manhattan, at 238 Lafayette Street in August.
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