This image uploaded to Instagram appears to show a mouse inside the new Chick-Fil-A location at 1 Bloor Street East. (Stephanie Cozzette)
Chick-Fil-A’s first location in Toronto received a visit from health inspectors this week following the surfacing of a video that appeared to show a mouse inside the soon to open restaurant.
The video was uploaded to Instagram on Wednesday morning by resident Stephanie Cozzette.
Cozzette told CP24 that she recorded it at around 12:30 a.m. as she walked by the future home of the restaurant at 1 Bloor Street East.
The video, taken from outside, shows what appears to be a mouse running along the floor of the establishment near the plate glass windows that look out onto the street.
In a statement provided to CP24 on Thursday, Toronto Public Health’s Associate Director of Healthy Environments Sylvanus Thompson confirmed that investigators visited the restaurant on Wednesday after receiving a complaint but he said that they found no evidence of pest concerns, past or present.
“The investigation included a more detailed focus on pest control given that the nature of the complaint was regarding a mouse on the premises. There was no evidence of current or past pest concerns to substantiate the complaint,” he said. “The premises were in compliance with all pest control and other requirements of the Food Premises Regulation.”
The Chick-Fil-A location at 1 Bloor Street East is scheduled to open on Friday morning. It will be the U.S.-based company’s first restaurant in Canada.
The restaurant, however, has already been the subject of controversy due to the anti-LGBTQ stances taken by CEO Dan Cathy and is expected to draw protests when it opens on Friday.
Cathy has previously said that he believes in the “biblical definition of the family unit” and has donated millions of dollars to a number of charities with a history of LGBTQ discrimination.
In the statement provided to CP24, Thompson said that any new restaurant is subject to a pre-opening inspection. He said that a “compliance Inspection is then conducted once the premises commence operation.”
“There is no specified time frame, but efforts are made to conduct the compliance inspection as soon as possible,” he said.