Customers Shun KFC After Rat Infestation-finger lickin barf

Residents of Greenwich Village are still talking about the rat invasion
of a local KFC/Taco Bell, and some are questioning if they will ever
eat out again.

"When I saw the news about the rats, I was like
freaking out," frequent customer Kim Pagnottan said. "I was like holy
(bleep). I was like oh my god. It's disgusting!

"Now, it's like I don't want to even go out, I want to eat at my own house. I want to cook every day."

Pagnottan
wasn't the only person grossed out by the day's doings. Added Eddie
Rue, a now former customer: "I will never eat in there again.
Definitely lost me as a customer."

And countless more are sure
to bail now that the city's Health Department inspected the premises
and shut it down until its violations are corrected.

One man
in particular was doing his best at damage control. "Please, I hope
that the public that saw that won't be turned (off), tempted not to
patronize our restaurants because we have the finest and cleanest
restaurants in the world," said Chuck Hunt of the New York State
Restaurant Association.

CBS 2 cameras caught more than a dozen
rats scurrying across the KFC/Taco Bell tile floor early Friday
morning, leaping between chairs and onto the same tables customers eat
on. One was even perched on the ATM right by the front door.

"They are not afraid at all of people," Margo McGuire said. "They own this sidewalk, it would seem."

On
Friday night, people converged on the fast food restaurant at Sixth
Avenue and West 4th Street, hoping to catch a glimpse of the rats in
action. Earlier in the day, CBS 2 documented one shocked reaction after
another.

"I've seen a lot of disgusting rats in the KFC. I love to eat at KFC, but this is disgusting," Tameeka St. Jean said.

"I
freaked out. A place where people eat and there are rats running around
the floor. And they aren't little rats. They're huge rats!" Victor
Pecone said.

According to people at the scene, the popular
restaurant was open until 11 p.m. Thursday night. Others told CBS 2
that the problem has been going on for weeks.

"It's disgusting,
and I am so glad you all are here to do something about it," neighbor
Susan Quimbyn said. "Obviously things fall through the cracks. I'd like
to interview the employees to see if they are aware of the situation."

"The
infestation is in the restaurant," Health Department inspector Carol
Feracho said. "However, based on the inspection, it is coming from the
building. There are a number of openings in the building that
constitute entry."

CBS 2's amazing video shows rats running,
playing and eating leftovers off the floor of the restaurant. However,
rat infestations are not a new problem for this KFC. Just last
December, the city's Health Department cited this KFC for evidence of
"live rats present in the facility's food and non food areas."

The franchise was also cited for rats on at least three previous occasions by the Department of Health since 2004.

But
according to the Health Dept. Web site, the rat problems had been
addressed. This was clearly not the case from what CBS 2 cameras caught
Friday morning.

Rick Maynard of KFC/Taco Bell issued a statement
Friday, saying: "This is completely unacceptable and is an absolute
violation of our high standards. This restaurant has been closed and we
are addressing the issue with the franchise owner. We will not allow
this store to re-open until it is completely re-sanitized and given a
clean bill of health. We want to reassure customers that this is an
isolated incident at the Greenwich TB/KFC at 331 6th Avenue."

Marcus Bonner said he used to work at this chain and would often see rodents coming inside.

"That's
where the rats come from, there's a hole in the back where the garbage
is," Bonner said. "There's a hole about three-to-four inches wide. So
easy they just walk through. They don't have to squeeze through.

"I
quit because it was nasty. They don't use gloves to make the food. They
use the same grease day after day after day. At night, the manager told
me to put the chairs up. We don't sweep; we don't mop. So that's what
the rats are eating off, the stuff that's left on the floors."

McGuire lives next door and said the carelessly dumped garbage from the restaurant attracts rats onto the whole block.

"That
chicken puts the weight on them," McGuire said. "The bags, the garbage
is always piled up there. And you can actually hear critters in there."