Sukiya closes restaurants for cleaning after new pest found in food

Japan’s restaurant chain Sukiya announced the temporary closure of its outlets for deep cleaning after another customer found a pest in their food. This time, the pest was an insect, probably a cockroach, which was found on Friday (March 28) by a customer in a Tokyo outlet. Last weekend, the company admitted another incident where a rat had been found in a bowl of miso soup in a restaurant in Tottori earlier this year. The affected restaurant was temporarily closed, and Sukiya said measures had been taken to address hygiene problems and risks of food contamination. It also declared that all its outlets would be regularly checked to guarantee their cleaning and safety. After the new incident in Tokyo, however, the chain has taken the drastic step to close most of its restaurants for deep cleaning operations and to prevent further pest infiltrations. The closure will start on March 31 and end on April 4. In a statement, Sukiya apologised for the “great inconvenience and concern caused.”
Part of Zensho Holdings, Sukiya has around 2000 restaurants in Japan. After the rat incident was disclosed, its share price tumbled before recovering. It will probably experience further turbulence after this week’s announced closure.