Grace's Place: closed and suing

Palm Coast Observer
News

After just over two years in business and nine months of battling a rat infestation, Grace’s Place Bagels and Deli closed its doors for good in November, but the Tutaks are not done with their fight.

Palm Coast Properties LLC filed for possession of the property in December, which settled with Grace’s Place and the Tutaks vacating the property by Friday, Jan. 16. In response, the Tutaks filed a counter claim with 10 different causes of action varying from conspiracy to breach of contract and emotional distress.

‘Restaurant: Impossible’
Grace’s Place was featured on season eight of Food Network’s “Restaurant: Impossible,” Robert Irvine and a host of volunteers making the makeover a reality in March 2014.

“They were aware of the rat problem,” Grace Tutak said as she sat in the eatery Jan. 15, the day before they had to vacate. A dead rat lay on the floor nearby. “I had just found out about it two weeks before they were coming.”

She said that she notified Food Network and asked that they not pull down ceiling tiles on national TV, because that is where the rats were found.

“They said, ‘Fine, we’ll take care of it,’” Tutak said. “And the volunteers that were here said they saw no evidence of rodents.”

From the time of the reopening in March to the time the show aired in June, Grace’s Place saw an influx of business, but the Tutaks believe that because of disgruntled employees, rumors of rats started circulating and business went down.

“It’s coincidental that two of my employees stole $4,000 and three days after I called the police on them, the health inspector showed up,” Tutak said.

Another change to the business came when Tutak did away with the “Restaurant: Impossible” menu after customers complained of not liking the new menu options.

“They wanted the other stuff back, so I worked on it,” she said. “It took a while, but then I brought out the new menu and it was a definite increase in sales. People started coming back again and then boom, Sept. 22, in walks the health inspector, and he specifically came here looking for rat feces. He said that’s what the call was for.”

Health inspections
The Sept. 22 inspection by Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation Division of Hotels and Restaurants yielded eight high-priority violations including rodent activity being present.

Another violation said two bags of dry pasta were found with gnaw marks. The items were voluntarily discarded. Other high-priority violations included meats being kept at the wrong temperature, contact surfaces not being sanitized property, and Windex being stored next to sugar packets.

Grace’s Place was temporarily closed by the inspector until the violations were corrected. The establishment reopened the next day, after receiving zero high-priority violations in a follow-up inspection.

Having been aware of the rat problem for some time now, Tutak said that she and her staff would spend at least an hour each morning cleaning up whatever rat activity happened the night before after the shop closed. In a Sept. 22 email from Eddie Tutak to Preferred Management, he claims that he contacted the management company in March, when rodents ate through the camera wires in the restaurant, with no response.

The health inspector returned Nov. 7, after a complaint was filed. This inspection yielded one high-priority violation, but it was the big one: rodent activity found as evidenced by rodent droppings found. While not as many droppings were found as the during the September inspection, in which 96 droppings were reported, the establishment was temporarily closed, again.

Closed for good
But it did not reopen. In a Nov. 22 Facebook post, Grace Tutak wrote, “We are currently closed due to serious building issues which have been neglected by the landlord. They are finally being addressed but unfortunately, have now left us no choice but to close until the issue is fixed. We are heartbroken by this turn of events.”

The issue, according to the Tutaks, was not resolved, and the restaurant closed permanently when the building owner, Palm Coast Properties LLC, filed for possession because rent had not been paid since mid-summer.

“I’m in such a funky depression, it’s ridiculous,” said Grace Tutak, adding that she had to go on medication to regulate her emotions. “It’s really hard for me to get motivated. This is my life. I’m here all the time, day and night. This was my baby and (the closing) just knocked the wind right out of me. From the time I found the rats to all of this coming to a head right here.”

Finding some comic relief in the situation, with a notice of the closure on Facebook, the profile picture for the Grace’s Place page was changed to an image of Jaq and Gus, the mice from Disney’s “Cinderella.”

Who is at fault?
As reflected in their suit, the Tutaks don’t believe that they are at fault for the closing or the rat infestation. But neither does the property owner.

“The lawsuit is very suggestive that the client is responsible for the rodent infestation and we don’t agree with that,” said Jay Livingston, attorney for Palm Coast Properties LLC. “The first time we saw anything from them was after the suit was filed.”

But Mike Davis, attorney for the Tutaks, said that the problem was originally reported in March 2014, and Grace’s Place is not the only tenant that has reported rat problems.

“I have been contacted by at least one other tenant in the building since the September (2014) timeframe who has adamantly and repeatedly been contacting the property management company to come and do something about the rats,” Davis said. “They hear them in the ceiling and the walls. Feces and urine is creating a hazardous environment.”

The lawsuit has to be transferred to circuit court, and, once the transfer fee is paid, the property owner will have 20 days to respond.

“This case is going to boil down to who is to blame for the rats and what are the contributing factors,” Livingston said. “It’s an interesting situation from a legal perspective and a horrible situation for all parties involved.”

The case should be reaching mediation around February, but in the meantime, Grace Tutak is finding a way to pick up the pieces. “I feel like I have a stigma now — they ruined my name,” she said. “To the average person, that’s a reflection on me, that my establishment was not clean.”

Ed Tutak added: “I’m just disappointed with the building department, disappointed with the health department, disappointed with the media.”