As you might have seen if you’ve passed by 100 Wall Street in the last 24 hours, our newest shop has been temporarily closed by the NYC Department of Health. We’re trying to reopen as soon as possible but, in the meantime, I figured I’d let you all know what happened:
There’s a rule in the NYC Health Code that makes it mandatory to provide a bathroom for employees. Our 100 Wall Street shop, you may have noticed, is tiny and doesn’t have a bathroom. To provide our employees with one (because, obviously, that is something we have to do, health code or no health code), our landlord allows us access to a bathroom in the building. Our baristas have to step out of our shop, walk a few covered feet into the main 100 Wall St. building (same address and everything), and use the keycards provided to us to access the bathrooms. This is the same practice that two previous coffee shop tenants of the space were allowed to use, going back 18 years, and our lack of a bathroom wasn’t an issue on our Department of Buildings or Plumbing exam.
So, long story short, we got an A on the parts of the health inspection that are within our control, and we got shut down for something we had no clue was a problem. We’re fighting hard to convince the DOH to let us reopen while we attempt to squeeze a bathroom into the space so we can get our baristas back to work and get back to serving you delicious coffee ASAP. Watch this space, and I’ll keep you updated.
Maciej, Director of Coffee Gregorys Coffee.