Jerry Kristian, Jerry’s Food Emporium‘s original owner, said he is sad to hear the business has closed its doors.
Both Saskatoon locations closed Wednesday after 23 years in business.
The Saskatoon restaurant said Wednesday both locations were closing after 23 years.
The company gave no reason for the sudden closure in a note posted to the door of its 51st Street location.
“After 23 amazing years of trying to make Jerry’s Food Emporium a viable and profitable company, unfortunately we have to close our doors as of today,” the note said.
Kristian sold the business to his management team almost five years ago. He said he found out about the decision to close after a friend texted his wife.
According to the Saskatchewan government’s website, a health inspection was done at the Grosvenor Avenue location on Feb. 18, but it is not clear if there is any connection between the inspection and the closures.
A public health inspector found that food was not being reheated to an internal temperature of 74 C or higher within an hour of commencing the reheating process.
Potentially hazardous food was not being kept at an internal temperature of at least 60 C for hot holding, or at 4 C or less under refrigeration, the report said.
The inspector also found a number of sanitization issues, including handwashing stations not being equipped with single-use paper towels in a dispenser, testing equipment not being available to check the concentration of chemical sanitizers and deficiencies with the chlorine sanitizing solution in the dishwashers.
An inspection of Jerry’s 51st Street location on Jan. 16 found no infractions.
A disclaimer on the government’s website said any infractions reported are those found at the time of the inspection.
Kristian said he hasn’t spoken with anyone from the company about the decision. While the announcement appears to have come abruptly, he said it couldn’t have been an easy decision for management to make.
“I know them all very, very well and I have great respect for them,” he said.
Global News has reached out to Jerry’s Food Emporium by phone and through social media but no one from the company has responded. The company’s website appears to be “suspended.”