Abby's Table in SE Portland gets low health score
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Click "play video" to see Kerry Tomlinson's report.
A year after our original report aired, the chef and owner of Abby's Table wrote us with an update about her restaurant. We have a policy of not removing old stories, but we offered to post her statement.
Statement from Abby Fammartino:
One year ago Kerry Tomlinson did a story on my business, Abby's Table, regarding the 75 health score rating we received. I agreed to represent the business, and to speak on behalf of the issues we faced: our dishwasher was under-sanitizing, there were fruit flies, our walk in needed service. The last issue, an employee who didn't double hand wash, is no longer a law by the Health Department as of July 2012 (although we still double hand wash in our kitchen!) We cleaned things up within a week and have had near perfect records before and after that incident.
I understand the value of a story about a unique business, good or bad. However, we are still a small business who has struggled in the last year since that video to stay afloat. We help so many customers who truly need the food we offer, be it folks with severe food allergies who have trouble dining out, or people who want to take charge of their health and enjoy healthful food. With limited marketing dollars, we do not want to dissuade people from coming to our restaurant.
Your video and story have greatly affected the business and it's ability to continue to offer healthful, quality food to the Portland community. I am requesting, respectfully, that since it has been a year, the video (and story) be removed from the your website. It is the first video that comes up for "videos" for Abby's Table, and it also appears on the first page of a general search, due to the fact that we are a small business with limited SEO budget. We have other videos that are educational with recipes and positive stories, but these are shadowed by this story, the first video.
One year ago Kerry Tomlinson did this story on my business, Abby's Table, regarding our health score of 75. I agreed to represent the business and discuss the issues we faced: our dishwasher was under-sanitizing, there were fruit flies, our walk in needed service. The last issue, an employee who didn't double hand wash, is no longer a law by the Health Department as of July 2012 (though we still do it!) We cleaned things up within a week and have had near perfect records before and after that incident. We have been in business for 4 1/2 years. I understand the value of a shock story about a unique business, good or bad. However we are still a small business who in reality has struggled in the past year since this story was broadcast. We have a strong mission to help people who truly need the food we offer, be it folks with severe food allergies who struggle dining out, or people who want to take charge of their health and enjoy great food. With limited marketing dollars, we do not want to dissuade people from coming to our restaurant. Your video and story have greatly affected our business and it's ability to continue offering healthful food to our local community. I am requesting, respectfully, that this video and story be removed from your website. It's been one year. This story appears on the first page of a search for our business, and as a small business with a limited SEO budget this is a challenge. We have other videos that are educational and offer resources for our customer base, but these are shadowed by this story when searching for videos. I urge you to consider the effect this story has on my small business, and how important it could be to help by removing the video and story from your website. Thank you for seriously considering. Please be in contact.  Warmly, Abby Fammartino  Chef/Owner Â