Jesse Jones fined $25,000 after live cockroaches and rodent droppings discovered at his Summer House Cafe & Restaurant

The operator of a restaurant once labelled Kangaroo Point’s premier dining spot has been fined tens of thousands of dollars after rodent faeces and live cockroaches were found there.

The operator of a now defunct restaurant once labelled Kangaroo Point’s premier dining spot has been fined tens of thousands of dollars after live cockroaches and rodent faeces were found there.

Magistrate Stephen Courtney said he imagined nobody would have eaten at the Summer House Cafe & Restaurant if they’d known the state of the kitchen and food storage areas.

The Brisbane Magistrates Court today heard food safety inspectors visited the restaurant, operated by Jesse Jones, in April 2019.

The now closed Summer House Cafe & Restaurant in Kangaroo Point.

Brisbane City Council prosecutor Jac Thong said officers found non-compliance with the food standards code in areas such as storage, hygiene, cleanliness and pests.

“There were rodent droppings and live and dead cockroaches,” he said.

“ Cockroach faeces were observed in the food storage area ... and there were live and dead cockroaches in the dishwashing area in close proximity with the food preparation area.”

Mr Thong provided photographs of the inspection.

“What was apparent is … effectively a nest of live cockroaches and cockroach faeces up against the wall,” he said.

Jesse Jones, operator of the now closed Summer House Cafe & Restaurant in Kangaroo Point, was fined $25,000 for food safety breaches.

Jones, who operated Summer House from 2016 to 2019, was charged with eight counts each of contravening a condition of a license and failing to comply with food standards code requirement.

He was also charged with contravening an improvement notice.

Jones, who is now in South Australia, was not in court and the matter was dealt with in his absence after he earlier indicated he would plead guilty.

Mr Thong said the restaurant’s license was immediately suspended after the inspection and not reinstated until a fortnight later when the issues had been rectified.

In a 2018 article on Flight Network titled 72 Hours To Eat and Drink Your Way Through Brisbane, Summer House was described as “Kangaroo Point’s premier dining spot”.

Magistrate Stephen Courtney said council inspectors had found kitchen and food storage areas which were poorly maintained and dirty.

Raw egg aioli and coleslaw were stored on a bench at 22C and 27C respectively, with council alleging it should be stored at 5C or below, he said.

“I would have thought that no person would eat there knowing the state of those two areas,” he said.

“There’s no suggestion that anyone actually got ill from eating at this place … it’s by good luck rather than good management.”

The court heard Jones had been co-operative with council.

He was fined $25,000 and no convictions were recorded.