Dha Enterprises trading as Groundworks Cafe in Wendouree faces court for Food Act breaches

A “disorganised and revolting” Wendouree cafe has been dragged to court after rat droppings were found in its storage containers.

Groundworks Cafe in Stockland Wendouree Shopping Centre. Picture: Groundworks Cafe

A Ballarat cafe had rodent faeces and urine under shelves, thick oil and sludge deposits near fryers, and raw meat juice seeping throughout its fridges.

Dha Enterprises, which trades as Groundwork Cafe at Stockland Wendouree Shopping Centre, was sentenced in Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Thursday having earlier pleaded guilty to breaches of the Food Act.

On Thursday the court heard Dha Enterprises faced 44 charges over its failure to safely handle and store food, maintain proper records, and maintain a safe and clean environment between March 2023 and January 2024.

Roden faeces and urine on a shelving unit.

Water in a dishwasher.

The floor beneath a fryer.

Over about 10 months, observations of the premises revealed broken crockery, oil and sludge pooling near cooking equipment, chicken blood and juices contaminating unprotected food, rodent faeces and urine in storage containers and on equipment and benches, rat droppings inside a sugar container, stagnant water pooling in a dishwasher, mould on walls, condiments such as mayonnaise being left at room temperature, food being unlabelled and out of temperature control, including while in display units.

Photos taken by City of Ballarat environmental officers, who attended the shop on more than 15 separate occasions, depicted a “disorganised and revolting scene,” Magistrate Mark Stratmann said.

Rodent faeces found in a sugar container.

Oil and debris build-up beneath a grill.

Raw meat juice at the base of a fridge.

When the company’s director was interviewed, he said staff shortages were causing the issues.

His counsel told the court he had been “overwhelmed” after opening the cafe in May 2021 and being hit with Covid-related difficulties, such as the shutdown of Stockland Shopping Centre.

Although some improvements to the cafe’s conditions were made, the court heard they were “simply insufficient”, and the venue continually failed to meet its obligations.

Mr Stratmann said it was “remarkable that cases of food poisoning did not occur”.

He said the business’s management approach “compounded the nature and frequency of the breaches”.

He fined Dha Enterprises $40,000 and awarded the City of Ballarat nearly $8390 of the more than $24,000 it sought in costs and disbursements, deeming that claim “unreasonable”.