Last updated on Jun 11, 2015
By Joseph Iemma
Staff Writer
In late March, LIU Post’s The Treat Shoppe, located across from the Campus Concierge desk in Hillwood Commons, faced health code violations from the Nassau County Department of Health for lacking a required permit.
“A business that wishes to provide food service in Nassau County is mandated to have a certain amount of sinks and other amenities in order to sustain an adequate mark of health and cleanliness,” according to Lawrence E. Einstein, the Commissioner of the Nassau County Department of Health. “According to our records, at the time [of a recent inspection], Post’s Treat Shoppe was not meeting our standards.”
Tamir Dayya, the Special Projects Manager who manages The Treat Shoppe, and his team were taken back by the news, and worked quickly to remedy the issue. “We had work done in the back of The Treat Shoppe. The university itself installed the number of sinks needed,” he said. With the necessary instillations made, Dayya was puzzled by the violation until he realized that the appropriate paperwork had not been filed with the Department of Health.
“Due to a bureaucratic error, The Treat Shoppe’s permit was never processed,” said David Sollors, LIU’s Assistant Counsel and Compliance Officer. “LIU became aware of this during an inspection by the County’s Office of Food Protection in the ordinary course of business that resulted in a violation for lacking a permit.”
“LIU provided the Nassau County Health Department with all necessary documentation to obtain a permit,” Sollors said. “The Health Department found the papers to be in order, and issued a preliminary permit to continue operating The Treat Shoppe. A final permit is expected to be issued, pending a final inspection of The Treat Shoppe.”
“We simply never received the proper documentation. However, after notifying the university, we soon received all the proper documentation from Post and the instillation company. Post has always complied with our health standards,” Einstein said.
Dayya said that he believes in operating a business built on integrity and honesty. He said that he manages his business for one sole purpose: to provide students with the opportunity to work in a small business, and see exactly what comes with running a business.
“Most of the students working [in The Treat Shoppe] want to go in to business for themselves one day, and this Shoppe, this program, allows them to gain hands-on experience with running a business and everything that goes with it such as overhead, dealing with consumers, and marketing a product; [these] are some things our students work hands on with,” Dayya said. He also mentioned that any profit the store makes goes to Post’s scholarships funds.
The violation never caused The Sweet Shoppe to close for business. “[The Treat Shoppe] is doing better every day, and next semester we are looking into adding a smoothie maker,” Dayya said.
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