Rancherito’s Employee Caught On Camera Urinating In Kitchen

DRAPER, Utah – A popular fast food restaurant has been temporarily closed after an employee was caught on camera urinating in the kitchen.

The incident happened early Sunday morning at the Rancherito’s at 12250 South State Street in Draper.

Robert Talivakaola was in the drive-thru and said he saw something he hopes to never see again.

“I popped my head up trying to get somebody’s attention in the window and I saw what you guys saw in the video that went viral,” Talivakaola said. “The dude was using the bathroom in the kitchen.”

The employee didn’t know he was being filmed and casually adjusted his pants after he finished.

“I was in shock. Like honestly, I was in shock and I was like man, I’ve got to get this on video because if it’s just my word nobody is going to believe me,” Talivakaola said.

Officials with the Salt Lake County Health Department received an online complaint and immediately went to investigate.

“I wouldn’t say this is something we see commonly, no. I was horrified at the video,” said health department spokesperson Nicholas Rupp. “We were able to confirm that the incident described in the complaint did take place at that establishment.”

Authorities shut down the Rancherito’s location until everything is sanitized and passes inspection.

“Urinating in a kitchen is not acceptable in a food service establishment,” Rupp said.

Rancherito’s let KSL’s cameras into their restaurant Sunday to show how they’re on top of the clean-up.

“We’ve been working on this since early morning,” said Perla Lee, who manages the restaurant. “Everything is being sanitized. Every single thing.”

As for the video, Talivakaloa said he posted it to social media because he wanted to make people aware.  He said it was viewed more than 70,000 times before Facebook took it down.

“I love Rancherito’s. I’ve eaten there many times. It’s just kind of disturbing when you see this. You kind of don’t want to go back,” he said.

That’s what Rancherito’s management is afraid of, but they said they’re doing everything in their power to make it up to their customers.

“This was just one person. It does not represent who we are or what we do,” Lee said. “We definitely want to make sure our customers know that they’re the priority.”

Rancherito’s said they immediately fired the employee and the health department revoked his food handler’s permit so he can’t work at another restaurant.

The health department will meet with management Monday and do a reinspection. If the restaurant passes, they could open back up early Monday.