The Midtown Dunkin’ Donuts where mice were caught on camera frolicking and snacking will close for a top-to-bottom renovation, The Post has learned.
The Dunkin’ Donuts chain will drop its breach-of-contract lawsuit against National Donut Restaurants of New York, which ran the offending outlet for Riese Restaurants, if the shop meets those conditions under a proposed out-of-court settlement.
“Before, they were required to keep the shop clean,” said Dunkin’ lawyer Ronald Degen. “Now they will be required to retain an exterminating service.
“If they comply with this agreement, then this case is over.”
The agreement was hammered out in talks between Dunkin’ and Riese, but has not yet been signed, Degen said.
A spokeswoman for Riese did not immediately return calls for comment.
The Massachusetts-based corporation had lodged a breach-of-contract suit seeking to shut the doors the Dunkin’ Donuts in Riese’s food court at Fifth Avenue and 46th Street – where one mouse was photographed nibbling on a doughnut while another was caught scurrying along the pastry racks.
But Jan. 7, Manhattan federal Judge Whitman Knapp denied Dunkin’s bid to temporarily close the shop while the lawsuit wound its way through court.
The settlement calls for Riese to “retain the services of a reputable, professional outside extermination service to inspect all the [Riese] shops and to cure any pest control problems that exist.”
It also gives Dunkin’ the right to reject an exterminator and requires Riese to follow any suggestions the vermin killers make.
The agreement also calls for Riese to close the shop for renovations, which are to be finished by April 30.
Riese had refused to close the mouse-tainted outlet, which continued to do a brisk business despite a flurry of bad publicity, including the chain’s becoming the butt of jokes on “Late Show with David Letterman.”
The doughnut-eating public had mixed reactions yesterday.
“Obviously, if there’s a problem, you have to address the issue,” said Doug Wood, a coffee-wielding 30-year-old drummer from Portland, Maine. “You can’t just let them [mice] breed and take over the city.”
Nancy Gartlan, 30, researcher at a Midtown head-hunting firm vowed to dump her coffee and jelly doughnut and never return to the shop.
“This should not be an independent project,” said Gartlan, who said the city must inspect, too.
Manuela Schupfer, 26, an au pair from Switzerland, shrugged off the vermin reduction efforts.
“It’s fine,” Schupfer said, insisting she would relish her first ever bagel with cream cheese. “I’m happy with Dunkin’ Donuts.”