While US President Donald Trump focuses on his war in the Middle East, he’s losing a major battle a home. The kitchens at his International Hotel in Chicago have been revealed to be hosting some almost unheard of health violations…
A typical hotel kitchen: The way it’s supposed to look. Mirror-like work surfaces.
Shining-clean floors. And definitely free of life forms that shouldn’t be there…
Unprecedented violations
Chicago city health inspectors found some unprecedented violations when they toured the kitchens at the Trump International Hotel in Chicago last December.
“Wastewater was pooling on the main kitchen floor as multiple prep sinks drained, and a dishwasher was failing to properly sanitize dishes and utensils.,” the Daily Beast reports. “Inspectors also noted […] flies in the rooftop restaurant’s bar and dish area, debris in prep coolers, and a cracked ice machine lid.”
Also, the employee bathroom had no hand soap. Have we not mentioned, many times, that washing your hands is the first rule of food safety and sanitation?
Not the first time
And not the first at a Trump Hotel. In fact, two other ‘first line’ Trump resort restaurants were cited for serious violations last year.
The Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, New York, was cited for problems including rod-ents, insects, dirty surfaces, […] and insufficient lighting and ventilation, in November 2025, according to state health records.
In May, New Jersey officials found 18 health code violations at Trump’s Bedminster golf course.
Not ‘routine’ incidents
The major health violations at Trump hotels have not been what restaurant industry insiders would call ‘routine’. Health inspectors expect to find breaches of regulations involving food handling and sanitation matters. But not floods in the middle of the kitchen floor or rodents and insects running around. Those infractions are actually very rare, if not unheard of, and can constitute grounds for temporary closure of a resto.
But such egregious safety and sanitation fails seem to be every day occurrences at Trump Hotels. Why?
My take
I am tempted to blame Trump’s personal penchant for penny-pinching as the root cause of the horrendous conditions in the restos at several of his signature hotels. I suspect his ground-level minions just can’t maintain the facilities they’re responsible for on the operating budgets he allows them.
And I also suspect his restos aren’t making a lot of money. Maybe even losing, as ‘profit centres’ on the balance sheet. But the Trump Organization has to keep them creaking and limping along as part of the overall ‘hotel’ operation.
Got a broken ice machine? It’s just the lid. Fuggeddbaudit. No soap in the employee washroom? It’s just a frill. They don’t need it.
That just about sums up my perception of the way Trump Hotel kitchens are run. As a foodservice professional, I wouldn’t work in one if they offered me $1 million!
~ Maggie J.