Cockroaches took over the kitchen and dining areas of a Canberra restaurant, spilled on to customers, ran across food preparation areas and left feces behind counters and fridges.

Z Brasserie manager Nicole Maddock told the Canberra Times, ”[When] eating staff meals we’d have cockroaches running across our plates.” Fifteen staff have lost their jobs due to the closure.

The restaurant said the landlord, the Hyperdome Shopping Centre, had failed to fix the problem.

Z Brasserie owner Debbie Wentworth-Shields said after months of battling centre management the issue came to a head last week when she removed a picture from a wall and inadvertently showered a customer’s child with cockroaches.