Failing a restaurant inspection: behind the curtain

Recently, a popular restaurant was closed by the CDPH, and it got a lot of chatter on the inter-web. As I read the comments, I thought I could clear up some misunderstandings about restaurant inspections, specifically failing one of them (and what it takes to get a green sign on the door).

Recently, failures and closures have become popular fodder for internet news outlets. Details of every inspection are shared publicly on Everyblock, and closures are a favorite of DNAInfo and Eater.

I am not going to take sides on this; that's not the point of what I'm writing. I, as a restaurant owner, would simply like to fill in the blanks - and correct some misinformation that has been written and/or assumed.

All food service establishments (in the City of Chicago), at which food is prepared on site, are supposed to be inspected by the department of Health every six months. Realistically, (in City of Chicago) it happens about once a year and up to 2 years apart - unless you have complaints, which are responded to very quickly. Why don't they inspect more often? CDPH just doesn't have the staff to keep up with quarterly or semi-annual recommended inspections for the 3000 restaurants in our abudnatly fed city.

Health Inspectors are reasonable, easy to work with folks (the ones I've met). Regular inspectors, regional managers, supervisors - all of them I have encountered have been very pleasant. I also like Police Officers - but maybe I just know how to talk to people .

Health Inspectors generally spend about 2 hours in a small restaurant, and up to 4 in a larger space. The main things they look for: Food temperatures (cold food below 40, hot food above 140). Evidence of rodents. General Cleanliness. City of Chicago Sanitation Manager onsite. Garbage/Dumpster areas kept clean. Ice machine cleanliness.

There are a couple different types of fines/citations.

1. Warning/guidance/recommendations: usually no fine attached, but any issues must be corrected by the next inspection. You'll get a couple of these every time. Just kind words of guidance on how to make things cleaner.

2. Basic Violation (minor): Food not labeled/dated. Items found (non food) stored on floor/closets, not off of the ground. Dirty Grease filter/grease traps. Dirty Dumpster Area. This citation is usually accompanied by a fine ($250-$1000). Biggest pain of this kind of citation is that you MUST go to court, and you can no longer represent yourself - you MUST hire a licensed attorney. Good news is, at court, they usually knock the fine down to the minimum (which now only offsets the cost of the attorney).

3. Critical Violation: Common Examples: Food in the "Danger Zone" (40-140). This is taken very seriously. Even if you claim the food was just cooking, cooling, or whatever the reason - without a detailed written log to prove your story they will throw out the food and write a hefty fine. Another critical that is common is no Certified Food Safety Manager onsite. This is an automatic Critical. Rodent Droppings (upstairs, downstairs, or on the stairs). Live Flies/Roaches. Refrigeration not working properly. No Hand Wash sink (they can close you for this one). No dish wash sink/sink not working (also potential closure).

Failing and Closure:

Failing is quite common - it happens when an inspector finds more than a few things, including a critical violation, that aren't/cannot be corrected while the inspector is onsite. Critical violations corrected while an inspector is onsite can be downgraded to minor violations. You'd be surprised how many restaurants "fail" health inspections - including Alinea and MANY MANY board favorites (I won't name names, look it up if you'd like - it's really not a big deal unless it's repetitive)... Failure is not always indicative of unsafe practice, and many times its simply oversight or even bad timing. No ones perfect.

Closures:

Closure happens automatically when a restaurant receives 2 or more critical violations that aren't corrected before the inspector leaves. A common reason for closure is plumbing (which cannot be fixed quickly) combined with a few oversights and/or sanitation manager not present. Another is basements. Basements are meant to be kept in the same standards as above ground floors - but many times are overlooked due to their out-of-sight existence.

EDITED TO ADD: A single inspector cannot close a restaurant. When a field inspector decides they are going to issue closure, they call a supervisor and they come to the site to confirm/affirm what the inspector has decided.

Permanent closures: I saw this recommendation several times last week, and many wondered "how many failures is too many"? Well, unless the failure was accompanied by a closure - there is no "x strikes and you're out". Regarding closures: more than 1 CPD closure in a 12 month period and the city CAN revoke your license. It's assigned to a special committee, and they decided what to do with you. If you are making efforts and are apologetic, permanent closure rarely happens from failed health inspections.

All in all, this city does a pretty good job at identifying what public health risks there may be - and suggesting measures to correct such risks. They haven't become "harder" over the years, and restaurants don't fail more now than in the past. It seems like we hear about failures/closures more often these days, it has become almost impossible to hide from a failure. Understandably, the more popular the restaurant, the bigger the story of a failure/closure. Health inspection reports are only public (online) back to 2010 - so any suggestion that a restaurant is failing more now than in the past is simply speculation.

I though this would be a good post for anyone not in the industry that wondered how it all worked, is it fair, when do they inspect, what do they look for, etc.? Anyone reading from CDPH - I like you guys and think you do a great job.

Thanks for sharing this; useful information and interesting perspective.

I agree with Gonzo. I wish I knew this earlier. But I can imagine you have other things to do and this is a thoughtful post.

As a frequent diner in restaurants, especially affordable joints, I appreciate this very much.

Thank you rubbbqco

Excellent insight on a touchy subject.

Here's a bit more you may like.
http://gapersblock.com/drivethru/2011/11/21/inspecting_chicagos_kitchens/

rubbbqco wrote:2. Basic Violation (minor): Food not labeled/dated. Items found (non food) stored on floor/closets, not off of the ground. Dirty Grease filter/grease traps. Dirty Dumpster Area. This citation is usually accompanied by a fine ($250-$1000). Biggest pain of this kind of citation is that you MUST go to court, and you can no longer represent yourself - you MUST hire a licensed attorney. Good news is, at court, they usually knock the fine down to the minimum (which now only offsets the cost of the attorney).

Thanks for the explanation, rubbbqco. I'm curious about the requirement that you must go to court and you must have an attorney. Is there a special court/administrative judge who handles all food violation citations? Why do you have to go to court if you admit to the charge in the citation and are prepared to pay a fine? And what's the logic in requiring you to hire a lawyer...last I heard even people accused of serious crimes (including Ted Bundy) have the right to appear as pro se litigants?

I always think of this post when a restaurant fails an inspection:

Evil Ronnie wrote:Having dealt first hand with the inspection process for many years in Virginia, Houston, Dallas, Tucson, and now Chicago, I'd like to add a tidbit of information about the whole inspection process.

In most if not all kitchens, there are ongoing violations. Beef tenderloins being cleaned by the butcher will be outside of the ideal holding range. Thawed out frozen shrimp sitting on a table ready to be peeled and deveined will also be in the danger zone. Prepared soups and stocks cooling dowen are passing too slowly through the danger zone. Cases of product delivered during lunch service are sitting on the floor during lunch service, and there isn't time to jump off the line and put it away. Then the health inspector then walks in. Cardboard boxes of whatever coming in the back door from various vendors are infested with fruitflies and roaches. Roaches love cardboard. Cases of fresh chicken are dripping with ice cold bloody water from the shaved ice inside the boxes. Working on a 110 degree line with a cup or glass of water (not allowed) and getting gigged for it.
The potwasher has not put, or not put enough, or has put too much sanitizer into the final rinse sink. He also probably doesn't speak any English, just to make it a bit more challenging.

My point is, even a well organized and clean kitchen passes in and out of numerous violations on a day to day, and even minute to minute basis. The health inspectors, by and large are good folks, have a heart, and actually try and help educate as they go about doing their jobs. They are willing to overlook certain violations if they belive you to be serious in trying to run a clean kitchen. There is also the exception to this, but that is another story.

But what really burns them up, however is when they come back six months later for your next routine inspection, and you haven't addressed the four or five violations they told you to take care of last time. That's when they start with the five point violations, and the five day operating permits with a reinspection, or shutting you down even.

Evil is on the money. There's a big difference between trying and ignoring, and inspectors can tell in a minute what's what. One thing I do when I work on openinga is to meet w/the fire dept and/or health dept prior to the final inspection, to get their feel for potential issues, so there's no surprises when you attempt to get certified. It also helps that they know you've been proactive. They in turn, generally appreciate it. It helps to have them thinking well of you when they hold all the power.

The attorney issue is new - the fine is given to a business (a corporation or LLC) and by law has to be represented by an attorney. The defending yourself right only applies if it's an individual being cited. This has always been the law, but only recently has been enforced. The state court of IL issued a mandate last year to cook county reminding them of this rule , requesting they enforce it.

Why can't you just pay the fine without going to court? Same reason there are more hot dogs than buns...just don't make sense

Great observations. How about a grand opening and the health inspector shows up; everyone's in the weeds, I have to race through the departments under my purview informing them to clean up. A former manager of mine has this adage referring to 3-compartment sinks, "it's either all full or all empty." Come an inspection I'm the first one draining them. Illinois health inspectors(and New York state) were among the most persnickety in my experience. And, working for a company that mandates their own contracted health inspectors in addition to local health department inspections, one for rodent/insect control, one for the general overview, well, one was always on their toes...a good thing. In the home store where I worked when I wasn't on the road training it was always amusing as upper management would run from department to department at the mere sight of a white coat, leaving me to always keep an eye out, half the time it was the insect/rodent inspector, not the big bad. We never had an infestation problem, so it was with a quick mop of the brow that we returned to work as she did her thing. I liked our regular inspectors. Although it did seem they all had some quirk that you could never quite figure out, like some wanting sanitizer bottles under the stations, some wanting them nowhere near the stations. It's a pissant sorta "ding," but you learn to live with it, sorta like if that's all they can find then we must be doing a good job(we were). To the extent that one of our first health inspectors(they changed up every so often) left her work to open her own consulting firm for health accreditation for small businesses. I still have her card, she said for whenever I open my own restaurant. She went out of her way to shop with us, after she changed careers, even though she didn't live anywhere near us. She'd come in, I'd help her and chit chat a bit, afterwards co-workers would ask who she is, and I'd proudly reply, "that's our former health inspector."

The fines really cranked up in the last few years. 20 years, no problems, and then suddenly someone discovered a new revenue source.

dk wrote:The fines really cranked up in the last few years. 20 years, no problems, and then suddenly someone discovered a new revenue source.

No doubt, but sometimes new revenue sources and improved public health and safety go hand in hand. (Three guesses which side I'm on in the red-light-camera controversy.)

Too bad the studies all show either no reduction in accidents or an increase in rear end collisions.

dk wrote:The fines really cranked up in the last few years. 20 years, no problems, and then suddenly someone discovered a new revenue source.

We always suspect quotas for traffic tickets, maybe there is a quota for other inspectors, too.

No need to worry about the former any more; traffic ticket quotas have been illegal in Illinois since mid June of last year. I wonder about restaurant inspection quotas though. But I suspect the restaurant-to-inspector ratio would make that infeasible. Just guessing, though; I'd be curious to hear from someone who knows.