Wendy's advertises the fast food chain only uses 'fresh never frozen North American beef' but inspectors had a problem with the kitchen where that beef is prepared.
Our ABC Action News I-Team uncovered that the Wendy's Tampa location at 8330 N. Florida Avenue had to stop serving all food on Friday, January 20 after inspectors found live roaches crawling in the kitchen and dining room.
And the state had warned this Wendy's location just a few days before the closure that they had a problem with insects.
On Tuesday, January 17, the state documented seeing live roaches in the kitchen and issued a warning to the franchise to clean up and a follow up inspection was required.
So when inspectors returned three days later, they issued Wendy's an administrative complaint and ordered the restaurant to immediately shut down after discovering even more live roaches in the dining room, under the cooks line, hot grill, and in the bread storage room among other areas.
Other violations written in the report included an accumulation of encrusted food debris on and around the frosty machine, more debris on the fan cover in the walk in cooler, soiled reach in cooler gaskets, soiled floors/carpeting, and floor tiles cracked, broken or in disrepair under the cooking equipment.
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Wendy's Restaurant Statement:
Nothing is more important to us than our customers and the high quality restaurant experience that we provide.
The results of the latest health inspection are totally unacceptable to us. We have taken this matter very seriously, and our Quality Assurance experts were fully engaged to ensure immediate and appropriate action was taken to resolve these issues before re-opening the restaurant last weekend.
We will also take this opportunity to retrain and reinforce our strict quality procedures with our restaurant team.
Nancy Evans
Director of Operations
