The hard parts · Health Department Review
A Second Review, on Its Own Schedule
Food service premises are reviewed by the health authority as well as by building. Two reviews, two timelines, and they do not run in step.
Before you sign. We will tell you what the landlord has actually delivered and what it will cost to make it a restaurant.
Pre-lease
We will walk the space before you sign it
Rent clock
Every week of delay is a week of paying for a closed room
Grease
Routing checked before design, not discovered at permit
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
Operators plan for one review
A program built around the building permit alone will be late, because the food service review has its own submission, its own comments and its own inspection. They overlap and they are not the same process, and a change that satisfies one can create a comment from the other.
The two reviews can also contradict each other in practice. A change made to satisfy a building comment — moving a wall, relocating a service — can put a handwash station or a fixture out of position for the food service review. Neither reviewer sees the other's file, so keeping them aligned is the applicant's job.
What the review looks at
- Layout and workflow, including separation of clean and dirty.
- Finishes — floors, walls and ceilings — and their cleanability.
- Handwash stations, and whether they are where they must be.
- Refrigeration, warewashing and food storage provision.
- The final inspection before opening, which is separate again.
What the final inspection looks at
Finishes and their cleanability, handwash provision and its placement, refrigeration and food storage, warewashing, and whether what was built matches what was reviewed. It happens before opening and it has to pass before you can trade.
The most common reason it does not pass first time is a change made on site for practical reasons that nobody put back through review. Building exactly to the approved drawings is unglamorous and it is what gets a restaurant open on time.
How we handle it
- 01Build the program around both reviews, not one.
- 02Install the specified cleanable finishes rather than equivalents.
- 03Place handwash stations to the reviewed drawing exactly.
- 04Coordinate both inspection processes toward the opening date.
- 05Flag early where a review will not fit the date.
Do not move a handwash station on site. It is a small change with a large consequence, it is checked at inspection, and it is one of the most common reasons an opening inspection fails.
Said plainly
Where we stop
We build to the reviewed drawings. If something would be better done differently, it goes back through review rather than being changed and explained afterwards.
FAQ
Common questions
- Is there more than one review?
- Yes — building and food service. They overlap and run on separate timelines.
- Can we change the layout on site?
- Not without going back through review. Moving a handwash station is a common inspection failure.
- Do finishes matter?
- Considerably. Cleanability is reviewed and inspected.
- When is the final inspection?
- Before opening, and it is separate from the building inspection.
What we build
Full-Service Restaurant
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Quick Service & Fast Casual
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Bars & Nightlife
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Café & Bakery
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Ghost & Commissary Kitchens
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Food Hall Stalls
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Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.