BRANDON, FL. State inspectors ordered Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza on West Brandon Boulevard closed on September 2 after documenting roach activity at the restaurant, the third time in three months that inspectors have shut the location down for the same reason.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation issued the emergency closure order and required the restaurant to vacate by September 3. The location was cleared to reopen later that day at 3:33 p.m.
What Inspectors Found
Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza: Emergency Closure History
The September 2 closure was triggered by roach activity, the same violation category that prompted both prior emergency shutdowns. The inspection record for that date shows no high-severity violations alongside the roach finding, with one intermediate violation noted.
What the record shows is a location that was closed for roaches on August 31, cleared to reopen on September 1, inspected again on September 1 with one intermediate violation, and then shut down again the very next day for roach activity.
That is two emergency closures in three days.
What This Violation Means
Roach activity in a food service establishment is not a cleanliness citation in the way a dirty floor tile would be. Cockroaches are classified as a high-priority public health threat because they are direct vectors for bacterial contamination. They carry pathogens including Salmonella and E. coli on their bodies and legs, and they move between sewage, trash, and food preparation surfaces without distinction.
A single live roach observed near food contact surfaces is enough under Florida law to justify an emergency closure, because the risk of contamination is immediate and not theoretical. Inspectors do not need to document a roach touching food directly. Presence alone triggers the shutdown authority.
The particular danger in a coal-fired pizza operation is that high-heat cooking kills pathogens on food that goes into the oven. But contamination that occurs after cooking, on a cutting board, a prep surface, or a serving tray, is not remedied by anything. A customer eating food handled on a surface that roaches have crossed has no protection.
That is why the state treats roach activity as a closure-level violation and not a warning.
The Pattern
The September 2 closure was not the first, and it was not even the second. It was the third emergency shutdown at this single Brandon location since the end of June.
The first came on June 29, 2026. Inspectors documented roach activity and the restaurant was ordered closed. It reopened the following day.
The second came on August 31, less than two months later. Again, the cited reason was roach activity. The restaurant was ordered closed and cleared to reopen on September 1.
Inspectors visited twice on September 1. The morning visit found no high-severity violations. A second inspection the same day noted one intermediate violation.
The third closure came on September 2, one day after the restaurant had passed its follow-up inspection and been allowed to operate.
The Longer Record
The three emergency closures since June did not emerge from a clean history. State records show Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza on West Brandon Boulevard has accumulated 216 violations across 34 inspections on record, an average of more than six violations per inspection visit.
The inspection on August 31, the visit that triggered the second closure, showed two high-severity violations and two intermediate violations alongside the roach finding. The February 2, 2026 inspection also showed two high-severity violations.
No high-severity violations appear in the September 2 inspection record itself, which makes the roach activity the sole basis for that closure order. That is notable. The restaurant had apparently addressed whatever high-severity issues were cited in August and earlier in the year. But the roach problem persisted through three closure cycles.
Thirty-four inspections over the life of this location means this is not a new operation being evaluated for the first time. It is a facility with a documented, multi-year record that regulators and inspectors have visited dozens of times. The three emergency closures are all concentrated within a 66-day window from June 29 to September 2, suggesting the roach problem that existed in late June was not fully resolved before the restaurant reopened.
Whether it has been resolved now is not confirmed. The restaurant was cleared to reopen on the afternoon of September 3, but two prior clearances at this same location, in June and in August, preceded additional closure orders within weeks.
