FLORIDA. At a Popeyes on South University Boulevard in Jacksonville, state inspectors documented nine high-severity violations in a single inspection this summer, including food not cooked to required minimum temperatures, no written employee health policy, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized.
That location, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen 2350 at 4108 S University Blvd, led all 193 Florida Popeyes locations in high-severity violations during the June 10 through September 7, 2026 inspection window. It was not alone.
Across the state, Popeyes locations passed inspections at a rate of 79.27 percent during that stretch, meaning roughly one in five Florida locations failed to meet state standards. The chain averaged 4.36 violations per inspection across 4,527 inspections on record.
The Violations
The South University Boulevard location's nine high-severity violations included an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, inadequate handwashing by food employees, food in poor condition or adulterated, and no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods. Inspectors also cited the location for a person in charge not present or not performing duties.
That last violation matters more than it sounds. When no one in charge is actively managing a kitchen, the other violations tend to follow.
At Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen 2519 at 1324 Dunn Ave in Jacksonville, inspectors found seven high-severity violations, including food not cooked to required minimum temperature, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, and both toxic chemicals improperly stored and toxic substances improperly identified or used. That location also drew an intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen 13133 at 45 Duval Station Rd in Jacksonville matched the Dunn Avenue location's seven high-severity count, and added four intermediate violations. Inspectors there cited the restaurant for food from an unapproved or unknown source, parasite destruction procedures not followed, and the same toxic chemical storage failures documented at the Dunn Avenue location. Improper sewage disposal appeared on that inspection report as well.
The three Jacksonville locations combined for 23 high-severity violations in the 90-day window.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen 4901 at 5950 Park Boulevard North in Pinellas Park drew four high-severity violations, including improper hand and arm washing technique, food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, inadequate shell stock identification and records, and no allergen awareness demonstrated.
Three Tice-operated Popeyes locations also appeared on the worst-performers list. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen Operated by Tice at 600 34 St N in St. Petersburg was cited for three high-severity violations, all involving chemical storage: food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized, toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used.
The Tice-operated location at 4493 Commercial Way in Spring Hill was cited for food not cooked to required minimum temperature, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and improperly stored toxic chemicals, plus an intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal.
The Tice location at 3191 Hwy 44 in New Smyrna Beach drew high-severity violations for an employee not reporting symptoms of illness, food in poor condition or adulterated, and no consumer advisory, along with intermediate violations for improper sewage disposal and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen 140 at 5581 Soutel Dr in Jacksonville combined three high-severity violations with four intermediate ones, including time as a public health control not properly used, improperly stored toxic chemicals, improper sanitizing solution or procedures, single-use items improperly reused, and inadequate ventilation.
What These Violations Mean
The most alarming pattern across these locations is the combination of illness reporting failures and cooking temperature violations. At the South University Boulevard and Dunn Avenue Jacksonville locations, inspectors cited employees for not reporting symptoms of illness. At the same time, both locations had food not cooked to required minimum temperatures. Those two violations together create a direct transmission pathway: a sick employee handles food that then isn't cooked to a temperature that would kill the pathogen.
Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. At a fried chicken chain, an undercooked-food violation is not an abstract risk.
The food from an unapproved or unknown source violation at the Duval Station Road location carries a different kind of danger. When food bypasses USDA or FDA inspection, there is no traceability if someone gets sick. Investigators cannot trace the supply chain. Outbreaks become harder to contain.
Toxic chemical storage violations appeared at five of the ten locations on this list, including both Tice-operated locations in Spring Hill and St. Petersburg, the Dunn Avenue and Duval Station Road locations in Jacksonville, and the Soutel Drive location. Improperly stored or unlabeled chemicals near food preparation areas can cause acute chemical poisoning through direct contamination of food or surfaces. The volume of chemical storage violations across this many locations in one chain, in one 90-day window, suggests a systemic training or supervision gap rather than an isolated incident.
The allergen awareness violation at the Pinellas Park location is worth noting separately. Food allergies affect 32 million Americans and cause roughly 30,000 emergency room visits annually. When staff cannot identify allergens in menu items, customers with severe allergies cannot make informed decisions about what they order.
The Longer Record
The chain's statewide inspection record runs to 4,527 documented inspections across 193 Florida locations. That volume reflects years of routine and complaint-driven visits, and it provides context for what this summer's findings represent.
Jacksonville's three worst-performing locations account for the highest concentration of high-severity violations in the 90-day window, but the pattern at the Tice-operated group is equally notable. Three separate Tice locations, spread across St. Petersburg, Spring Hill, and New Smyrna Beach, each drew chemical storage violations as high-severity findings. That is not a coincidence of geography; it points to a shared training or compliance failure across an operator's portfolio.
The Duval Station Road location's citation for food from an unapproved source and failure to follow parasite destruction procedures stands apart from the rest of the list. Those violations suggest a sourcing or receiving problem, not just a kitchen management failure. Combined with seven high-severity violations in a single inspection, that location's record warrants closer scrutiny of what changed in its supply chain this summer.
The chain's 79.27 percent pass rate means that across 4,527 inspections on record, roughly one in five inspections resulted in a failure. Three emergency closures have been recorded statewide this year.
The Popeyes at 101 N Ridgewood Ave in Daytona Beach drew two high-severity violations and four intermediate violations, including improper sewage disposal, single-use items improperly reused, inadequate ventilation, and equipment in poor repair. The Merritt Island location at 116 W Merritt Island Cswy had the lightest inspection result on the list, with one high-severity and one intermediate violation, both involving toxic substance handling and single-use item reuse.
The Duval Station Road location in Jacksonville was cited for food from an unapproved source, parasite destruction failures, and improper sewage disposal, all in the same inspection. No corrective action is documented in the data for that visit.
