TEMPLE TERRACE, FL. Back in December 2025, state inspectors walked into Crave, a retail bakery in Temple Terrace, and found something that stops an inspection before it truly begins: the establishment was operating without a valid 2025 food permit.
That finding, documented on December 18, anchored a nine-violation inspection report filed by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The permit violation alone carries legal weight under Florida Statute 500.12. The other eight violations, while not classified as priority-level food safety risks, painted a picture of a bakery that had not put basic procedural safeguards in place.
What Inspectors Found
The permit violation was not the only finding that inspectors flagged as requiring formal attention. Four violations were coded as "Pf," meaning priority foundation, a designation used for procedural failures that undermine a facility's ability to prevent food safety problems in the first place.
Inspectors noted that employees had not been informed in a verifiable manner of their responsibility to report health information related to foodborne illnesses. There was also no written plan for responding to a vomiting or diarrheal event. No probe thermometer was available in either the front or back areas of the bakery, though inspectors noted no temperature violations were observed during the visit.
The back area had no paper towels at the smaller handwashing sink near the corner. That was corrected on the spot.
Handwashing signs were absent at both the front handwashing sink and the smaller sink in the back. Neither was corrected during the inspection. The bathroom door was not self-closing, another unresolved item at the close of the visit.
Three violations were corrected on site: utensils in the back area were inverted on the rack after inspectors flagged them, single-service forks on the customer self-service counters in the retail area were inverted, and paper towels were supplied to the back handwashing sink. The remaining six violations, including the permit, were left unresolved.
What These Violations Mean
Operating without a valid food permit is not a paperwork technicality. A permit is what authorizes a food establishment to operate under state oversight. Without a current permit, inspectors have no documented assurance that the facility has met renewal requirements, and the establishment is technically operating outside state law. For shoppers at a retail bakery, that means the products they are buying come from a facility that had not cleared its legal threshold to sell food in 2025.
The absence of a probe thermometer is a practical problem, not just a regulatory one. In a bakery that handles dairy, eggs, and other ingredients that require temperature control, a thermometer is the only tool that confirms food has been cooked or stored safely. Inspectors noted no temperature violations during this visit, but the absence of the tool means there was no reliable way for staff to verify temperatures on their own.
The missing employee illness-reporting system and the lack of written procedures for vomiting or diarrheal events point to the same gap. If an employee comes to work sick with a gastrointestinal illness, and there is no documented process for reporting that or responding to a contamination event, the bakery has no structured way to protect the food it is selling. These are not hypothetical concerns. They are the procedures that exist precisely because these situations occur.
Handwashing signs are required at sinks used by food employees because the reminder is part of a consistent hygiene system. Two sinks at Crave had none.
The Longer Record
The December 18 inspection was classified as an "Operating Without a Valid Food Permit, Met Sanitation Inspection," meaning the facility met basic sanitation standards despite the permit lapse and the other findings. The inspection type itself signals that this was not a routine scheduled visit. Inspectors came specifically because the bakery was flagged for operating without a permit.
The data shows no prior inspections on record for this facility, which means this December visit represents the baseline of what is publicly documented for Crave. There are no previous inspection reports to compare against, no history of repeat violations in the same categories, and no prior closures. The nine violations found in December are the entirety of the known record.
None of the nine violations were marked as repeat findings. All nine were first-time citations under this inspection record.
Three of the nine violations were corrected before the inspector left. The other six, including the expired permit, the missing illness-reporting system, the absent thermometer, the missing handwashing signs at two sinks, and the bathroom door, were not.
