FORT MYERS, FL. An inspector visiting Florida Boy Burger Co. on Fowler Street on May 29 found food that had not been cooked to the required minimum temperature, a violation that means pathogens like Salmonella can survive in a burger and reach a customer's plate. The restaurant was not closed.
That single violation was one of six high-severity citations issued that day at the Fort Myers burger spot. Three intermediate violations accompanied them, bringing the total to nine.
What Inspectors Found
The undercooked food citation stood alongside a finding that an employee was not reporting symptoms of illness. Those two violations together represent one of the more dangerous combinations an inspector can document at a food service operation.
Inspectors also cited the restaurant for having no person in charge present or performing duties. State records show that, on the same visit, employees were using improper hand and arm washing technique, meaning pathogens could remain on workers' hands even after an attempt to wash them.
Shellfish records were inadequate, according to the inspection. The restaurant also lacked a consumer advisory notifying customers that raw or undercooked foods were on the menu.
On the intermediate level, multi-use utensils were not being properly cleaned, single-use items were being reused, and toilet facilities were inadequate or improperly maintained.
What These Violations Mean
The undercooked food violation is not procedural. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and other bacterial pathogens persist in ground beef that does not reach safe internal temperatures. A customer who ate undercooked food at Florida Boy Burger Co. on or before May 29 had no way of knowing the food had not reached a safe temperature.
The employee illness reporting failure compounds that risk directly. Food workers who do not report symptoms of illness are the leading cause of multi-victim norovirus and other pathogen outbreaks, because they continue handling food while contagious. Combined with the improper handwashing technique citation, the inspection record describes a kitchen where contamination had multiple open pathways to customers.
The shell stock identification failure carries its own distinct danger. Shellfish, including oysters and clams, are consumed raw or lightly cooked, and without proper sourcing records there is no way to trace an outbreak back to a harvest location if customers get sick. The missing consumer advisory means customers, including pregnant women, elderly diners, and people with weakened immune systems, received no warning that undercooked items were being served.
The absence of a person in charge performing duties ties these failures together. CDC data links establishments without active managerial control to three times as many critical violations, and the May 29 inspection at Florida Boy Burger Co. reflects exactly that pattern.
The Longer Record
The May 29 inspection was not the first time serious violations appeared at this address. State records show 18 inspections on file for Florida Boy Burger Co., with 64 total violations accumulated across that history.
The most direct comparison is to an August 2025 inspection, which produced five high-severity violations and three intermediate violations. That visit and the May 2026 visit are the two worst inspections in the facility's recorded history, and they came roughly nine months apart.
Between those two troubled inspections, the restaurant showed a cleaner record. A February 2026 inspection produced zero high-severity and zero intermediate violations. A July 2024 inspection was similarly clean. The pattern is not one of unbroken decline, but of recurring spikes in serious violations at a facility that has demonstrated it can operate without them.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history. That record held after the May 29 visit as well, despite six high-severity violations that included undercooked food and an employee not reporting illness symptoms.
Open for Business
State inspectors documented nine violations at Florida Boy Burger Co. on May 29, 2026. Six of them were high-severity. The restaurant served customers that day, and it remained open in the days that followed.
The last time the facility produced a similarly severe inspection, in August 2025, it also stayed open. No emergency closure has ever been ordered at this location.
The record shows the restaurant can pass an inspection cleanly. It has done so multiple times. On May 29, it did not, and the doors stayed open anyway.