FORT MYERS, FL. A sushi bar on Dani Drive was cited for food sourced from unapproved suppliers, inadequate shellfish traceability records, undercooked food, and no person in charge during the week of July 27, leading all Fort Myers restaurants with 10 high-severity violations in a single inspection.
Kumo Six Mile at 7950 Dani Drive drew the week's most alarming inspection report. In addition to the food sourcing and cooking temperature failures, inspectors cited the restaurant for inadequate handwashing facilities, improper handwashing technique, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized. That is eight distinct categories of serious health failure documented in one visit.
What Inspectors Found
Hot Pot and Korean BBQ at 9345 Six Mile Cypress Parkway drew four high-severity violations, including no person in charge, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, and food contact surfaces that were not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors also cited the restaurant for multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
Keke's Breakfast Cafe at 6891 Daniels Parkway also accumulated four high-severity violations, none of them involving pests or temperatures. The citations covered inadequate shellfish traceability records, improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked foods, and no demonstrated allergen awareness among staff.
Mikuu Ramen at 8001 Dani Drive was cited for three high-severity violations: an employee not reporting illness symptoms, food in poor condition or mislabeled, and toxic substances improperly stored or used. Inspectors also documented improper sewage or wastewater disposal, an intermediate violation.
Wendy's #12397 at 7977 Dani Drive drew citations for food not cooked to required minimum temperature, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and toxic substances improperly stored. The location also had three intermediate violations: improper sewage disposal, inadequate ventilation and lighting, and improper use of wiping cloths.
Red Lobster #0079 at 3801 Cleveland Avenue was cited for an employee not reporting illness symptoms, improper handwashing technique, and toxic substances improperly stored. An intermediate violation for improper sewage or wastewater disposal was also recorded.
Tacos 239 at 17597 Rockefeller Circle had three high-severity violations: no written employee health policy, improper handwashing technique, and inadequate shellfish traceability records. Inspectors also documented multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant at 13671 Olympic Court was cited for no person in charge, an employee not reporting illness symptoms, and food from an unapproved or unknown source.
Dairy Queen at 3251 Colonial Boulevard drew two high-severity violations: no person in charge and food contact surfaces not properly cleaned or sanitized. Inspectors also found improper sewage disposal and multi-use utensils not properly cleaned.
Taco Bell #042849 at 4860 Palm Beach Boulevard was cited for two high-severity violations, both involving chemicals: toxic chemicals improperly stored or labeled, and toxic substances improperly identified, stored, or used. A citation for improper waste disposal was also recorded.
What These Violations Mean
The most pervasive violation this week, appearing at Kumo Six Mile, Mikuu Ramen, Hot Pot and Korean BBQ, Wendy's, Red Lobster, Cooper's Hawk, and Tacos 239, was the failure to ensure employees report illness symptoms or maintain a written health policy. This is not an administrative paperwork failure. Food workers who handle food while infected with norovirus are the single most common cause of multi-victim restaurant outbreaks. A sick employee touching a prep surface at Kumo Six Mile, which was also cited for improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, creates a compounding hazard.
Food from unapproved sources, documented at both Kumo Six Mile and Cooper's Hawk, represents a different kind of risk: invisibility. When food enters a kitchen through an unregulated supplier, it has bypassed USDA and FDA inspection systems. If a customer becomes ill, investigators cannot trace the food back to its origin. There is no lot number, no harvest record, no accountability chain.
The shellfish traceability failures at Kumo Six Mile, Keke's Breakfast Cafe, and Tacos 239 are closely related. Shellfish, particularly oysters and clams served raw or lightly cooked, are among the highest-risk foods in any kitchen. State rules require restaurants to keep shellfish harvest tags on file so that in the event of a norovirus or Vibrio outbreak, regulators can identify the harvest site and pull product. Without those records, that system collapses entirely.
The toxic substance violations at Wendy's, Red Lobster, and both Taco Bell locations are worth reading carefully. Improperly stored chemicals near food, or chemicals in unlabeled containers, create a direct route to acute poisoning. This is not a theoretical risk. Taco Bell's two chemical citations in the same inspection suggest a systemic storage problem, not a single misplaced bottle.
The Longer Record
Kumo Six Mile's ten high-severity violations this week sit against a record of 37 prior inspections, the longest history of any facility in this week's report. Thirty-seven inspections is a substantial run. A restaurant with that many visits and still drawing citations for food from unapproved sources and no person in charge is not a restaurant that picked up a stray violation on an off day.
Red Lobster on Cleveland Avenue has 30 inspections on record, and Dairy Queen on Colonial Boulevard has 28. Both are established locations with long inspection histories. Dairy Queen's citation for no person in charge this week, combined with improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, echoes the kind of management-correlated failure pattern that tends to repeat: when no one is actively supervising, surface sanitation is among the first things to slip.
Keke's Breakfast Cafe and Mikuu Ramen each have 20 inspections on record, and Tacos 239 also carries 20 prior inspections. All three drew high-severity violations this week in categories, employee illness reporting and shellfish traceability, that require deliberate policy decisions, not just better cleaning habits.
Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant and Hot Pot and Korean BBQ each have only 11 inspections on record, making them among the newer locations in this week's group. Cooper's Hawk drew a citation for food from an unapproved source alongside no person in charge, a combination that regulators associate with accelerated risk. Whether either location's violation pattern improves across the next dozen inspections is an open question the records will eventually answer.
The Longer Pattern
Across the ten facilities cited this week, the violations cluster around two recurring themes: management presence and employee illness reporting. Five restaurants were cited for no person in charge or no written health policy. Seven were cited for failures in employee illness reporting or handwashing, violations that only occur when no one in authority is actively monitoring the floor.
The week of July 27 produced 37 high-severity violations across Fort Myers restaurants, a number that does not include intermediate or basic citations. Kumo Six Mile's record of 37 prior inspections and this week's 10 high-severity findings remains the most unresolved data point in the report.
