STARKE, FL. State inspectors walked into Grannies Restaurant on North Temple Avenue on May 13 and found toxic chemicals improperly stored near food, no written policy to keep sick employees out of the kitchen, and food contact surfaces that had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. They cited six high-severity violations and two intermediate ones. Then they left the restaurant open.
The chemical storage violations were cited twice, once as improper storage or labeling and once as improper identification, storage, or use of toxic substances. Both carry a direct risk of chemical contamination of food or drink served to customers.
What Inspectors Found
The employee health policy violation means the restaurant had no written system in place to identify and remove workers who are sick. That is one of the most direct transmission routes for foodborne illness in any kitchen.
The food contact surface violation is separate from the chemical issue entirely. Cutting boards, prep surfaces, and utensils that are not properly sanitized between uses can transfer bacteria from raw proteins to ready-to-eat food without any visible sign of contamination.
Inspectors also cited improper handwashing technique. The distinction matters: employees were making an attempt to wash their hands, but doing it wrong. Pathogens remain on hands even after a wash that misses critical steps, and those hands then touch food.
The absence of a consumer advisory for raw or undercooked menu items means customers who are elderly, pregnant, immunocompromised, or very young had no way of knowing which dishes carried elevated risk.
What These Violations Mean
The dual chemical violations, cited as two separate high-severity findings, represent the most acute immediate danger documented in this inspection. When cleaning agents, sanitizers, or pesticides are stored improperly near food prep areas or are unlabeled, the contamination pathway is direct. A customer would have no way to detect a chemical contaminant in food or drink, and the symptoms of acute chemical poisoning can be severe and rapid.
The absence of a written employee health policy compounds the risk from the handwashing violation. If a worker is sick and there is no formal policy requiring them to report illness or stay home, and if that same worker's handwashing technique is inadequate, the kitchen has no functional barrier between a contagious employee and the food being served. Norovirus, which causes roughly 20 million illnesses in the United States each year, spreads efficiently through exactly this combination of conditions.
The inadequate cooling equipment citation adds a temperature dimension to the picture. Equipment that cannot maintain required cold-holding temperatures allows food to enter what regulators call the danger zone, the range in which bacteria multiply rapidly. Combined with improperly sanitized food contact surfaces, the conditions for bacterial cross-contamination were present on multiple fronts simultaneously.
None of these violations, individually or together, triggered an emergency closure on May 13.
The Longer Record
The May 13 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show Grannies Restaurant has been inspected 28 times and has accumulated 247 total violations across that history.
The pattern of high-severity citations is consistent and recent. Inspectors found seven high-severity violations in February 2025, and four more just seven months later in September 2025. The restaurant also logged seven high-severity violations in August 2024 and five in December 2023.
The two inspections that recorded zero high-severity violations, one in February 2025 and one in July 2023, each followed a high-violation inspection within days or weeks, suggesting the restaurant can pass a follow-up when pressed. The September 2025 inspection, however, came six months after a clean February 2025 visit and still produced four high-severity violations, including two intermediate ones.
The restaurant has never been emergency-closed in its inspection history on record.
Still Open
Twenty-eight inspections. Two hundred forty-seven violations on record. Six high-severity citations on a single day in May 2026, including two separate findings related to toxic chemical storage and no mechanism in place to keep sick employees out of the food.
Grannies Restaurant on North Temple Avenue in Starke remained open after inspectors left on May 13.