CORAL SPRINGS, FL. An employee at a Coral Springs Sonic Drive-In was found not reporting symptoms of illness while working food service, one of eight high-severity violations state inspectors documented at the restaurant on September 14, 2026. The facility was not closed.
The inspection of Sonic Drive-In #6653 at 6200 West Sample Road produced a citation list that included failures at nearly every stage of food safety: hand hygiene, cooking temperatures, food condition, surface sanitation, and waste disposal. Three intermediate violations accompanied the eight high-severity findings.
What Inspectors Found
The illness-reporting violation stands as the most direct threat to customers. Inspectors also cited employees for both inadequate handwashing and improper handwashing technique, meaning workers were not washing their hands at all on some occasions and were doing it incorrectly on others.
Food was found not cooked to required minimum temperatures. Inspectors also documented food in poor condition, mislabeled, or adulterated, and found that food contact surfaces had not been properly cleaned or sanitized. Those three violations together describe a kitchen where contaminated food could move from improperly cooked product through unsanitized surfaces to customers.
The intermediate violations added further layers of concern. Inspectors cited improper sewage or waste water disposal, single-use items being reused, and inadequate ventilation and lighting.
The restaurant also lacked adequate shell stock identification records, a violation tied to shellfish traceability, and posted no consumer advisory for raw or undercooked menu items.
What These Violations Mean
The illness-reporting citation is the one that carries the most immediate risk for anyone who ate at this Sonic on or around September 14. When a food worker conceals or fails to recognize illness symptoms, norovirus and other pathogens move directly from person to food to customer. A single sick employee working a drive-in window or food prep station can generate dozens of cases from a single shift.
The handwashing violations compound that risk. Two separate citations, one for inadequacy and one for technique, mean the failure was not a single lapse. Inspectors saw workers either skipping handwashing or performing it in a way that left pathogens on their hands. Combined with unsanitized food contact surfaces, there was no reliable barrier between contaminated hands and the food leaving the kitchen.
The undercooking violation is its own pathway. Salmonella in poultry survives below 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Without proper cooking temperatures, that pathogen reaches the customer's tray alive. The absence of a consumer advisory meant customers with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, and elderly diners had no warning that any item on the menu might be served undercooked.
Improper sewage disposal, cited as an intermediate violation, introduces fecal contamination risk throughout a facility. It is not a minor housekeeping issue.
The Longer Record
The September 14 inspection was not an anomaly. State records show 27 inspections on file for this location, with 125 total violations documented across that history. The facility has been emergency-closed twice, both times in late 2024 for fly activity, once on November 18 and again on December 27 of that year. The December closure was resolved the same day it was ordered.
The pattern of high-severity violations did not begin in September 2026. An August 2025 inspection produced six high-severity violations. Inspections in February 2026 on consecutive days each carried high-severity findings. The September 14 inspection, with eight high-severity violations, represents the worst single-day count in the recent record, but it arrives in a facility that has been cycling through serious citations for at least two years.
The day after the September 14 inspection, a follow-up visit on September 15 still found two high-severity violations and one intermediate. The kitchen did not fully clear its serious findings in 24 hours.
Open for Business
State inspectors have the authority to order an emergency closure when a facility presents an immediate threat to public health. Eight high-severity violations at Sonic Drive-In #6653, including a sick employee working in food service, food cooked below required temperatures, unsanitized food contact surfaces, and improper sewage disposal, did not meet that threshold on September 14, 2026.
The drive-through remained open.
