CLEARWATER, FL. Back in January 2026, a state inspector visiting Starbucks Coffee #2924 on Clearwater documented multiple small flying insects near the display case and in the back storage area close to the warewashing station, according to Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services records.
The store, a specialty food shop at a Clearwater location, met sanitation inspection requirements overall. But the flying insect finding was not the only problem inspectors put in writing that day.
What Inspectors Found
VIOLATIONS CITED
RESOLVED SAME DAY
The January 23 inspection turned up two violations total. One involved the physical condition of the facility: inspectors observed multiple small flying insects near the display case and in the back storage area near warewashing. The other was a handwashing sink violation, specifically that paper towels were not supplied at the employee handwash sink in the warewashing area.
That second violation carried a notable designation. It was marked as a repeat finding, meaning inspectors had cited the same location for the same handwashing sink problem on a prior visit.
The paper towel problem was corrected on site. An inspector's note confirmed paper towels were supplied before the visit ended. The flying insect finding was not marked as corrected on site.
The Repeat Problem
A handwashing sink stocked with no paper towels is a straightforward violation. Employees cannot dry their hands properly, which undermines the entire purpose of the sink being there at all. What makes this finding harder to dismiss is the repeat designation.
State inspectors had flagged this exact deficiency at this location before. Finding it again in January 2026 means the fix from the prior inspection did not hold.
The store had a chance to address this between visits. The records show it did not, at least not consistently enough for the problem to stay resolved.
What These Violations Mean
Flying insects near a display case matter for a specific reason in a retail food environment. Unlike a back-of-house storage area where food is sealed and packaged, a display case in a specialty food shop is where products are presented to customers, sometimes unwrapped or handled for service. Insects in that zone create a direct route between contaminated surfaces and items customers purchase or consume.
The flying insect citation falls under the category of physical facilities not maintained in good repair, which in practice means the store's pest prevention, structural sealing, or sanitation routines were not preventing insect activity in a food display area. The inspector's own language noted the insects were observed both near the display case and in the back storage area near warewashing, covering two distinct zones of the store.
The handwashing sink violation is categorized as a priority foundation violation, one step below the most serious tier. The underlying concern is straightforward: if employees cannot properly complete a handwash because supplies are missing, contamination can travel from hands to food, surfaces, and equipment. In a coffee and specialty food environment where employees handle beverages, food items, and shared equipment throughout a shift, that gap in the handwashing routine is not theoretical.
The repeat status on the sink violation adds weight to the finding. A first-time violation can reflect an oversight on one day. A repeat violation suggests the corrective action taken after the prior inspection was either incomplete or not sustained.
The Longer Record
The inspection history at this location is short but telling in its arc. The January 23, 2026, visit with two violations was followed by a focused inspection on January 26, just three days later, which found zero violations. A second focused inspection on March 9, 2026, also found zero violations.
That pattern, two violations in January followed by two clean focused inspections, suggests the January findings prompted attention at the store level. Focused inspections are typically targeted follow-up visits rather than comprehensive reviews, so the zero-violation results indicate the specific concerns raised in January were addressed.
Three inspections are on record at this location in total. The January 23 visit is the only one to document any violations. The location has no history of emergency closure, no stop-sale orders, and no high-priority violations in the available record.
What the record does not resolve is why the handwashing sink violation appeared as a repeat in January. That designation points to at least one prior inspection, not captured in the three most recent records, where the same problem was cited. The store corrected it during the January visit. Whether the fix held is what the subsequent clean inspections, limited in scope as focused inspections are, did not fully answer.
The flying insect finding at the display case remained unresolved at the close of the January 23 inspection.