Schiff explains restaurant closure and reopening process
Schiff says closing a restaurant is an extreme measure requiring multiple levels of supervisory review and is used only when conditions cannot be corrected before the end of an inspection. She says DOHMH gives owners detailed correction requirements and customer service support, and reopening time varies from next-day repairs to longer pest remediation.
I have a question.
It's not about a bill.
When you close a restaurant, which is very rare, but when you do, what's the process for them reopening?
Because you talked about...
Like from a B to a C and that upgrade, but how does the closing work?
So closing a restaurant is something we hope not to do.
It is an extreme measure that we take only when we feel, based on the observations, that that restaurant cannot safely serve its customers.
It's not a decision that's made by the inspector.
The inspector reports back to the office to their supervisor, and there are multiple levels of supervisory review before we take that extreme action.
Any of the conditions, we call them public health hazards, that could be fixed by the restaurant before the end of the inspection, that won't result in a closure.
We have them fix those conditions.
We want restaurants to stay open.
Where we feel that those conditions cannot be corrected before the end of the inspection, we will close that restaurant.
And we then provide very detailed information to the restaurant owner about the conditions that have to be corrected before they can reopen.
That's where our customer service office is really active, working with that restaurant.
If they don't understand, if they have questions, if they need more guidance, we are there for them.
Our goal is to get that restaurant open safely as soon as we can.
About approximately how much time elapses in those circumstances?
It really ranges.
It depends on the conditions.
Some of the conditions cannot be fixed quickly.
If there is a severe pest infestation, you're going to need to plug up holes.
You're going to probably need to dispose of some food if we've found gnaw marks in some milk bags.
of flour or something.
You're going to need to get pest-proof containers.
You're going to need a couple of extermination sessions.
So it really varies on what we have seen.
If your refrigerators are not working, you can't hold food at a safe temperature, but you can get someone in there the next day and get those refrigerators repaired, that's going to be much faster.
Okay.