Wilson questions inspection timing and lost service
Wilson asks how DOHMH manages inspection timing so restaurants do not lose shifts of income. Schiff says restaurants are not required to stop service, inspections are randomized from DOHMH's side and unannounced to restaurants, and the decision to pause service is the restaurant's.
And you said they're unannounced, but when the health inspector shows up to a restaurant, that will shut down the service.
for a long period of time.
So how do you manage the timing of the inspection to ensure that they're not going to lose a full
shift or two worth of income, which we, of course, know can really make or break restaurants that often operate in the red?
Restaurants do not need to stop service.
They don't need to, but it's like practically it's quite difficult to maintain it while there's an inspection going on.
So some restaurants choose to do that.
It is not required, and we don't recommend it.
The timing is randomized from our point of view.
It is scheduled by us, but it is unannounced for the restaurant.
Restaurants are working all the time, serving all the time, so we really can't inspect only when there is no possibility that they're serving food.
But that's a decision that the restaurant is making.