Statement from Frontera CEO Norberto Sanchez
At Frontera, we are dedicated to serving our customers wonderful dishes in a safe environment. Since our beginning in 1987, we have implemented systems to comply and meet all directives from the different safety agencies.
However, we are very concerned about the results of the latest health inspection we had at one of our restaurants where we had an unacceptable score. Immediately after we were notified of the results, we took action and corrected every issue that was addressed in that inspection. Additionally, we are rolling out new sanitation procedures in our restaurants and implementing additional food safety training for all of our restaurant employees. Nevertheless, we will not leave it at that. We will continue to improve our control systems and enforce diligently every single Health Department code as we have done it for 29 years.
We’d like to take this opportunity to apologize on behalf of all of us at Frontera, and we want to assure to every single one of our customers that we will thrive to be the best possible option to enjoy a delicious meal in a great and safe atmosphere.
To the loyal customers of our dear Frontera restaurants, we thank them for their continuous business for all those 29 years, you know that we have always being dedicated and commited to improve our operations and have had an exemplary record of high sanitation scores for all those years and that we really take all the regulations and guidelines from all the agencies, very seriously and respect them fully.
UPDATE: The Frontera at 2137 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road was re-inspected Wednesday and received a 96/A.
The only violation reported was "two containers of tamales (pork & chicken) held for more than 7 days."
ORIGINAL STORY: A Gwinnett County location of the popular Frontera Mex-Mex Grill failed a health inspection this week, with officials reporting dead flies, gnats and mold inside the restaurant.
The chain's CEO wants customers to know he's taking it very seriously.
"Immediately after we were notified of the results, we took action and corrected every issue that was addressed in that inspection," Frontera CEO Norberto Sanchez said in a lengthy statement emailed Friday to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Additionally, we are rolling out new sanitation procedures in our restaurants and implementing additional food safety training for all of our restaurant employees."
Read Sanchez's full statement below.
The failing restaurant is located at 2137 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road in Suwanee.
It received a 69/U on the Monday morning inspection, with the report noting "dead fruit flies [were] present on cut limes in the bar area." "Several" live fruit flies and gnats were also observed flying in the facility and "mold-like accumulations" were reported in two different areas of the restaurant's ice machine.
Several other violations were also reported.
As of Friday morning, the restaurant had not been re-inspected. Follow-up inspections are generally completed within 10 days of the original evaluation.
"We’d like to take this opportunity to apologize on behalf of all of us at Frontera," Sanchez's statement said, "and we want to assure to every single one of our customers that we will thrive to be the best possible option to enjoy a delicious meal in a great and safe atmosphere.
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