JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – A Florida restaurant was caught trying to cover up a health inspector's sign after it was shut down by a cockroach infestation, according to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Inspectors forced Jaxon Social in in Jacksonville Beach to close on July 18 after they found 23 live roaches and 35 dead roaches in the kitchen.
“It’s eat up with roaches,” said former Jaxon Social cook Brian Lee.
A former employee later sent ActionNewsJax.com a photo that showed a handwritten sign on the restaurant’s door. It covered the orange health notice left by inspectors.
The handwritten sign said, “Closed for technical difficulties.”
Officials said an inspector found the covered sign during a recent follow-up inspection. Kathleen Keenan, deputy director of communications for DBPR, said a division inspector spoke to the restaurant’s operator, and the health notice has since been properly displayed.
The restaurant has undergone at least seven inspections since it was closed. An inspector determined as recently as Wednesday that there were still too many live roaches to reopen the restaurant.
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“If you open one of the refrigerator doors and pop open the seal, they fall out like,” Lee said. “It’s like you’ve torn the corner off a bag of Skittles. It’s disgusting.”
The restaurant’s owner said exterminators were brought into the restaurant Wednesday and that it should reopen after another inspection Friday.
The owner said that the restaurant be re-branded before it opens again.
According to Department of State records, the restaurant is licensed as KC Crave, LLC.
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