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Fourth time’s a charm: Jacksonville Church’s Chicken back open after multiple failing inspections

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville Church’s Chicken was shut down for two days after a failing visit from the health inspector.

The Church’s Chicken at 6037 Merrill Road is open again, but it took four tries to finally get it right.

At the inspector’s initial visit on August 11, Church’s Chicken was cited with 11 violations. Most were basic. Inspectors cited the fast-food chain location for leaving the dumpster lid open, missing a ceiling tile, and a build-up of food crumbs and residue on equipment handles among others.

Notably, Church’s was cited for not having soap at the handwashing sink at the drive-thru.

Three high priority violations were found: One for the presence of two gnats flying near the ice machine and another for the temperature of their coleslaw being 12 degrees warmer than what’s allowed.

The third was the one to score the shutdown. The inspector found sewage and wastewater were backing up through the floor drains. The inspector’s report said employees were walking through the water and trying to push it out a back door and into another drain to mediate the overflow.

It took 3 more visits from the inspector over the next 2 days before the drains were fixed. On the fourth attempt, Church’s Chicken was allowed to reopen.

RESTAURANT REPORTS: Initial inspection | Follow-up inspection | Another follow-up inspection | Passing inspection

News4Jax monitors restaurant inspections in District 5 for the Division of Hotels and Restaurants every week. You can search your favorite restaurants and their most recent inspections anytime in DBPR’s licensing portal.

District 5 covers Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, and Union Counties.

All restaurant reports are provided by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations.