Bubblecup apologizes after inspection report; says it’s retraining employees
All Bubblecup Tea Zone locations in Columbia are in the clear with the Boone County/Columbia Public Health Department after recent inspections uncovered health code violations.
The eatery took to its Facebook page the day after ABC 17 News’ Behind the Kitchen Door segment aired on June 19.
“It was a very positive response, everybody said they appreciated us being upfront or they appreciated us taking responsibility,” Bubblecup Tea Zone assistant manager Kaytlynn Shin said.
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“We just wanted people to know that we saw the problems and we cared and we fixed them as fast as possible,” Shin said. “Customers are important to us and it’s important to produce the best product and the healthiest product and it was sad to hear that we weren’t doing that.”
Bubblecup Tea Zone has two locations — its original location on South Ninth Street and its newest location on Grindstone Parkway in Columbia.
Health department inspectors visited both locations in June.
The inspections at both locations drew a combined 12 critical violations and eight non-critical violations. But, inspectors had to visit one location more than the other.
Inspectors had to visit Bubblecup Tea Zone on South Ninth Street three times because when inspectors came back for a follow-up inspection, they found another critical violation.
That prompted another re-inspection from the health department. This location was in the clear after its third visit from the health department.
Shin said they have already made changes.
“We make sure we have the proper sanitization, make sure that we sanitize every 4 hours, we make sure that we keep everything in the proper place in the fridge, and the proper temperature,” she said.
Bubblecup’s location on Grindstone Parkway was in the clear after its one follow-up inspection, which happened on June 24. That’s when the restaurant was cited with two more critical violations.
Bubblecup Tea Zone (South Ninth Street): 6/21, 6/24 and all violations were corrected during an inspection on 6/27.
Seven critical violations: Food contact surfaces were not washed, rinsed and sanitized every four hours (minimum) (this violation was given twice during the inspection and the follow-up), employees not washing their hands before handling food and after handling money, no soap at a hand washing sink, no paper towels in the bathroom, employees not using sanitizer properly (this violation was cited twice during the inspection and the follow-up). Three non-critical violations: Single-service items stored improperly and a burner, wall, shelving unit, cabinets, inside of prep area and coolers were dirty. Cardboard under the microwave. Bubblecup Tea Zone (Grindstone Parkway): 6/14, all critical violations were corrected by an inspection on 6/17.
Five critical violations: Potentially hazardous foods did not have a date marked on them (these foods were thrown away at the time of the inspection), food contact surfaces were not washed, rinsed and sanitized every four hours, raw chicken was stored above ready-to-eat foods in the reach-in cooler, no paper towels at the front hand-washing station and utensils and food contact items were not sanitized before using them.
Five non-critical violations: Sanitizing rags were not stored in sanitizing buckets, single-service items were not stored correctly, employee was not using the designated hand sink to wash their hands, food found on the floor in storage areas and paper towels were not dispensed to limit contamination of service items.
