Fast food chains in Florida, by state inspection records
See how often state inspectors recorded a serious violation at each fast food chain’s Florida restaurants, next to the rate for every restaurant in the state. Florida has more inspections on file than anywhere else we cover, so most of the ranges here are tight.
The short answer
All 30 chains came in under the local rate.
- 30under the local rate
- 0too close to call
- 0over the local rate
The local rate is the tall line in the chart below. Across all restaurants in Florida, 58.2% of routine inspections recorded at least one high-priority violation.
Chain by chain
Each bar is the range a chain’s real rate probably falls in: the fewer inspections, the wider the bar. The short tick is the rate we measured. Bars that overlap are too close to call, so rows run from the lowest measured rate to the highest for reading only.
- Under the local rate
- Too close to call
- Over the local rate
Why the chains are not numbered first to last. The lowest rate on file is Pizza Hut at 21.1% and the highest is Zaxby's at 52.6%. Those two really are apart: their ranges do not touch. But only 16 of the 30 chains can be told apart from the chain in the middle of the list. The rest are too close to it to call.
4 more chains with too few inspections to chart
A chain needs 100 routine inspections on file here before it gets a bar. These have fewer: Starbucks (93), Raising Cane's (86), White Castle (14), Jack in the Box (1).
What stands out
A high-priority violation is the normal result, not the exception. Across all Florida restaurants, 58.2% of routine inspections recorded at least one. Read every figure on this page against that. A chain at 40% is not a chain in trouble; it is a chain whose restaurants drew the state’s most serious category of finding less often than Florida restaurants usually do.
Here many chains do separate. In most places we cover, chains have a few hundred inspections each and their ranges overlap. In Florida the large chains have thousands (Subway 3,307, Wendy's 3,031, McDonald's 2,683), so the ranges are a few points wide and 16 of the 30 chains on the chart can be told apart from the one in the middle. Pizza Hut at 21.1% and Taco Bell at 26.4% are each clearly below most of the chains under them in the chart.
Pizza delivery sits low, mostly. Pizza Hut (21.1%), Domino's (30.0%) and Papa John's (34.0%) are all in the lower part of the chart; Little Caesars (40.4%) is not. One plausible reason is the kitchen itself: a short menu, little raw meat handled on site, and almost no dining room. The records cannot confirm that, and Little Caesars shows the pattern is not a rule.
The top of the chart is close to the state rate. Zaxby's has the highest rate at 52.6%, with a range of 47.9% to 57.3% against 58.2% for all restaurants. That is a small gap. It would not take much new data to make it one we could no longer call.
Starbucks is missing because a different Florida agency inspects it. Only 93 Florida inspections matched the name, against hundreds in the cities we cover, and the ones that did match are counters inside hotels, airports and resorts — places the Division of Hotels and Restaurants already licenses. Florida splits its food establishments between two agencies, and a coffee shop falls on the other side of the line: the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says it inspects “supermarkets and grocery stores, convenience stores, coffee shops, bakeries” and the rest of the retail food establishments it permits under section 500.12. Its inspection search returns pages of Starbucks stores at ordinary street addresses. So this page is not missing those inspections by accident, and it is not evidence of anything about the chain: they were filed with an agency whose records are not the file this page counts. The same will be true of any chain Florida treats as a retail food establishment rather than a restaurant.
Written September 2026. The figures in it are read from the current records, so they move when the records do.
How inspections work in Florida
Restaurants in Florida are inspected by the state, through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Hotels and Restaurants. The division says every establishment it regulates gets between one and four unannounced inspections a year.
Violations come in three tiers. In the division’s words, high-priority violations are those which “could contribute directly to a foodborne illness or injury”; intermediate violations “could lead to risk factors that contribute to foodborne illness or injury” if not addressed; basic violations are “best practices to implement.” This page counts only the first tier, and only whether an inspection recorded at least one, not how many.
When an inspection finds something that must be fixed, the inspector returns for a callback. The state’s files record each callback as a further visit on the same inspection. We count visit one only.
What this can’t tell you
- Who runs the better kitchen. Chains handle different food. A coffee counter deals with far less raw food than a kitchen that fries chicken, so part of any gap between chains is the menu.
- Anything about one restaurant. A figure sums up that chain’s locations in Florida over this period. It is not a statement about the brand elsewhere and not a warning about the one near you.
- Whether every restaurant got equal attention. Inspections are scheduled by risk and by past results, so a restaurant with problems is visited more often and shows up more often in these counts. That holds for chains and for all restaurants alike.
- How Florida compares with anywhere else. Each place counts a different thing under different rules. These figures only make sense next to other figures from Florida.
How we counted
- Source. DBPR Division of Hotels and Restaurants — food service inspection extracts, published by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Pulled October 2, 2026.
- What counts. Only first visits of routine inspections at permanent food-service licenses; callbacks, complaint and licensing inspections are left out. Inspectors go back to restaurants that already had a problem, so counting return visits would stack the numbers.
- The figure. For each chain, the number of those inspections that recorded at least one high-priority violation, divided by all of them. “All restaurants” is the same sum over everything in the file, chains included.
- The range. A 95% Wilson score interval. If we could rerun the same period many times, the true rate would land inside a range built this way about 19 times in 20. Fewer inspections means a wider range.
- The minimum. A chain needs 100 counted inspections to be charted. Below that it is listed with its count and no bar.
- Matching names to chains. Restaurant names are matched to chains with a published table of name patterns (version 2026-09-20.4). A location recorded under two chain names, such as a combined KFC and Taco Bell, is counted for neither. If a match is wrong, write to hello@fastfoodfact.com and it will be corrected.
- Reuse. Public records under Florida Statutes chapter 119. The division's notes on the files state no restriction on reuse and no attribution requirement.
The full method, including the formula for the range, is on the methodology page.
Definitions and inspection frequency: DBPR, Division of Hotels and Restaurants — Inspections. File layout, visit numbers and license types: the division’s public records page. We count license type 2010 (permanent food service) and leave out caterers, mobile vendors, vending machines and theme-park carts. A chain needs 100 inspections to be charted.
Informational only. These are public records, summarized; they are not a safety rating of any restaurant and not professional advice. Last reviewed: September 2026.
Quote or download these figures
You may quote any figure on this page. Please credit FastFoodFact with a link, keep the count and the range with the rate, and don’t set a figure from one place against a figure from another: each place counts a different thing.
FastFoodFact, "Fast food chains in Florida." Counted from DBPR Division of Hotels and Restaurants — food service inspection extracts, Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation; routine inspections July 1, 2023 to October 1, 2026, pulled October 2, 2026. https://www.fastfoodfact.com/florida
The counts as a file: CSV or JSON. Each file covers one place and names its source.
Frequently asked questions
What is a high-priority violation in Florida?
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation defines high-priority violations as those which could contribute directly to a foodborne illness or injury. It is the most serious of the state's three tiers, above intermediate and basic violations.
Is it unusual for a Florida restaurant to get a high-priority violation?
No. In these records, 58.2% of 270,924 routine inspections across all Florida restaurants recorded at least one. It is the ordinary result of an inspection, not the exception, which is why this page compares each chain with that statewide rate instead of treating any violation as alarming.
Which fast food chain has the fewest violations in Florida?
The lowest rate on file is Pizza Hut: 21.1% of its 1,315 routine inspections recorded a high-priority violation, with a likely range of 19.0% to 23.4%. Many chains sit close enough together that their ranges overlap, so this site does not number them first to last. The figure describes that chain's Florida locations over this period, not any single restaurant.
Why does this page only count some inspections?
It counts the first visit of a routine inspection at a permanent food-service license. Callback visits, complaint inspections and licensing inspections are left out, because they happen at restaurants that already had a problem or are not yet open, and including them would distort the comparison.
The guide to these records
- What a High-Priority Violation Means in Florida
Florida inspectors sort every finding into high priority, intermediate or basic. What separates them, how often a restaurant is visited, and why most of the state's restaurants record a high-priority violation on a routine inspection.
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