Jacksonville brewery closed less than 1 hour after roaches found

Dead mice found in Gainesville yogurt shop prompts 2-night closure

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. – A popular brewery in Jacksonville Beach was closed for less than an hour after inspectors found roaches.

Zeta Brewery on 1st Street in Jacksonville Beach is a busy brewery, especially on the weekends.

The restaurant was closed for less than hour after an inspector found live roaches and rodent droppings in the kitchen.

Last week the inspector found five roaches alive in the kitchen. The bugs were near the cooler and on a soda box. The inspector noted the roaches were killed on-site. The inspector also found two dry rodent droppings near a sink. 

Zeta Brewery sent News4Jax a statement about the closure. Management said the complaint to the health department was made by a recently terminated employee.

"Management offered its sincerest apologies to any of our patrons who might have been caught off guard by the news of this isolated incident as well as the reassurance that the issue was instantly remedied and the proper steps are being taken to keep it from happening again," management from Zeta Brewery said.

Zeta Brewery fortunately only had to close for less than an hour, but a yogurt shop in Gainesville was not so lucky.

The Gainesville Mochi on University Avenue had to shut down for two nights after the inspector found several dead mice in traps in the kitchen.

An inspector wrote that 25 dried rodent droppings were found on a ledge above the yogurt machines last week. Another dozen dried droppings were on the floor across from the yogurt machines and 20 more were on a shelf in the kitchen.

He also found four dead mice on four of the five traps set in the kitchen. The inspector came back the next day and wrote he found two more dead mice on traps.

Mochi was forced to close another day.  On that third day, the Gainesville Mochi was allowed to reopen with no droppings and no high priority violations.


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Anchor on The Morning Show team and reporter specializing on health issues.