Louisiana Dept. of Health Releases Inspection Report After Photos from Youngsville Sonic Drive-In Go Viral

After a viral Facebook post accused a Youngsville Sonic Drive-In of numerous violations, the Louisiana Department of Health has now released an official inspection report.

On Wednesday, December 7, Mitzi Vincent posted photos that were allegedly taken at a Sonic Drive-In restaurant located at 3016 E Milton Ave in Youngsville, LA. Among the numerous health violations that Vincent, a former employee of that store location, accused the fast food restaurant of was food being left out, thawed, then refrozen.

Vincent says frozen foods are required to stay frozen until they are "dropped" to be cooked, and the burger patties and chicken filets pictured in her post are clearly thawed. I spoke to Vincent who told me that broken reach-in freezers were the reason why the food was thawed.

Although she took her concerns to the Louisiana Board of Health but doesn't feel like their inspection was adequate due to the store GM allegedly distracting the inspector while an assistant rushed the thawed foods into another freezer.

All of this food was still being cooked and served to the public as of today's date during the lunch hour when the health inspector showed up. I called and reported this to the health board. I was informed when I placed this call that I would remain anonymous, not like that matters to me. Upon the health inspector Tammy arriving in the store, she handed the GM the report which has my info on it. The GM then passed the report to ALL other managers. This tells me that an adequate inspection most likely was not done. The GM distracted the inspector for enough time for one of the kitchen cooks and the assistant GM to take these foods that were thawed and place them in the main storage freeze to be refrozen. These foods included raw hamburger patties and breaded chicken patties along with other foods which are required to remain frozen till prepared.

Her post quickly went viral, being shared over 800 times on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/mitzi.vm.7/posts/pfbid0qUuAVxxmiBYkiHed3Yyx77JKHdR8ACRcxPEf1XvPoKan6LdE7GaMNds7oRgj71G4l?__cft__[0]=AZUjBfmYSr1RVgSjjCGRyz2b1Fri27Qdr_LIjKk_TnQCVaaMILJ2uAiicRSYCPCo8Hz-UGJyUWBDizw38vIZdxc9hINeppmFly1j1xD1Mj1c87TWt3Q7CnItRhCYuDjwZOP-eYgpwKee5RcLP2e00pVjeRWJLP53JXoX9lohadZ9dg&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

I spoke to Vincent who told me that she worked at the Sonic location in Youngsville for 10 months, sending "numerous" emails to her district supervisor during that time to let them know about the issues she witnessed at the Sonic store. Her boyfriend also worked at the Youngsville location, but Vincent thinks that her concerns never made it past local management.

He assured me he to those issues were taken to HR. Both me and my boyfriend worked there. He quit yesterday over all of this. I quit the day after Thanksgiving. Issues have been brought to the GM by myself and my boyfriend only to be overlooked and swept under the rug. When my boyfriend sent me these photos and told me how they were still having to cook these foods and serve it to the public I contacted the health board and filed a report.

Vincent was very transparent about the difference she had with local management and says her main concern is the "neighborhoods all over and these residents feed themselves and their families at this place.

People deserve a reputable business with quality.

Numerous photos were shared as proof of Vincent's concerns, allegedly taken at the E. Milton Sonic location by her boyfriend before he quit his job there.

On Wednesday (Dec. 16) the Louisiana Department of Health posted an inspection done at the E. Milton Avenue Sonic Drive-In showing a list of violations that looked to acknowledge some of the cleanliness issues seen in photos shared by Vincent although the inspection was listed as routine/renewal.

Although the Sonic Drive-In location received a list of non-critical violations, Vincent feels like they "got away with" the most concerning violations involving the mishandling of foods that could get someone sick.

The report is finally out and like I previously stated they got away with it because the inspector chit-chatted with the GM while the assistant GM and another cook removed the foods

I reached out to district supervisor Jason Alsup who was aware of the viral post and directed me to contact Sonic Drive-In through their press email.

At the time of this story, we have yet to receive a response from Sonic in regards to the viral accusations or the corresponding report of violations from the La. Dept. of Health.

We will update this story if any new information is made available.