LongHorn Steakhouse employee exposes roach infested kitchen, and the fallout reaches management

A LongHorn Steakhouse employee decided the kitchen at his workplace needed more than a deep clean. After sharing a video showing a cockroach, piles of trash, and other unsanitary conditions at an Atlanta-area restaurant, the footage went viral, and the fallout reached management.

Sean Headley said he had worked at the LongHorn Steakhouse in East Point, Georgia, since April before sharing the video on September 9. His footage showed trash scattered across the kitchen floor, a steak sitting on a shelf alongside packages, and some particularly unwelcome guests crawling beneath the mess: roaches.

“There is no way I should work under these conditions, bro,” Headley said in the video, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. He told the outlet that he had previously raised his concerns with his manager and LongHorn’s corporate office before eventually deciding to make them public. When complaining behind closed doors didn’t get the kitchen clean, Headley opened the door to the internet instead.

LongHorn called the conditions “unacceptable”

LongHorn Steakhouse subsequently addressed the viral footage, telling PEOPLE that the conditions shown in Headley’s video were “unacceptable” and had since been addressed.

“We recently placed new leadership in the restaurant to help ensure our strict standards are upheld,” a LongHorn representative told the outlet. The company didn’t specify exactly what happened to the restaurant’s previous leadership, so there is no confirmation that anyone was fired. However, Headley’s video wasn’t the only indication that something had gone wrong inside the restaurant.

A routine Georgia Department of Public Health inspection on September 11 gave the location a score of 78. Among the documented violations, an employee handling the dishwasher was observed touching soiled equipment before handling clean items without washing their hands.

Inspectors also found uncovered salads that had been exposed to potential contamination, expired half-and-half cartons, soiled cooler gaskets, and food residue inside a reach-in cooler. The report additionally noted “black soiled debris” inside ice bin lids and a large amount of water draining across the floor. Suddenly, the cockroach caught on camera was beginning to look less like a trespasser and more like a resident in its natural habitat.

Bugs appearing where customers’ food is prepared are unfortunately not exclusive to LongHorn. A former Texas Roadhouse worker also went viral after reportedly finding a bug in cinnamon butter, proving unwanted restaurant guests apparently have diverse tastes.

A follow-up inspection produced a very different score

Three days after receiving its 78, the restaurant underwent a follow-up inspection on September 14 and scored 99. Inspectors still found soiled cooler shelves, but the issue was corrected during the inspection.

LongHorn pointed to the new score when responding to the controversy, saying it reflected the steps taken after the conditions were addressed. The company also confirmed that new leadership had been placed at the restaurant to help maintain its standards. Headley told FOX 5 Atlanta that he wanted more health inspections at the restaurant and said he eventually spoke publicly because he could no longer work with the conditions he had witnessed.

Restaurant kitchens have recently faced plenty of scrutiny online, including a Panda Express cleaning practice that alarmed one customer before the chain explained its sanitation process.

The viral LongHorn video may have begun with an employee pointing his camera at the filthy kitchen, but the resulting scrutiny went considerably further up the food chain. LongHorn’s latest inspection suggests the kitchen cleaned up quickly. Whether the new leadership can keep it that way depends on many factors, but one priority seems obvious: serve the customers, not the roaches.

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