Gumby's Pizza is set to re-open by next week after the Wake County Health Department gave it a 60.5 on its health inspection and immediately shut it down.
It's time for a new start - students want their Pokey Stix. Gumby's must keep a clean bill on its sanitation scores. Hillsborough Street is starting to improve, and this momentum could falter if Gumby's Pizza's turns out a poor performance during its inspection.
According to founder Jeff O'Brien, the previous Gumby's Pizza shut down to a number of different factors.
Most of the problems, O'Brien said, were due to the old building. The lack of a long-term lease and limited floor space severely curtailed efforts to bring the decades-old facility up to modern building codes.
O'Brien said that the required renovations would cost from $200,000 to $300,000, which affected the decision to close Gumby's. The new facility is a good move. The old location was small and shabby in appearance - the new store is the most obvious sign of a new start.
Technicalities in the health inspection code and management also contributed to Gumby's closing. The re-inspection process automatically doubles the value of critical violations, which has a dramatic effect on the final sanitation score, according to O'Brien.
Some of the managers' comments were a result of the pressure from the health department, O'Brien said, and the new Gumby's pulled new managers from across the country for the Raleigh location. This change in management is worthy of praise, particularly if it prevents emotionally charged statements about the health inspectors.
Hillsborough Street is in the process of a revitalization, with new restaurants and strong popular support. Gumby's failing sanitation score from September 2007 is a mark of an era of weak management and poor business quality. If students want to see Hillsborough Street become an enjoyable place to go for the evening, then the Gumby's fiasco cannot be repeated.
The new management at Gumby's Pizza must actively work to ensure that the restaurant maintains high sanitation scores and prevent conditions from deteriorating to the point where facilities become a problem again. For Gumby's Pizza, it's now one strike and you're out.
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