Le Caveβs Bakery, the beloved south-side doughnut shop, has just two weeks to make a number of repairs before the Health Department refers it to the Pima County Attorneyβs Office.
Thatβs according to three recent failed inspection reports provided to the Star, the most recent of which states that βfailure to complete the required corrections will result in referral to the (county attorney) to issue a demand letter for compliance.β
In mid-December, a county inspector noted 11 deficiencies during a change-of-owner inspection. Those included problems with several sinks, damage to the buildingβs walls and windows, cracked and potholed floors, and a refrigerator that did not keep food adequately cooled. The inspector also observed a live mouse.
That inspection was the result of the bakery losing its permit late last year because of nonpayment, according to a Health Department letter.
By the first follow-up inspection, on Jan. 17, just a few of those issues had been resolved. By the third inspection, about half had been addressed and the report notes that if the remainder are not remedied by Feb. 14, the referral to the county attorney would be sent.
Owner Rudy Molina Jr. told the Star that it wonβt come to that, and that while heβll βmake arrangementsβ to deal with the remaining issues, he doesnβt think itβs fair he has to.
Molina said that the problems noted by the inspector have to do with structural and equipment issues, not anything that compromises the health and safety of customers. He also noted that the bakery received a good inspection rating last June when conditions there were more or less the same, which online inspection records confirm.
βThey approved it just six months ago, now theyβre saying itβs not acceptable anymore,β he said, chalking it up to recent county health code changes the bakery now has to comply with because it lost its old permit.
David Ludwig, head of the county inspection program, took issue with Molinaβs claim about the recent failed inspections, saying that βthere is nothing on that report that wasnβt in the old code.β
After the December inspection, Molina appealed the countyβs decision to make him reapply for a new permit, which triggered the change-of-owner inspection, and that appeal was denied last month, according to county records.
In early 2016, the Health Department briefly shut the business, citing βgross unsanitary conditions.β In the wake of the closure, Molina said he spent around $25,000 to get the nearly 75-year-old building into compliance. Declining sales since then make it more difficult this time to pay for mandated repairs, he added.
Before the 2016 closure, the bakery, which was first opened in the mid-1930s, had exclusively received inspection ratings of good and excellent since the early 2000s.
βIf we hadnβt been doing things the right way and living up to standards, practicing business as we should, we wouldnβt have been in business that long,β Molina said.
