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Division of Hotel and Restaurant Management in Florida

The Division of Hotels and Restaurant Management in Florida is a department within the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulations. The purpose of the Division of Hotels and Restaurants is to protect the health and safety of the public by fair regulations, licensing and quality inspections of hotels and restaurants in Florida.

  1. Regulations

    • Florida law authorizes the Division of Hotels and Restaurants to regulate and inspect public lodging, food establishments, elevators and escalators. In the 2008-2009 fiscal year, the Division of Hotels and Restaurants conducted 164,046 public food service and lodging inspections to ensure sanitation and safety standards. The department also
      cited a total of 888,552 violations of sanitary standards in public establishments. The division also issued 82,595 food and lodging and 47,271 elevator and/or escalator licenses.

    Critical Violations

    • There are a variety of violations classified by the Division of Hotels and Restaurants. One of the more severe classifications is called critical violations. These violations, if not corrected, may directly contribute to food contamination, illness and/or environmental degradation. An example of a critical violation is improper temperature control of food. Improper temperature control can be during cooking, cooling, holding and/or reheating.

    Noncritical Violations

    • Noncritical violations cover preventive measures to practice and produce control of environmental conditions; however, they do not directly relate to the food-borne illness risk. If this type of violation is left uncorrected, it may undermine the food safety program and lead to a critical violation. In restaurants, examples of noncritical violations are improper operation of the dishwasher, improper storage of cleaning equipment or improper storage of utensils. In a hotel, examples of noncritical violations may be housekeeping problems or building repairs not being made.

    Inspections

    • The Division of Hotels and Restaurants has a variety of inspection categories--licensing, routine, complaint partial, complaint full, epidemiological, information, service request and temporary.

    Licensing

    • Any business with an elevator must obtain an elevator license. Hotels, motels, apartments, rooming houses, bed and breakfast inns, resort condominiums, free-standing restaurants, fast-food services, mobile food stands and bars that serve food are required to obtain a license from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants.

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