GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Given seven days by the Kent County Health Department to fix violations, management and contractors at XO Asian Cuisine say they are working to meet their deadline to reopen.
The popular downtown Grand Rapids restaurant was forced to close Friday for roughly 30 different health code violations that were found during an inspection last week. In March, owners were told they had 30 days to get their facility up to code.
Osmond Chan, co-owner of XO Asian Cuisine, told FOX 17 on Sunday he hired a consulting company one month ago to help fix the problem. Chan said he'd met every day with consultants to see if there were any mistakes, "anything we need to correct," but Chan says he was given a positive review and was told his facility was "ready for inspection."
"We're just doing whatever we need to do," Chan said.
Since the closure, Chan has hired new consulting company, Cecil Consulting and Training. "We met with the owners, started to develop a plan of action for them to take charge of their own establishment to get it cleaned up and organized," said Brian Cecil.
"From what I saw Friday to today, they've taken it very seriously. I think they're going to step up and really do a good job here."
Condensers inside the restaurants cooler have been replaced, leaks in the floor near the dishwasher have been fixed, and the basement storage area has been reorganized.
Chan said management and employees will be retrained to ensure violations don't happen again.
"We are trying our best to let people see we change, we're doing our best," Chan said. "We're facing the problem."
Inspectors must find no violations before the restaurant can reopen.
"We're going to get the situation under control with their help, because it's really their responsibility," Cecil told FOX 17 of the restaurant's owners. "I can help them out, understand the principles, and the concepts and everything, but they really have to implement it."
Chan said the Kent County Health Department will return for another inspection on April 28, and the restaurant could reopen as soon as the following day.
