City Suspends Brady Street Qdoba

Qdoba, 1348 E. Brady St. Photo taken on September 19, 2020 by Mariiana Tzotcheva

The Milwaukee Licenses Committee had some sharp remarks for Ron Stokes, president and COO of Roaring Fork Restaurant Group, at its latest meeting.

The cause? A customer at the group’s Qdoba restaurant on Brady Street claims they found a razor blade in their food.

The incident, which took place on Nov. 1, 2023, cost the establishment 10 days of business, thanks to a suspension handed down by the Milwaukee Common Council on Tuesday.

Stokes, whose entity is one of the largest operators of Qdoba franchises in the country, addressed the council before the final decision.

“It was a serious incident and somebody could have been harmed, but to shut down this business for 10 days really provides irreparable damage to our reputation,” he said. “Since this unfortunate incident, which we have taken very seriously, we have served 30,000 entrees without incident and without complaint.”

According to a police report, a customer purchased a burrito for takeout from the establishment, 1348 E. Brady St. Upon reheating and slicing into the burrito, the customer said they found a razor blade in the center of the food.

A photo of the blade, along with a receipt from the transaction, were provided to the City of Milwaukee Health Department, which then sent a representative to inspect the store. Milwaukee police officers were also on-scene.

The report states that the blade was an “exact match” for a safety-cutter at the restaurant. It was determined to have slipped out of its plastic encasing into the burrito.

But Stokes wasn’t sold on that story. During a May 29 licenses renewal hearing, he told committee members that none of the restaurant’s safety-cutters were found to be missing blades.

“We never saw the razor blade,” Stokes said. “I think there’s some discrepancy in if that came from our establishment. Our own internal investigation after this occurred puts that in doubt, but I’m not sure we’re here to dispute the facts. We’ve taken steps to ensure that if this indeed happened, it certainly won’t happen again.”

Stokes said that the restaurant took “immediate action” to remove all safety-cutters from the premises. “We proceeded as if it did happen and took corrective action as a result of the report.”

Alderman Jonathan Brostoff, however, took issue with both the presence of the razor blade and the restaurant’s explanation of the incident.

“I don’t think that’s a very appropriate response given the severity of what we’re talking about in this case,” Brostoff said. “It could’ve been much worse and it also certainly creates a lot of other questions for me personally.”

Though he originally cast doubt on the police report, Stokes later testified that “there’s a very good chance this did happen.”

At the conclusion of the hearing, Brostoff recommended a 10-day suspension for Qdoba, noting that the closure “would be appropriate to get things in order and ensure that a type of situation like this never happens again.”

He also suggested that Stokes use the time to provide additional employee training.

Alderman Scott Spiker made the motion. There were no objections.

The matter went before the full council on Tuesday, June 11.

Stokes, who filed written objections to the committee’s recommendation, appeared in-person at the meeting to appeal to council members.

During his brief remarks, Stokes called the suspension a “very extreme measure” that would cause “irreparable damage” to the restaurant’s reputation.

“We’ve been good stewards in that community and on that street and want to continue to do that, taking our business very seriously of providing food for the community.”

He further claimed that the restaurant, first opened in April 2017, has served 575,000 entrees with “zero food incidents with the health department, food safety, foodborne illness or any other sort.”

Despite Stokes’ testimony, the full council stood by the recommendation, voting unanimously in favor of the 10-day suspension.

The suspension went into effect on Tuesday, June 11 and will continue through June 20. The suspension only affects the Brady Street Qdoba. Other locations will continue to operate as usual.

Roaring Fork Restaurant Group operates approximately 60 Qdoba restaurants, 57 of which are located in Wisconsin. The group also operates several locations for Dave’s Hot Chicken.