Yeosu City Suspends Restaurant for 15 Days and Files Criminal Charges over Reuse of Leftover Side Dishes

Joint Inspection with Food Sanitation Monitors Until August 14
Unfriendly Service, Reuse of Side Dishes, Ingredient Storage Conditions, and More

[Breaking News] On August 11, Yeosu City in South Jeolla Province announced that it will apply a zero-tolerance policy and take strict action, including strong administrative measures, against a local restaurant recently caught reusing leftover side dishes (as reported in our article on the 10th, "Controversy over Reuse of Leftover Side Dishes at Yeosu Restaurant").

This incident, which occurred at a restaurant in Gyodong, Yeosu City, where the reuse of leftover side dishes was discovered, has heightened public anxiety and disappointment over hygiene among both citizens and tourists, following a previous case involving an unfriendly YouTuber.

Yeosu City Hall exterior view.

In response, Yeosu City immediately conducted an emergency hygiene inspection of the establishment and plans to impose a 15-day business suspension and file criminal charges for violations of the Food Sanitation Act. At the same time, the city will carry out a large-scale, intensive inspection of hygiene standards and customer service at all food establishments within its jurisdiction.

The inspection will be conducted over four days until August 14, with 84 participants organized into 42 teams, including public health center staff and consumer food sanitation monitors. The main inspection items include compliance with the ban on reusing leftover food, proper storage and adherence to expiration dates for ingredients, kitchen cleanliness, and personal hygiene management of employees.

In addition, the city will designate establishments with poor hygiene or customer service complaints as "priority management establishments" for special oversight. The city will also implement training to improve service quality, including courteous customer service, the provision of single-person dining tables, and a ban on forcing solo diners to order two portions, with the goal of fundamentally upgrading the local food culture.

A city official stated, "We will respond strictly to establishments with poor hygiene under a zero-tolerance policy," adding, "Through this comprehensive hygiene and service inspection, we will do our utmost to restore trust in the overall food culture and improve the city's tourism image."

Meanwhile, on July 24, the city announced a series of measures in a statement, including strengthening on-site customer service training for the food and lodging industry by region, expanding monitoring and priority management of establishments with customer service complaints, creating manuals and designating restaurants for solo diners, expanding the advance reporting system to stabilize lodging rates, conducting the "Three Clean Practices Campaign" in cooperation with restaurants, and enhancing customer service training for food and lodging business owners and employees.