Lancaster brewery owner says health inspector cost him business despite being within code

LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) -- A Lancaster business owner says a Los Angeles County health inspector cost him precious customers on Super Bowl Sunday after they were briefly shut down, despite the fact that they were within code.

Brian Avery, the co-owner of Bravery Brewing Company, says the health inspector walked in shortly after they opened and interrupted a transaction with a customer, ordering the only employee there at the time to halt service and close down immediately.

The health inspector apparently shut down service because they didn't have a food truck on site to serve meals, which is required under the current county health order if the business is doing on-site dining.

But since the brewery was only taking to-go orders that day, Avery said they didn't need a food truck.

The lone employee looped in Avery and they requested that the health inspector contact her supervisor, who later confirmed that they did not need a food truck present that day.

During the back and forth, they had to temporarily halt businesses and customers had to wait.

"Right now, for us, a good month is breaking even through all of this. So it might not seem like a lot for us to lose 20 to 40 minutes of sales, but every dollar counts right now for us," Avery said.

After clearing the initial issue up, Avery says the health inspector then noticed that the public health notices posted inside the building were old and made the employee update them before they could resume service.

While the employee was in the back updating the notices, surveillance video captured the health inspector appearing to celebrate, which is not sitting well with Avery.

The brewery eventually received a report that they were within code and did nothing wrong. A request for comment from the L.A. County Department of Public Health has not been returned.