Should Detroit restaurants display their health inspection grades?

A Detroit City Councilman is proposing an ordinance that would require restaurants in the city to display placards if they passed their health inspections.

Councilman Scott Benson said the goal is to make the Detroit dining experience a pleasant and safe one.

Here's how the proposed ordinance works. If a Detroit restaurant passes its health inspection, they will get a green placard in their restaurant.

“I think that’d definitely be helpful in making choices of what restaurants to go to, making sure everything is up to standards," Danny Polster told us.

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Right now, restaurants are not required to post their health inspection placards. Under the proposed "Dining with Confidence" ordinance, restaurants will be required to have it on public display.

“I think that everybody that comes down to this area, this district is going to see that people care and there’s quality," Kevin Marsh said.

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I wanted to see what restaurant owners and staff thought about the idea, so I headed to Parc in Downtown Detroit.

“I think it doesn’t make much difference because you get your health inspections and if you’re doing the right thing, it shouldn’t be an issue. You should always have your restaurant clean," Brian Blanke, the GM at Parc, said.

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I also caught up with a restaurant owner from Northern Michigan who was visiting the city. She said she believes those placards don't tell the whole story.

“Sometimes the health department walks in at the worst possible time and they catch you in the moment where something might need to be fixed, something is broken," Loretta Moeggenberg said.

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In 2022, Benson proposed the ordinance but it was voted down. After, he created a "Dining with Confidence" pilot program that includes more than 250 restaurants that publicly display their green placards.

“Do you think you’ll change some minds now?” I asked Benson.

“We got a lot of misinformation about it then," he said. “What we have now are restaurants who are waiving the flag about how proud they are that they have a safe and healthy restaurant food grade and so we call it 'dining with confidence.'"

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As far was what's next, there will be a public hearing and then city council will vote on it in the next few weeks.

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