Sonny's BBQ

Sonny's BBQ's Florida stores average -0.12 high-priority violations per routine inspection relative to their county baseline (95% interval -0.28 to +0.04), below the county baseline. Rank 8 of 16 casual-dining brands, counted from furthest below the baseline.

-0.12vs county baseline, 95% interval -0.28 to +0.04

1.01 vs 1.12raw high-priority violations per routine inspection vs the baseline its stores face

65stores in 31 counties, 326 routine inspections, FY2023-24 to FY2025-26

The food: where these dishes come from

Sonny's BBQ is known for pulled pork and barbecue ribs. The stories are about the dishes, not the brand, and live on PlateTales.

By fiscal year

Relative to the county baseline, first visits of routine inspections. Open circle and * = fiscal year in progress (data as of 2026-11-09). Hover a point for n.

Most-cited violation codes

Citations per 100 routine inspections, Sonny's BBQ vs all Florida inspections, FY2023-24 to FY2025-26 (n = 326). Descriptions are DBPR's.
Code	DBPR description	Sonny's BBQ	Florida	Ratio
36	Floors properly constructed, clean, drained, coved	83.7	39.9	2.10x
14	Food contact surfaces designed, constructed, maintained, installed, located	62.6	46.9	1.33x
22	Food contact surfaces of equipment and utensils clean	58.3	43.6	1.34x
23	Non-food contact surfaces clean	47.2	23.6	2.00x
03	Food Out of Temperature	39.0	35.0	1.11x

Outcomes

12.0% vs 19.6%routine inspections that needed a callback visit, vs all Florida (raw)

0.31% vs 1.01%routine inspections ending in an emergency order recommendation, vs all Florida (raw)

70%of 63 stores with 2+ inspections score below their county baseline after shrinkage toward the brand mean

Emergency closures

No Sonny's BBQ store appears in DBPR's weekly closure extracts (2025-12-29 to 2026-11-06).

Other casual-dining brands

Ranked casual-dining brands, FY2023-24 to FY2025-26.
Rank	Brand	vs county	95% interval	Stores
1	Chuck E. Cheese	-0.69	-0.86 to -0.53	59
2	Olive Garden	-0.48	-0.57 to -0.39	80
3	Buffalo Wild Wings	-0.36	-0.49 to -0.24	62
4	Chili's	-0.34	-0.43 to -0.25	139
5	Hooters	-0.27	-0.42 to -0.12	48
6	LongHorn Steakhouse	-0.23	-0.35 to -0.11	81
7	Applebee's	-0.19	-0.31 to -0.07	88
8	Sonny's BBQ	-0.12	-0.28 to +0.04	65
9	Outback Steakhouse	-0.08	-0.23 to +0.06	101
10	Texas Roadhouse	-0.08	-0.26 to +0.11	47
11	Red Lobster	+0.07	-0.14 to +0.30	56
12	Ruby Tuesday	+0.12	-0.14 to +0.40	31
13	Bonefish Grill	+0.19	-0.04 to +0.45	49
14	Carrabba's Italian Grill	+0.30	+0.16 to +0.45	68
15	Beef 'O' Brady's	+0.48	+0.30 to +0.67	88
16	Miller's Ale House	+0.78	+0.55 to +1.03	68

Look up a single Sonny's BBQ location

Sonny's BBQ elsewhere

Sonny's BBQ franchise costs and FDD: FranchiseLens

Store-level matching: a store counts for Sonny's BBQ when its DBPR business name matches the reviewed aliases in InspectLens's brand list. Co-branded units (for example KFC with Taco Bell) are not counted for either brand.