33 Jacksonville Fast-Food Chains Ranked by Health Inspections: Five Guys Had the Fewest Violations, Krystal the Most

Jacksonville, Fla. — Five Guys1 had the fewest health inspection violations among 33 fast-food and chain restaurant brands inspected across Northeast Florida from July 1 through Oct. 21, 2026. The chain averaged 2.2 violations per routine inspection, compared with an area average of 6.03.

Zaxby's ranked second with 2.8 violations per inspection, followed by Chick-fil-A at 3.1. Krystal recorded the highest average at 7.3 violations per inspection.

The rankings are based on Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation records collected by the Jax Times restaurant database.

Unlike Georgia, Florida does not assign restaurant inspection letter grades. Instead, state inspectors document violations according to their seriousness.

All 33 restaurant chains ranked

The ranking includes chains with at least five routine inspections between July 1 and Oct. 21, 2026, across Duval, St. Johns, Clay, Nassau and nearby Northeast Florida counties.

Lower average violation counts rank higher.

How Florida's three violation levels work

Florida restaurant inspectors classify violations into three categories:

• High priority: The most serious violations, which could directly cause illness.
• Intermediate: Violations below the high-priority level but more serious than basic violations.
• Basic: Lower-level violations identified during inspections.

A restaurant's total includes violations across these categories.

The distinction matters because two restaurants with identical total violation counts can have different numbers of high-priority findings.

Across 3,095 routine restaurant inspections in the region, establishments averaged 6.03 total violations and 1.47 high-priority violations per inspection.

Every chain averaging fewer than 6.03 total violations performed better than the area average on that measure.

Five Guys, Zaxby's and Chick-fil-A lead

Five Guys had six routine inspections across five locations, averaging 2.2 violations. Its average high-priority count was just 0.17, the lowest among the chains listed.

Zaxby's averaged 2.8 total violations across five inspections, while Chick-fil-A averaged 3.1 across eight.

Firehouse Subs and Marco's tied at 3.2 total violations per inspection. Firehouse Subs had three inspections with zero violations, compared with one for Marco's.

Subway recorded the most zero-violation inspections among the listed chains, with six across 26 routine inspections. Dunkin' was next with five clean inspections out of 22, and Waffle House had four out of 20, even though its overall average was among the highest. Papa John's and Checkers each had three.

How the largest chains compared

Several brands had substantially more locations or inspections represented in the data.

Wendy's had 21 locations inspected and averaged 4.8 violations across 23 inspections.

Taco Bell had 20 locations and averaged 4.3 violations across 20 inspections. Its high-priority average was 0.20, considerably below the regional average of 1.47.

McDonald's averaged 5.2 violations across 18 inspections involving 17 locations.

Chipotle averaged 3.7 violations across 21 inspections involving 18 locations.

Because the numbers represent inspected locations rather than every restaurant operated by each company, they should not be interpreted as nationwide chain performance.

Which chains had the most violations?

Krystal ranked last with an average of 7.3 violations per inspection across 11 inspections. It also had the highest single-inspection count: 28 violations.

Dairy Queen followed at 7.1, Little Caesars at 7.0, Waffle House at 6.8 and Checkers at 6.4.

High-priority findings provide additional context.

Waffle House averaged 1.80 high-priority violations, the highest among the listed chains. Hardee's and Checkers each averaged 1.73, while Dairy Queen averaged 1.67.

Krystal averaged 1.36 high-priority violations despite having the highest overall violation average.

Four locations received emergency-order recommendations

Separate inspection records identified four chain restaurants where emergency orders were recommended between July and October 2026.

These records identify emergency-order recommendations, not confirmation that each location closed. They include inspection types beyond the routine inspections used for the rankings.

What customers should know

Inspection results represent conditions documented during individual visits. They do not necessarily describe every location in a chain or conditions on another day.

The regional averages offer a useful comparison, but individual restaurant records provide more specific information.

Readers can search locations through the free Jax Times restaurant lookup at jaxtimes.com/restaurants.

How we did this

Jax Times analyzed Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation restaurant inspection records collected for Northeast Florida.

The rankings use routine inspections conducted July 1 through Oct. 21, 2026, and include chains with at least five qualifying inspections. Restaurants are ranked by average total violations per routine inspection.

Emergency-order recommendations were examined separately and were not treated as confirmed closures.