After scoring a health rating of 60.5 almost a year ago, Gumby’s Pizza has moved upstream to a new location, formerly Papa John’s Pizza, and looks to reopen soon on Hillsborough Street.
Gumby’s Pizza is a national chain that previously satisfied the late night cravings of NC State college students. That ended in October when Gumby’s was forced to close due to an extremely low sanitation score. Anything below a 70 is a health hazard, but Gumby’s could barely stay above this line when their first inspection was held in June of 2007. The owner attempted to appeal the low score, failing multiple times. Relocating to a new building looks like it may have satisfied code requirements, especially considering it was previously used as a pizza restaurant.
The Hillsborough Street Gumby’s Pizza received more business than any of the chain’s other stores across the country (approximately 25 stores in 12 states), most of which are situated on or around college campuses. Only time will tell whether this location’s sanitation history will affect business. Surely, the company is seeing loses in their main cash flow if the Raleigh location brought in the largest amount of profit. Bending over backwards isn’t so hard for the animated Gumby, but the new franchise will have to do more than that to succeed with its tainted reputation. The options for pizza in the area are much better, but that late night craving may trade logic for grease: Gumby’s delivers as late as 3 a.m. on weekends. Just be sure not to order extra cheese.
boycotting gumby’s would be about as stupid as boycotting exxon because of the Valdez spill at this point.
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