Zimmer chats with diners Boteem Williams (left) and his brother Brindon outside the restaurant.
By JEFFREY ZANKER
USFSP Student Reporter
TAMPA – When state inspectors visited the Burger King at 9925 Adamo Drive on March 8, they found five major health violations and ordered the restaurant to close.
Forty live roaches. Roach excrement. “Potentially hazardous” food temperatures. Improper hand-washing by an employee. Problems with the mop sink faucet.
The restaurant was allowed to reopen the next day, but it was too late to escape the glare of publicity.
That came a week later, when reporter Beau Zimmer and photojournalist Angela Clooney of 10News WTSP-Channel 10 arrived to do a story and ask employees for a copy of the Health Department report. By law, restaurants are required to give a copy to anybody who requests it.
Zimmer’s report, which aired March 22, was the latest installment in a weekly feature that 10News WTSP calls “Restaurant Red Alert.”
Using state inspection reports, Zimmer warns consumers that all is not well behind the counters, in the kitchens and on the floors and walls of popular restaurants.
“People do not like seeing roaches crawling across their plates at a restaurant,” said Zimmer, 36. “It is important for customers to know what they’re eating.”
The name Zimmer is well-known hereabouts. Zimmer’s grandfather, the late Don Zimmer, was a longtime resident of Treasure Island and a player, coach and manager in Major League Baseball for 66 years. His father, Thomas Zimmer, is a scout for the San Francisco Giants.
But Beau Zimmer said he always wanted a career in broadcast news, not baseball. He got his start when he was only 9, appearing as a reporter on WTSP’s Saturday morning kids program, “This Side Up.”
Three years later, he was a reporter on CNN’s weekly “Real News for Kids.” Most of his stories were about Florida.
“It was my first real adventure,” he said.
Zimmer graduated from St. Petersburg College in 1999 with an associate degree and from the University of Florida in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications news.
At his first full-time job, at Gainesville’s WCJB-TV in 2002 and 2003, his general assignment beat included restaurant health alerts from the station’s bureau in Ocala. Not much was on the Internet then, he said, so “I had to drive up to Jacksonville to see the reports, which were handwritten.”
In October 2003, he moved to WDRB-TV in Louisville, Kentucky, where he said his stories on children struck by cars at school cross walks helped change state law on speeding in school zones and earned him a nomination for an Emmy award.
Zimmer returned to St. Petersburg and 10News WTSP in 2005 to cover consumer and enterprise stories.
He feels lucky to work in his hometown and at the station where it all began, he said. “It is rare for reporters to work in their hometown, since they move around for jobs.”
The day he visited the Burger King started around 9 a.m. in the newsroom of the station’s headquarters at 11450 Gandy Blvd. N in St. Petersburg.
Around him were journalists with phones pressed to their ears and fingers typing on keyboards.
“So many cooks in the kitchen,” Zimmer said.
At 9:30, a group of reporters and producers gathered in the news conference room to discuss story ideas and plan when stories might air. National news dominated the discussion, from the Zika virus to the presidential race.
Most of the reporters were young. They scanned through their phones for ideas.
Zimmer mentioned reports of possible health violations and residential abuse at an assisted living center in Tampa. To get ahead, he wanted to record video of the building after his visit to the Burger King.
His office is in a dimly-lit corner of the newsroom, not far from reporters Noah Pransky and Mike Deeson. Pransky was researching developments in the presidential race with what he called his “good friends of Google,” and Deeson was watching video footage to help him update a story.
Zimmer said his daily schedule was “slammed and busy.” He wanted to get started on an assignment about IRS scams before visiting the Burger King, then catch a 6:30 p.m. flight to Virginia for vacation.
After he discussed his day with producer Amy Marinec, he decided to visit Burger King first, then begin on the IRS story later.
Then he drove to Adamo Drive and parked on the back side of the restaurant, where Clooney, the photojournalist, was preparing her equipment.
Zimmer and Clooney came to the restaurant without notifying anyone.
“If you come in announced, you will always find a clean kitchen” he said.
In reporting his “Restaurant Red Alert” segments, Zimmer and the photojournalist who accompanies him tell employees why they are there, seek out the manager for comment, and ask to see a copy of the inspection report, which by law must be made available to anybody who asks for it.
At some restaurants, managers let the 10News team inspect the kitchen and other spots where violations were found and interview customers in the dining room.
But at Burger King, the employees did not cooperate.
“Nobody wants to be spoken to,” said a cashier.
Another employee arrived and declared, “Hey, you need to back off from here.” He put his finger on Clooney’s camera and told the journalists to “skedaddle on this way,” pointing to the door.
Then Zimmer was handed a cell phone to take a call from a manager. He explained his purpose, repeated his request for a copy of the state health report, and agreed to wait outside.
Several minutes later, an employee came out to give him a copy of the report.
Meanwhile, Zimmer interviewed two brothers who had just eaten at the restaurant.
The younger brother, Brindon Williams, had gotten a milkshake from the machine where state inspectors had found roach excrement.
“I think that’s kind of gross because I don’t like feces on my milkshake,” Williams said.
Story in hand, Zimmer returned to the station, typed a short transcript and recorded his voice-over at an empty booth while Clooney scanned through the video.
While editing, Clooney noticed a smudge on the lenses. She realized that it was the fingerprints of the employee who told them to “skedaddle.”
Zimmer looked over the video and chuckled. “That was the first time someone told me to skedaddle,” he said.
His report was ready for the 11 p.m. newscast six days later.
When Zimmer introduces himself, he said, some people associate him with his baseball-famous grandfather. But he wants to be known as the reporter who alerts consumers about dirty restaurants.
“I like to be recognized for myself.”
You can reach Beau Zimmer at bzimmer@wtsp.com and follow him on Twitter @Zimm10 or on Facebook.com/beauzimmer.