Before taking over a Detroit restaurant, look up the facility’s earlier food inspection reports and match them to its street address. The Detroit Health Department’s opening and purchasing guidance specifically suggests checking prior reports for items involving equipment or ventilation. Those reports describe earlier inspections; they do not transfer the previous owner’s license or decide whether your proposed operation needs plan review.
| The question you need to answer | The Detroit record or route to use | What it does not settle |
|---|---|---|
| What did inspectors find at this facility before the ownership change? | Dated Detroit Health Department inspection history and, where needed, the underlying report | The equipment’s present condition or approval of a new menu |
| What must a new owner submit? | The Health Department’s change-of-ownership and food-service license process | Whether every old finding was corrected |
| Does a closed or altered facility need a new plan review? | A case-specific decision from the Food Safety Unit; an approved plan if required | A decision inferred from the old inspection result |
Find the facility’s earlier inspections
Start at Detroit’s restaurant inspection search and search by establishment name. Confirm the Detroit street address before comparing visits: a familiar name can belong to another location, and an ownership or name change can make a single-name search incomplete. Use the Detroit Health Department’s records for a Detroit food-service establishment; a seller’s name alone does not identify the inspection file. Detroit’s general inspection-search guide explains how to match a result to the premises and follow dated visits.
The current public result can show the facility’s name and street address, status, license type and number, and owner. Open the dated inspection entries rather than treating that facility header as its entire history or assigning all earlier visits to the owner now displayed. The entries show the visit type, outcome and violation count. A violation card can show a food-code item and whether it was corrected on a stated date or remained uncorrected. An equipment-related card may give only the general code requirement, not an inspector’s account of which appliance or repair was involved. Ask the Detroit Health Department for the complete facility report and relevant follow-up instead of filling a narrative gap yourself.
A Core equipment finding can still matter to a buyer even when an inspection is marked compliant. The inspection app’s explanation ties compliance to having no Priority or Priority Foundation violations, or having all of them corrected. Uncorrected Core items are reviewed at the next routine inspection. Read the individual item and correction date, not just the overall outcome; this is not a score for the equipment’s condition.
Keep an original finding and a later correction as two dated pieces of evidence. A later inspection does not erase what the earlier report said, and an older report cannot establish how the premises are operating today. For closure, placard or reopening events, use the separate Detroit enforcement timeline instead of treating a placard as the full prior-report file.
Keep the new owner’s file separate
For a facility that is open and operating, Detroit’s purchasing guidance lists a Change of Ownership form with a proposed menu, standard operating procedures, a certified food manager certificate, allergen training unless exempt, a Food Service License Application and the fee. The city says a new license is needed whenever facility ownership changes. Use the current city instructions for the application rather than treating the previous owner’s license or a historical inspection as the new owner’s authorization.
An inspection issued to the previous operator may identify a question worth asking about the space. It is not the new owner’s application, inspection, license or approval to operate. Keep the old report’s date and establishment identity beside the new application record so they are not mistaken for one event.
Ask which plan-review route applies if the facility was closed or changed
Detroit does not give one universal closure-duration cutoff on its purchasing page. For a closed facility, it directs the reader to its Food Safety Unit at (313) 876-0135. How long the premises have been closed and what changed in the facility or equipment affect whether plan review is needed. Describe the premises, closure period and proposed changes when asking which steps apply. Also distinguish a business that simply stopped operating from one subject to an agency closure order. If an order exists, request that record and any later authorization to resume; an empty storefront or an old inspection outcome does not establish either action.
For new construction or remodeling, Detroit’s food safety plan-review guidance requires approval before construction begins. After construction, a pre-opening inspection checks the facility against the approved plans and applicable food requirements. Approval to begin operation comes at that later step, with other agencies’ required approvals still separate. An earlier inspection report, permission to construct and permission to operate answer different questions.
If the old report is not visible
First confirm that the address is inside Detroit and that the establishment is a food-service operation inspected by the Detroit Health Department. The inspection app’s About page distinguishes those establishments from groceries and packaged-food businesses inspected by Michigan’s agriculture department. Try the establishment name associated with the earlier operation and check the app’s displayed data-through date. A recent visit missing from the search may reflect the publication window, not an absence of agency records.
For an expected Detroit food-service establishment that is absent, the About page directs readers to FoodSafetyDHD@detroitmi.gov or (313) 876-0135. The same Food Safety Unit is the place to ask for missing report detail: give the name, street address, license number if shown, and the inspection or follow-up dates you need. Ask specifically for the equipment or ventilation observations and the record of any later correction. A dated correction addresses that finding; it does not establish the present condition of every item in the building or authorize a new owner to operate.
Detroit inspectors cite the Food Law’s certified-manager section (MCL 289.2129) when a restaurant has no certified manager. How often that happened in a year of routine inspections is counted in Michigan food handler card rules.
Sources checked September 29, 2026. An inspection record does not guarantee current food safety. Use the dated findings to ask specific questions, and obtain the separate records for the proposed new operation.