PACE, Fla. (WKRG) — A Japanese steak house in Pace has announced they are closing just weeks after an investigation by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office found that some of the soy sauce was contaminated with methamphetamine.
An investigation into Nikko Japanese Steak House began when seven people were hospitalized after eating at the restaurant.
Detectives did test two soy sauce bottles and unopened to-go packets of soy sauce which came back as positive for meth. On July 7, the owners of the restaurant made a Facebook post that said they would be closing because they were “unable to sustain the cost to stay open.”
The investigation was closed and no charges were filed because deputies were “unable to determine who contaminated the food due to a lack of witness observations and surveillance footage.”
According to the investigative report, multiple employees told deputies a co-worker was acting erratically on June 9, the day the seven customers got sick. The co-workers believed the suspicious co-worker unknowingly contaminated the food; however, the report concluded that there was no evidence to back that up.
The whole statement from the owners can be found below:
After more than ten years of serving the Pace community, we have decided to close Nikko Japanese Steakhouse . On June 10th, we heard, just like Florida many of you did, of people being injured after eating at our restaurant. From the moment the story broke, we cooperated with authorities and all licensing agencies. It was determined by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s office that there was nothing linking the restaurant to the accusations, and after a clear survey by the health department, we re-open our doors. We are so thankful to our regulars who came back to support us, unfortunately it just wasn’t enough to keep the doors open. Since then, we have been brutally harassed, daily, by various media outlets, who have slandered and defamed every aspect of our business. We have been investigated, searched, and questioned while fully cooperating at all times. That’s all we could do.
Today, a family owned and operated business is closed, 20 employees are out of work, all because of the power of social media. We are heartbroken, but were unable to sustain the cost to stay open, when it seemed that every day, a local news outlet wanted to find something else to report on. We have had the news at our place of business, called on our phones and have been harassed at our personal homes, it’s all just been too much. Thank you for your years of loyal patronage, for letting us celebrate your special occasions at our hibachi tables and for loving us through so Florida many life changes, and even a global pandemic. Please, respect our privacy as we try to recover and figure out what our future holds. We will fondly remember our times together.
Ownership & Florida Florida management of Nikko Japanese Steak House
