The Spruce Pine Hardee’s has reopened and operated without incident since a temporary, voluntary closure on Tuesday, May 30 that extended into the morning of Wednesday, May 31.
William Clark, vice president of operations for Mountain Star LLC, a franchise of Hardee’s Restaurants that runs the local fast food eatery, said he and his team have cooperated with law enforcement and all health and safety protocols since an incident on Tuesday, May 30 in which a minor, who had eaten a biscuit at the restaurant on Highway 19E at 8 a.m. that morning, started hallucinating at football practice later that day. The 14-year-old was taken to Mission Hospital in Asheville.
“We became very concerned,” Clark said.
Later that same day, Spruce Pine Police told Clark that an off-duty employee of the Spruce Pine Hardee’s was searched after a traffic stop. The employee, who was on parole, had an illegal substance in his possession.
The employee told police he got the drugs from a pill bottle in an old medicine cabinet in the back of Hardee’s, which he claimed was put there by someone else. Police proceeded to search the restaurant for the bottle on the evening of Tuesday, May 30.
“There was something stashed,” Clark said. “They found it, collected it and at that time, I decided to close.”
Police collected the substance and sent it in for testing. There are no test results available at this time.
Following the temporary closure, the restaurant was disinfected through a deep cleaning that followed the established COVID-19 protocol. All food already on the premises was thrown away.
“Just like if someone was sick,” Clark said.
The employee pulled over with the drugs and the one who placed them in the cabinet were both terminated. Both were on probation.
The Spruce Pine Police Department agreed to work with Hardee’s to ensure future hires don’t have a criminal record. They don’t believe anyone else on the restaurant’s employment roster has a record but will release information if they find otherwise.
The medicine cabinet, which was no longer in use, was removed and discarded.
Clark said he personally reviewed all video from in the restaurant throughout the day on Tuesday, May 30 and found that all employees, including ones handling food, were wearing gloves at all appropriate times and following all safe handling procedures.
“What I saw was normal procedures being followed and gloves being worn,” Clark said.
Following the deep-cleaning efforts, the local health department approved the measures and gave the location the green light to reopen on the morning of Wednesday, May 31.
The investigation into what caused the child to hallucinate and be hospitalized is closed. He returned home from the hospital a short time after being admitted. Testing on samples collected from the restaurant were negative for harmful substances.
No other guests of Spruce Pine Hardee’s have reported issues with food quality since the alleged incident.
On Wednesday, June 7, Hardee’s Restaurants sent an operations consultant to the location to perform a full operations assessment. Spruce Pine Hardee’s passed with “high standards.”
“It hurts me and our employees what people can say on social media without concern their neighbors in the community that actually work and provide for their families at these restaurants,” Clark said. “We try to employ good, honest people in and from the communities such as Spruce Pine, that we operate in.”
Spruce Pine Hardee’s is one of 18 restaurants under the Mountain Star LLC franchise umbrella.