The Denny's in Northfield is reopened after it closed for reports of health violations earlier this week.
The restaurant on Tilton Road was temporarily closed by the Atlantic County Division of Public Health as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Linda Gilmore told BreakingAC.
The Division of Public Health completed its investigation and gave its approval to reopen Wednesday afternoon, Gilmore said Thursday.
"We don't have issues with that (the health department)," a woman at the then-closed restaurant told BreakingAC. "We have maintenance issues."
But when told the reason for the shutdown had been confirmed by the county, the woman who did not give her name provided an 800-number that was not attached to Denny's.
"Denny's is aware of the temporary closure of its Northfield location," a spokesman told BreakingAC on Thursday. "When we learned of the issue, we began working with local inspections officials to address it. This work was completed rapidly, and the restaurant reopened yesterday afternoon.
"Denny's will always prioritize issues relating to the maintenance and operational capacity of its locations and is pleased to know that this situation has been resolved," he continued.
No details on the violations were given. But a man saying he was the general manager at the location until the closure gave some insight in a Facebook post.
"I would like to take this time to apologize to the Atlantic County Community," Chip Luciano wrote in the post-Tuesday. "I was the general manager of the Denny's in Northfield until today."
He then went on to write that the restaurant has been out of hot water since Wednesday.
"I constantly pleaded with ownership to shut down, explaining to them the dangers of staying open, getting people extremely sick and the threat of the health department shutting us down," he wrote. "Ownership and upper management told me I am not the health department and that GSS restaurants pays my salary."
On Tuesday, "some smart soul finally (called the health department),' he wrote.
Luciano alleged he was then fired 10 minutes after informing the ownership of the shutdown.
He could not be immediately reached for further comment.
The Denny's spokesman did not comment on Luciano's employment.
NOTE: This story originally ran Dec.1. It has been updated to reflect the inspection's completion and to add comment from Denny's.
