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Georgia's food code counts the parking lot as part of the restaurant

Published May 25, 2026 ยท By Thrare Contracting

A restaurant operator preparing for a health inspection checks cooler temperatures, sanitizer concentration and handwashing sinks. Georgia's food code reaches past the kitchen door. The Georgia Food Service Rules and Regulations, Chapter 511-6-1, define "Premises" at Rule 511-6-1-.01, definition (113), as "all physical buildings, appurtenances, parking lots and all property owned or used by the food service establishment." The dumpster enclosure, the loading area, the drive-through lane and the patio all sit inside the definition of the thing being inspected.

This page answers the exterior questions a metro Atlanta restaurant operator has to answer for an inspector and for a contractor: what the food code names, how many points an exterior finding costs on the score, where wash water from a grease-loaded dumpster pad is allowed to go, and which numbers a contractor bidding the work should be able to source. Every figure below is quoted from a primary document and listed with a read date in the Sources section at the end.

One boundary matters before any of it. Chapter 511-6-1 binds the permit holder, meaning the food service establishment. Thrare Contracting holds no permit under that chapter and is not inspected against it. The chapter is written here as what the operator's inspector is looking at, and as the outcome a cleaning schedule has to serve.

What does Georgia's food code count as part of the restaurant?

Georgia's food code counts the parking lot. Definition (113) of Rule 511-6-1-.01 states that "Premises" means "all physical buildings, appurtenances, parking lots and all property owned or used by the food service establishment." Nothing in that definition stops at the back door, and the exterior rules that follow are written on the assumption that the outside of the building is in scope.

Two subsections of Rule 511-6-1-.07, Physical Facilities, address exterior surfaces directly. Subsection (2)(p), Outdoor Walking and Driving Surfaces, states that "Exterior walking and driving surfaces shall be graded to drain." Subsection (2)(q), Outdoor Refuse Areas, states that "Outdoor refuse areas shall be constructed in accordance with Law and shall be curbed and graded to drain to collect and dispose of liquid waste that results from the refuse and from cleaning the area and waste receptacles." Note what subsection (2)(q) assumes: liquid waste results from cleaning the area, and the pad is required to be built to collect it.

The inspector is not a state employee in most metro Atlanta cases. Definition (74) of the same rule states that the "Health Authority" means "the Department, or a County Board of Health acting as its agent," so a restaurant in Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, Cherokee or Forsyth County is inspected by the county board of health environmental health office acting under the same state chapter.

How much does an exterior finding actually cost on the inspection score?

An exterior finding lands in the Good Retail Practices half of the report and costs one to three points, not the nine points a top-tier risk factor costs. Rule 511-6-1-.10(2)(h)4 states that "A violation of an item in a GRP category constitutes a one-to-three-point deduction from the overall score (maximum 100 points) as shown on the current food services establishment inspection report form." By contrast, subsection (2)(h)2(i) assigns a violation of a Risk Factors and Public Health Interventions subcategory 1 item "a point value ... of nine points," and subcategory 2 items four points.

Three of the nine Good Retail Practices categories listed at subsection (2)(h)5 reach exterior conditions directly: "Pest and animal control," "Water, plumbing and waste," and "Physical facilities." A fly-breeding dumpster pad, a refuse enclosure that is not clean, and an exterior surface that no longer drains are scored inside those three categories.

Small deductions become large ones through repetition. Rule 511-6-1-.10(2)(m) adds, on a repeat violation, "an additional two-point deduction for one or more repeat violation(s) within a RF/PHI category and one point deduction in a GRP category from the overall score," and states that where a violation of the same provision is "found in three consecutive routine inspections," the establishment can be subject to suspension or revocation of its permit. An exterior condition that never gets fixed is the classic repeat violation, because a pad that was dirty in March is dirty again in June unless the schedule changed.

The grade bands are set at Rule 511-6-1-.10(2)(l). The letter grade "A" "means food safety excellence and is applied to a score of 90 to 100." The grade "B" "means satisfactory compliance and is applied to a score of 80 to 89." The grade "C" "means marginal compliance and is applied to a score of 70 to 79." The grade "U" "means unsatisfactory compliance and is applied to a score of 69 or less." Four exterior deductions of three points each is the whole distance from a 92 to an 80.

Falling out of the A band carries operational consequences beyond the number on the door. Rule 511-6-1-.10(2)(b)5 states that establishments receiving a "C" or "U" "will have at least one additional routine inspection added in a twelve-month period." Subsection (2)(c) requires that a follow-up inspection "must be conducted within ten days after an establishment receives a grade 'U'." Subsection (2)(p)1 states that an establishment graded "U" that does not earn at least a "C" within ten days "may be requested to voluntarily close until all violations are corrected or have its food service permit suspended or revoked."

Correction windows are short. Rule 511-6-1-.10(2)(j)1 states that "the permit holder shall correct core items within 72 hours of the food service establishment's receipt of the inspection report or as otherwise directed by the Health Authority." A grease-saturated pad is not a 72-hour fix for an operator without a contractor already engaged, which is the practical argument for a standing schedule rather than a reactive call.

The score is also public at the door. Rule 511-6-1-.02(1)(d)1 requires that "The most current inspection report shall be prominently displayed in public view at all times, within fifteen feet of the front or primary public door and between five feet and seven feet from the floor and in an area where it can be read at a distance of one foot away." Subsection (1)(d)2 adds that establishments with drive-thru windows post the report so that "a minimum of the top one-third of a copy of the current inspection report is visible through each window." A drive-through customer reads the grade from the car, roughly where the lane's own grease and food debris accumulate.

Which exterior conditions does the food code name in its own words?

Rule 511-6-1-.06(5), Refuse, Recyclables and Returnables, is the densest exterior section in the chapter. Quoted as the rule states them:

Three of those five are worth reading twice. Subsection (5)(o) is the reason a missing dumpster drain plug is a finding rather than a housekeeping detail: with the plug out, every liquid the container holds runs onto the pad and toward whatever the pad drains to. Subsection (5)(p) sets a plain-language standard, "clean," which an inspector applies by looking. Subsection (5)(r) sets frequency by outcome rather than by calendar, so the correct service interval for any given restaurant is the one that keeps odor and pest conditions from developing at that site.

Where is a restaurant's dumpster pad wash water allowed to go?

Wash water from cleaning a restaurant's refuse receptacles goes to the sanitary system, and Georgia's food code says so inside the food code itself. Rule 511-6-1-.06(5)(q)1 requires that receptacles "shall be thoroughly cleaned in a way that does not contaminate food, equipment, utensils, linens, or single-service and single-use articles, and waste water shall be disposed of as specified under subsection (4)(e) of this Rule." Subsection (4)(e), Conveying Sewage, states that "Sewage shall be conveyed to the point of disposal through an approved sanitary sewage system or other system, including use of sewage transport vehicles, waste retention tanks, pumps, pipes, hoses, and connections that are constructed, maintained, and operated according to law."

Federal stormwater law reaches the same conclusion from the other direction. 40 CFR 122.26(b)(2) defines an illicit discharge as "any discharge to a municipal separate storm sewer that is not composed entirely of storm water except discharges pursuant to a NPDES permit ... and discharges resulting from fire fighting activities." Wash water carrying food residue, grease and detergent is not composed entirely of storm water.

Inside the city limits, the instrument is the city's own ordinance. Atlanta City Code section 74-436 states that "No person shall throw, drain, or otherwise discharge, cause, or allow others under its control to throw, drain, or otherwise discharge into the storm sewer system of the City of Atlanta any pollutants or waters containing any pollutants, other than stormwater." Section 74-428 defines a pollutant to include "petroleum hydrocarbons," "cooking grease," and "detergents (biodegradable or otherwise)." Section 74-429 states that "The provisions of this article shall apply throughout the corporate limits of the City of Atlanta." Fulton County states, for its part, that its stormwater program manages "the surface water resources of unincorporated Fulton County" and that "For all other areas of the County, stormwater management is the responsibility of the individual cities," so a county document is the wrong authority to quote at a city address.

Gwinnett County publishes the most detailed operational guidance in the metro on this exact scope. Water Quality Protection Guideline WQ-1, "Surface Cleaning," dated 04/05/2007, covers "the cleaning of surfaces, such as parking lots, fuel bays, roads, sidewalks, roofs, walls, driveways and other similar surfaces ... where washwater is generated." Section 3.1(1) requires dry methods first: absorbents on oil and fuel, sweeping or vacuuming loose material, collecting litter, and soaking up liquid contaminants before any water is introduced. Section 3.1(2) states that "Except as allowed by section 3.2.1.4 of this guideline, washwater generated during surface cleaning must never be allowed to enter into a storm drain." Section 3.1(5) states that evaporation is not an acceptable disposal method.

Grease is what closes the door on every other option. Under section 3.2.1, the default disposal route in WQ-1 is the sanitary sewer or an appropriately permitted on-site wastewater system, and section 3.2.1.1 attaches conditions to that route: property owner permission at clause (b), discharge only into private parts of the sewer and never a public manhole at clause (g), and, at clause (e), an oil/water separator where the washwater contains oil or grease. The same section lists sanitary sewer standards administered by Gwinnett County Department of Public Utilities, expressly "not a complete list," including temperature less than 150 degrees F, pH between 5.5 and 10.5, and oils and grease less than 200 mg/L. Section 3.1(11) states that "As the generator of the washwater the surface cleaner is considered jointly responsible with the property owner for its appropriate disposal," and section 3.1(12) directs cleaners not to work during rain events where washwater could intermingle with runoff.

Gwinnett attaches a penalty to its own ordinance rather than to federal law. Section 100-27(f) of the Gwinnett County Illicit Discharge and Illegal Connection ordinance states that "Upon conviction, such person shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or imprisonment for 60 days or both. Each act of violation and each day upon which any violation shall occur shall constitute a separate offense." Two qualifiers belong with that figure and are dropped almost everywhere else. Section 100-21(e) of the same ordinance states that "The provisions of this article shall apply throughout the unincorporated area of the county," so the fine does not reach an address inside Lawrenceville, Duluth, Norcross or any other incorporated Gwinnett city, each of which runs its own instrument. And the figure is Gwinnett's, not a Clean Water Act number.

Does a biodegradable degreaser make a grease discharge acceptable?

No, and the regulator says so in a single sentence. Gwinnett County guideline WQ-1, section 3.1(10), states verbatim: "There are NO 'environmentally friendly' or 'biodegradable' cleaning products that are approved for discharge to storm drains." Atlanta City Code section 74-428 reaches the same place by naming "detergents (biodegradable or otherwise)" in its own definition of a pollutant.

WQ-1 does allow a narrow storm drain route at section 3.2.1.4, and reading the conditions makes clear that a restaurant grease area does not qualify. The section 3.2.1.4 route requires no detectable pollutants, no visible or known contaminants on the surface, pH between 6.0 and 8.5, temperature not exceeding 90 degrees F, conductivity under 300 uS/cm, no traces of surfactants, emulsifiers, dispersants, detergents, solvents or degreasers, fecal coliform under 150 cfu/100 mL, and screening through an oil absorbent berm. Section 3.2.1.4(4) states the intent plainly: "This disposal option is intended to allow for cosmetic cleaning of surfaces stained with leaves, mildew, or atmospherically deposited dusts and pollens only." A dumpster pad is not a cosmetic cleaning problem.

A restaurant operator can use that paragraph as a screening question. A contractor who answers the containment question with a product name has answered a chemistry question with a marketing one.

What cleaning method does the food code name for refuse receptacles?

Georgia's food code names the equipment class and stops there. Rule 511-6-1-.06(5)(i)1 states that "suitable cleaning implements and supplies such as high-pressure pumps, hot water, steam, and detergent shall be provided as necessary for effective cleaning of receptacles and waste handling units for refuse, recyclables, and returnables." Subsection (5)(i)2 adds that "If approved, off-premises-based cleaning services may be used if on-premises cleaning implements and supplies are not provided," which is the provision under which an outside contractor does the work at all.

Read the limit as carefully as the permission. Chapter 511-6-1 publishes no pressure figure and no water temperature figure anywhere in the chapter, and subsection (5)(i)1 is written about receptacles and waste handling units, not about brick, stucco, pavers or painted storefront. Any psi or temperature number a contractor quotes for a restaurant exterior comes from a trade or manufacturer document, or from nowhere. Asking which document is the fastest way to find out which.

What pressure limits apply to a storefront, patio or enclosure wall?

Published cleaning limits exist per material, and the spread between them is wide enough that one setting cannot be right for a whole restaurant exterior. Each figure below belongs only to the material its own document names.

Two honest gaps sit alongside that list. No document in this set publishes a cleaning pressure for poured concrete flatwork, which is what most dumpster pads and drive-through lanes are made of, so a pad specification is set by the contamination and the containment rather than by a published ceiling. And the EIFS ceiling of 500 psi never crosses to brick, nor the brick ceiling of 400 psi to pavers; each figure is published by a different body for a different material.

What about the patio, the entry walkway and the storefront?

Front-of-house surfaces are scored under the same chapter as the dumpster pad and read by the customer as well. Rule 511-6-1-.01, definition (113), puts the patio and the walkway inside the premises, and Rule 511-6-1-.07(5)(b)1 requires that "The physical facilities shall be cleaned as often as necessary to keep them clean and by methods that prevent contamination of food products." An outdoor dining surface where guests eat is a physical facility under that sentence.

Patio construction sets the method. On interlocking concrete pavers, the Concrete Masonry and Hardscapes Association warns that a wide nozzle "prevents sand from being washed from the joints" and that "A low angle of attack from a wide nozzle spray will also reduce the risk of dislodging joint sand." Blowing joint sand out of a paver patio converts a cleaning visit into a re-sanding job, so the pressure that suits a concrete loading area is the wrong choice ten feet away on the patio.

The entry walkway carries a second standard. The United States Access Board, in section 302.1 of the ADA Accessibility Standards, states that "Floor and ground surfaces shall be stable, firm, and slip-resistant." Read that as the requirement the accessible route was built to meet, not as a rule that a stained walkway is an ADA finding: section 302.1 governs the surface, and the Access Board publishes no cleaning frequency behind it. Biofilm, algae and spilled grease on an entry path work against a surface property the standard names, which is the honest version of the argument for keeping the route clean.

Gum is a separate line item rather than an assumed part of a walkway wash. No document in the set cited on this page publishes a gum removal temperature or dwell time, so any figure quoted for gum removal comes from a contractor's own practice and should be described that way. Price gum by count or by area and treat it as its own scope, because a walkway wash priced without it comes back with the gum still there.

When should exterior work at a restaurant be scheduled?

The food code answers the timing question for the establishment's own cleaning. Rule 511-6-1-.07(5)(b)1 states that "The physical facilities shall be cleaned as often as necessary to keep them clean and by methods that prevent contamination of food products," and subsection (5)(b)2 adds that "Except for cleaning that is necessary due to a spill or other accident, cleaning shall be done during periods when the least amount of food is exposed, such as after closing." Subsection (5)(b)2 is written about cleaning the physical facilities of the establishment, so treat it as a sound reason to put exterior work after close rather than as a rule that exterior washing is legally required to happen at night.

Weather sets the other constraint. Gwinnett guideline WQ-1, section 3.1(12), directs cleaners not to work during rain events where washwater could intermingle with stormwater runoff, and section 3.1(9) directs that contaminated surfaces be rinsed with potable water at the end of each working day or before a rain event, with that rinse water treated as washwater. A crew that starts a grease pad ahead of a storm has converted a contained job into an uncontained one.

Frequency follows from Rule 511-6-1-.06(5)(r), which sets the test as an outcome: removal at a frequency "that will minimize the development of objectionable odors and other conditions that attract or harbor insects and rodents." A workable program shape for a table-service restaurant in Atlanta looks like this, and the intervals are a program design rather than a figure published by any regulator:

Set the short cycle by observation at the site rather than by a number copied from a vendor page. A restaurant whose pad shows visible fly activity or standing liquid before the next scheduled visit is on the wrong interval, and subsection (5)(r) is the standard that says so.

What is in the price of a restaurant exterior cleaning, and what is not?

Scope drives cost, so no price appears on this page. What the line item covers is worth stating plainly, because the omitted items are where restaurant exterior bids diverge most.

In the scope of an exterior cleaning visit:

Not in the scope, and each one is a different trade or a different party:

What does Thrare Contracting need from a restaurant before mobilizing?

Six items, and all six are things a general manager already knows or can find in ten minutes:

Documentation is worth keeping on the operator's side as well. A service log naming the date, the surfaces cleaned, the contractor and the method, together with date-stamped photographs, the interceptor pumping records and the hauler contract, makes an exterior question at an inspection a document request rather than an argument. An operator who can produce that file is answering from a record instead of from memory.

Thrare Contracting issues a certificate of insurance to a named holder on request. Rare Earth Ltd, doing business as Thrare Contracting, is registered in SAM under UEI Z4WKS4UE8NJ6 and CAGE 9JAV8, holds DBE, ACDBE, MBE and SDB certifications, and participates in E-Verify.

How should an operator screen an exterior cleaning contractor?

Gwinnett County publishes consumer guidance on exactly this question and states the problem bluntly: "The management of polluted wash water often requires the use of specialized equipment. Not all contractors have this equipment and may not be able to comply with the law." The same brochure warns the buyer about the buyer's own exposure: "Keep in mind that as the consumer, you may also be held responsible for illegal discharges that occur on your property." A restaurant that accepts the cheapest pad wash has bought the version that skipped containment.

Four questions separate a contractor who has read the documents from one who has read a competitor's website:

What does Thrare Contracting clean at a restaurant?

Thrare Contracting cleans the exterior surfaces a food service inspection reaches: dumpster pads and refuse enclosures, grease interceptor surrounds, loading areas, drive-through lanes and service window aprons, patio flatwork and pavers, entry walkways including gum, and storefront elevations. Method and chemistry are selected per surface against the published limits quoted on this page, with dry cleanup first and washwater recovered rather than rinsed to the nearest grate.

Thrare Contracting serves restaurants across metro Atlanta from 8735 Dunwoody Pl, Ste R, Atlanta, GA 30350. The scope detail and program options sit on the restaurant pressure washing page, with related scopes on the commercial services page and the exterior cleaning page. Call (678) 748-3578 or request a site walk to price a schedule against the surfaces the inspection actually reaches.

Frequently asked questions about restaurant exterior cleaning and Georgia health code

Does a Georgia health inspector look at the outside of a restaurant?

Yes. The Georgia Food Service Rules and Regulations, Chapter 511-6-1, define "Premises" at Rule 511-6-1-.01, definition (113), as "all physical buildings, appurtenances, parking lots and all property owned or used by the food service establishment." Rule 511-6-1-.07(2)(p) requires that "Exterior walking and driving surfaces shall be graded to drain," and Rule 511-6-1-.07(2)(q) requires that outdoor refuse areas "shall be curbed and graded to drain to collect and dispose of liquid waste that results from the refuse and from cleaning the area and waste receptacles." The duty falls on the permit holder, meaning the restaurant, not on its cleaning contractor.

How many points does a dirty dumpster pad cost on a Georgia restaurant inspection?

Exterior conditions are scored in the Good Retail Practices categories, and Rule 511-6-1-.10(2)(h)4 states that "A violation of an item in a GRP category constitutes a one-to-three-point deduction from the overall score (maximum 100 points)." A Risk Factors and Public Health Interventions subcategory 1 item carries nine points by comparison, and a subcategory 2 item four points. Rule 511-6-1-.10(2)(m) adds one further point in a GRP category for a repeat violation, and states that the same provision cited in three consecutive routine inspections can put the permit at risk of suspension or revocation.

What score is an A on a Georgia restaurant inspection?

Rule 511-6-1-.10(2)(l) sets the bands. The letter grade "A" "means food safety excellence and is applied to a score of 90 to 100." The grade "B" "means satisfactory compliance and is applied to a score of 80 to 89." The grade "C" "means marginal compliance and is applied to a score of 70 to 79." The grade "U" "means unsatisfactory compliance and is applied to a score of 69 or less." Rule 511-6-1-.10(2)(b)5 adds at least one extra routine inspection in a twelve-month period for an establishment receiving a "C" or "U".

Where does restaurant dumpster pad wash water have to go?

Rule 511-6-1-.06(5)(q)1 requires that waste water from cleaning refuse receptacles "be disposed of as specified under subsection (4)(e) of this Rule," and subsection (4)(e) routes it "through an approved sanitary sewage system or other system." Gwinnett County guideline WQ-1 sets the same default at section 3.2.1 and attaches conditions at section 3.2.1.1: the property owner's permission, discharge to private parts of the sewer and never a public manhole, and an oil/water separator where the washwater contains oil or grease. Under 40 CFR 122.26(b)(2), a discharge to a municipal separate storm sewer that is not composed entirely of storm water is an illicit discharge absent an NPDES permit.

Is a biodegradable degreaser allowed to reach a storm drain?

No. Gwinnett County guideline WQ-1, section 3.1(10), states verbatim: "There are NO 'environmentally friendly' or 'biodegradable' cleaning products that are approved for discharge to storm drains." Atlanta City Code section 74-428 defines a pollutant to include "petroleum hydrocarbons," "cooking grease," and "detergents (biodegradable or otherwise)," and section 74-436 prohibits discharging pollutants into the city storm sewer system. WQ-1 section 3.1(5) adds that evaporation is not an acceptable disposal method either.

How often should a restaurant have its dumpster pad and grease areas cleaned?

Georgia's food code sets the test as an outcome rather than a calendar. Rule 511-6-1-.06(5)(r) requires removal of refuse from the premises "at a frequency that will minimize the development of objectionable odors and other conditions that attract or harbor insects and rodents," and Rule 511-6-1-.06(5)(p) requires that the storage area and enclosure be "maintained free of unnecessary items and clean." The correct interval for any restaurant is the one that keeps odor and pest conditions from developing at that site between visits, which is shorter in the hottest months and shorter again for a kitchen with high waste volume.

Where the figures on this page come from

Every regulatory figure above is quoted from a primary document. Trade association and manufacturer literature is identified as such and is not code. Chapter 511-6-1 binds the food service permit holder, not its cleaning contractor.

Health code compliance per the Georgia Department of Public Health.

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