About Us
We used to be the ones with the clipboard. Now we use everything we learned to protect your restaurant, your revenue, and your reputation.
Our team includes former NYC Health Department inspectors and industry professionals who have spent decades inside this process. We serve all five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. We've helped hundreds of restaurants recover from B and C grades, beat unfair violations at OATH hearings, and build compliance systems that keep the A on the door permanently.
When you've spent years doing inspections, you stop guessing. You know exactly what gets flagged, what gets missed, and what actually matters. That's what we bring to every client.
We don't just prepare you. We can represent you. When the hearing comes, we're in that room with you. Not on the phone, not sending paperwork. There.
We built this company because we saw too many good restaurants lose their A over things that could have been prevented. That still drives everything we do.
NYC Restaurant Grading System: That Letter on Your Door Is Worth More Than Any Ad Campaign
Since 2010, that letter in your window has changed everything about how New Yorkers choose where to eat. People see your grade before they see your menu. Before they read your reviews. Before they even walk in.
A B doesn’t just hurt your pride. It hurts your revenue every single day it’s up there.
- Even a temporary B can change the habits of customers who walk by your door every day.
- People look up grades before they decide where to eat. That window is your first impression and you don't get a second one.
- In this city, an A isn't a bonus. It's the price of staying in business.
- An A brings people in. Anything less sends them down the block to your competitor.
You didn't open a restaurant in New York City to lose customers over a letter. Let's make sure you never do.
Get Your Free Assessment — Call NowEverything in one place, so nothing slips through the cracks.
Your client portal gives you direct access to your violation history, corrective action plans, hearing documents, and compliance status. All in one place. No chasing emails. No wondering where things stand.
See everything
Your full compliance history, open cases, and submitted documents all visible from your phone or laptop, any time you need them.
We move fast
When you have a violation notice or a hearing date, every hour counts. We don't make you wait.
Transparency
You'll always know what's been submitted, what's in progress, and what happens next. No surprises.
Expert Support
Real people, former inspectors and compliance specialists, available at every step from your first mock inspection to your hearing.
Upload your documents and violations directly through your portal. We review everything and come back to you with a clear plan. No back and forth, no confusion.
Our Services
We don't send reports from a desk. We come to your restaurant, walk your kitchen, meet your team, and figure out exactly what needs to change — before the inspector does. Every hour you wait with an open violation costs you money. We move fast so you don't have to.
Mock Inspections
We walk your kitchen the same way the DOH inspector will — because we used to be that inspector. We find every violation before the city does, saving you thousands in fines and protecting your A grade.
Staff Training
80% of repeat violations come from untrained staff. We train your team on the exact health code standards the DOH enforces — so the same violation never shows up twice.
OATH Hearing Representation
Facing an OATH hearing? We've sat on both sides of that table. We represent you in front of hearing officers, challenge incorrectly assessed violations, and fight to reduce your points. Most clients walk out with significantly lower scores.
Digital Client Portal
Track your violations, hearing dates, corrective action plans, and compliance status 24/7. No more chasing emails or wondering where your case stands. Everything in one secure dashboard.
Every Day Without an A Costs You Customers and Revenue
A B grade on your door costs you an estimated 20-30% in foot traffic. A C can shut you down. That letter does more for your business than any ad campaign ever will. We make sure it stays an A — before the inspector shows up, during the OATH hearing, and whenever things go sideways.
Secure Your A Grade — Call Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a pending grade? Surprise inspection? OATH hearing notice? Don't panic.
Our FAQ covers everything from violations to appeals — with the same straight talk we give every client.
Meet Our
Compliance
Specialists
At Grade A Rescue, our Compliance Specialists are not salespeople. They are not here to pitch you a service or close a deal. They are here because they have lived the restaurant industry from the inside and they know exactly what it takes to protect your business.
A Compliance Specialist knows how to navigate between you, the Department of Health, and OATH with excellence. They understand the language of inspectors, the weight of every violation code, and the real impact a failed inspection has on your operation. When a problem shows up, they do not panic and they do not guess. They know how to resolve it.
Each one of our specialists comes from a different corner of the industry. Former chefs, bartenders, restaurant owners, food service professionals. They have stood where you stand. They have felt the pressure you feel. And they have turned that experience into the expertise that gets your Grade A back and keeps it there.
This is not about selling you something. This is about having the right person in your corner. Someone who speaks your language, knows the system inside and out, and fights for your restaurant like it is their own.
Anthony Collins
Compliance Specialist · anthony@gradearescue.com
Anthony grew up surrounded by pots, pans and spices in his father's kitchen. His dad was a Mexican chef who left Guadalajara for Oregon and never stepped away from the stove. Before Tony could even read, he already knew the difference between a properly reduced sauce and one that needed more time. He worked in every kind of restaurant you can imagine, from roadside diners to fine dining spots in Portland. By 24, he earned the title of Chef, not because of a diploma, but because no kitchen ran right without him in charge.
He spent nearly three decades living the reality of a commercial kitchen from the inside. The inspections, the deadlines, the pressure of keeping everything spotless when the dining room is packed and the inspector walks through the door. Tony knows what it feels like to have sweat running down your back while someone with a clipboard is evaluating every corner of your establishment.
In 2019, at 52 years old, he brought all of that experience to Grade A Rescue as a Compliance Specialist. Tony doesn't talk about compliance like someone who read a manual. He talks like someone who has scrubbed a hood vent at two in the morning, reorganized an entire walk-in cooler on a Friday night and saved a kitchen from a critical violation with 20 minutes to spare. For him, keeping your Grade A is not about paperwork. It is about respect for your customers, your team and your food.
Sofia Orlova
Compliance Specialist · sofia@gradearescue.com
Sofia grew up hearing Russian at home and English on the street, the daughter of immigrants who came from Saint Petersburg with two suitcases and the belief that hard work can fix anything. She carried that mindset behind a bar counter at 19 years old and never left the food and beverage industry.
For over a decade as a bartender in high volume restaurants and lounges, Sofia learned something most people overlook. The bar is where the customer sees everything. She watched closely when ice was stored the wrong way, when a cooler's temperature fluctuated, when a cleaning procedure got skipped because the shift was too hectic. She knew exactly which shortcuts the staff was taking and which of those shortcuts cost points on an inspection.
It was that perspective, from someone who lived the front of house and not just the kitchen, that brought her to Grade A Rescue. As a Compliance Specialist, Sofia combines years of trained observation from the floor with sharp technical knowledge of health regulations. She understands the real pressure of a packed service and knows that compliance does not work if it only exists on paper. It has to fit into the routine of the people who are on the ground, in the heat, in the controlled chaos of a restaurant running at full capacity.
Teddy Ashford
Compliance Specialist · teddy@gradearescue.com
Teddy is from Florida. Born and raised under the sun of a state where restaurants open and close as fast as a tropical storm rolls in. He grew up around his father's establishments, who spent years in food service management, and early on he understood that a restaurant does not survive on good food alone. It survives on systems, on process, on consistency.
While many of his peers chased the more glamorous sides of the industry, Teddy was drawn to what happens behind the scenes. The permits, the codes, the regulations that nobody wants to read but that ultimately decide whether a restaurant stays open or shuts its doors. He studied health and food safety regulations with the same discipline others dedicate to perfecting recipes, and he became the kind of professional that restaurant owners call when they receive a violation notice and have no idea where to start.
At Grade A Rescue, Teddy is the Compliance Specialist who turns panic into a plan of action. Methodical, straightforward and with a rare patience for explaining what each violation actually means in practice, he walks his clients through it step by step. No unnecessary jargon, no false alarms. For Teddy, every restaurant that gets its Grade A back is proof that the right organization and the right guidance can overcome any situation.
Sam G.
Compliance Specialist · sam@gradearescue.com
Sam knows what it means to have your name on a restaurant. Not as a consultant, not as an employee. As an owner. For years, he ran his own establishments in Boston, facing everything the industry throws at someone who takes that risk. Tight margins, staff turnover, suppliers who let you down and yes, inspections that show up at the worst possible moment.
He has been on the other side of the table. He has received the notice that keeps you up at night. He has had to decide between shutting down to fix things properly or trying to patch it all together on the fly. And it is precisely because he has lived through every one of those situations that Sam understands his clients in a way that very few can. When a restaurant owner calls in a panic after losing their Grade A, Sam does not have to imagine what they are feeling. He has felt it himself.
Today, as a Compliance Specialist at Grade A Rescue, Sam uses all of that experience as an operator to do what he wishes someone had done for him. Offer clear, realistic guidance with no runaround. He knows the sacrifices, the pride and the headaches that come with every restaurant. And that is why he treats every case as if it were his own, because in a way, it once was.
Contact Us
Don’t wait until the inspector is at your door. The best time to call is before you need us. The second best time is right now.
Your First Consultation Is Free.
Your reputation took years to build. One bad inspection can undo it overnight.
Call us now — we've been on both sides of this process, and we know exactly how to protect you.
Location:
17 State Street, 40th Floor, Manhattan, NY 10004
New York City
Email:
Call:
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