Almost from the time it opened in early 2023, the Sugar Factory American Brasserie at The Markets at Town Center ran afoul of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, according to inspection records.
The Las Vegas-based restaurant at 4910 Big Island Drive permanently closed on or before June 21, weeks after the state ordered it shut following a failed inspection.
The chain is known for elaborate craft cocktails, many priced at $19 or more, but the Jacksonville restaurant opened serving only mocktails, lacking a state alcohol license when it launched in March 2023. It later obtained an alcohol license.
Since its first inspection in August 2023, the restaurant was cited for problems ranging from missing hand-washing signs and unposted inspection documents to mold in the ice machine, unsafe food preparation, flying insects and improper food storage.
The problems persisted into 2026 with 165 citations documented in 21 visits since 2023.
A Jan. 12 inspection found 21 violations, which were later corrected, and the restaurant passed a recommended follow-up.
Months later, a June 8 inspection again found 21 violations and the state shut down the restaurant. Six were high priority, including:
• Flying insects
• Rodent activity
• A stop-sale order on food found not to be in a “wholesome and sound condition”
• Time and temperature violations
• Sanitizer solution exceeding the maximum allowed concentration
• An expired hotel and restaurant license
A return inspection June 9 found nine items still uncorrected including high priority violations of flying insects, rodent activity and improper food storage temperatures. The restaurant remained closed by the state.
The June 10 inspection still found seven violations including the high priority problems with flying insects and rodent activity. The restaurant remained closed.
The follow-up June 12 inspection noted the previous seven violations but found that the insect and rodent problems had been resolved. Five other basic problems were granted more time to be corrected.
An email sent to Sugar Factory headquarters and a phone call to Kimco Realty, owner of The Markets at Town Center, were not returned. Kimco owns the building that was leased by Sugar Factory.
In April 2021, the company announced it expected to open the Jacksonville location in January 2022. Several delays pushed that date 14 months to March 2023. The space had previously been leased by Brio Tuscan Grille, which closed in January 2020.
Sugar Factory has struggled at other locations as well. On June 23, The Sugar Factory home page announced the closing of its Glendale, Arizona, location.
As fo June 25, the Jacksonville location was still listed at sugarfactory.com.
In April 2024, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported that the chain’s location at Circle Centre Mall in Indianapolis owed its landlord $333,779 in unpaid rent. That location is no longer listed on the Sugar Factory website.
The publication also reported that the company’s Mall of America location near Minneapolis had fallen more than $2 million behind on lease payments; that restaurant still appears on the site.