So says Tim Zagat, co-founder and chief executive of Zagat Survey in this morning’s N.Y. Times, adding,

This system can only benefit the restaurant industry, and the health board has been eminently reasonable in what it proposes to do. What’s more, the public overwhelmingly favors the idea. In a recent survey by my company, 83 percent of respondents said that they would like to have grades posted. …

In essence, the New York plan merely makes routine health inspection results more transparent. The city has inspected restaurants for decades, but the results have been available only online or at the health department; now they will be displayed in the restaurant itself. Establishments that fail to get an A on the first inspection will be given a second examination within 30 days, giving them time to correct any failings found in the first go-around.

Quite simply, the inspection process is intended to keep us safe when dining out. … The restaurant association would do well to take its place at the table — and support the proposed grading system.