diff --git a/platform/broadcom/docker-syncd-brcm/start.sh b/platform/broadcom/docker-syncd-brcm/start.sh
index c52e5cb202..98c7d9c15a 100755
--- a/platform/broadcom/docker-syncd-brcm/start.sh
+++ b/platform/broadcom/docker-syncd-brcm/start.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,25 @@
 PLATFORM_DIR=/usr/share/sonic/platform
 HWSKU_DIR=/usr/share/sonic/hwsku
 
+SYNCD_SOCKET_FILE=/var/run/sswsyncd/sswsyncd.socket
+
+# Function: wait until syncd has created the socket for bcmcmd to connect to
+wait_syncd() {
+    while true; do
+        if [ -e ${SYNCD_SOCKET_FILE} ]; then
+            break
+        fi
+        sleep 1
+    done
+
+    # wait until bcm sdk is ready to get a request
+    sleep 3
+}
+
+
+# Remove stale files if they exist
 rm -f /var/run/rsyslogd.pid
+rm -f ${SYNCD_SOCKET_FILE}
 
 supervisorctl start rsyslogd
 
@@ -18,22 +36,8 @@ else
     fi
 fi
 
-rm -f /var/run/sswsyncd/sswsyncd.socket
 supervisorctl start syncd
 
-# Function: wait until syncd has created the socket for bcmcmd to connect to
-wait_syncd() {
-    while true; do
-        if [ -e /var/run/sswsyncd/sswsyncd.socket ]; then
-            break
-        fi
-        sleep 1
-    done
-
-    # wait until bcm sdk is ready to get a request
-    sleep 3
-}
-
 # If this platform has an initialization file for the Broadcom LED microprocessor, load it
 if [ -r ${PLATFORM_DIR}/led_proc_init.soc ]; then
     wait_syncd