Cleanliness in the hospitality industry is most often the primary indicator of how well a business is received by the customer. According to a recent AAA survey, hotel cleanliness is the main feature that travelers look for when choosing where to stay, outranking not only price/value and location, but also room amenities.
Additionally, the safety of your staff and your patrons are both at stake in your hotel kitchen. Whether you’re running the kitchen at a hotel, resort, restaurant, casino, country club or timeshare property, keeping the kitchen exhaust system clean is a necessary part of ongoing maintenance to prevent fires from occurring within your property.
Hotel fires due to commercial kitchen operations can happen at any type of hotel, from small establishments to well-known, chain locations. Last week, fire crews extinguished flames at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, following a kitchen fire that prompted the evacuation of hundreds of guests and employees from the iconic hotel. Per the fire department, the fire began on a stove in the restaurant, and extended up into the ventilation and roof.
Cleaning a hotel’s kitchen exhaust system involves removing grease, soot and other fire hazards from within the ducts and filters that carry exhaust from the stoves, broilers, fryers and grills used in the commercial kitchens. The entire grease exhaust system should be cleaned from the hood to the exhaust fan to minimize the risk of fire, as well as to keep the system working efficiently.
In most cases, this cleaning is provided on a quarterly basis, although in some cases where wood or charcoal is used for cooking, the National Fire Protection Agency requires monthly cleaning. If grease is allowed to accumulate, it will provide a large fuel source in the event of a kitchen fire.
When hiring a kitchen exhaust cleaning company, find an expert that understands you have tight time frames for cleaning, particularly in the kitchen, and that a dirty kitchen exhaust system can ruin the ambiance which you have worked so hard to create.
