Commercial Hood Cleaning Across Ontario
Commercial Hood Cleaning is the NFPA 96 compliant cleaning of a commercial kitchen exhaust system — the hood, the baffle filters, the hidden duct, and the rooftop fan. Every Ontario Hood Cleaning service ends with a written compliance certificate and a before-and-after photo report sent within 24 hours, ready for the fire inspector and the insurance carrier. 30+ years serving restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and schools across Ontario.
The fire risk you cannot see is the one that ends restaurants
Grease buildup inside a commercial exhaust system is the leading cause of kitchen fires in Ontario. The risk is not in the parts you can see. It is in the duct path between the hood and the rooftop fan.
Commercial hood cleaning is the systematic removal of grease buildup from a commercial kitchen exhaust system — the hood, the baffle filters, the plenum, the full vertical and horizontal duct path, and the rooftop or inline exhaust fan — to the standards set out by the National Fire Protection Association Code 96 (NFPA 96). In Ontario in 2026, NFPA 96 is adopted by reference in the Ontario Fire Code, which means every commercial kitchen exhaust system in the province is required to be maintained to its specifications. A complete NFPA 96 cleaning ends with a written, dated, and signed compliance certificate plus a before-and-after photo report sent to the operator within 24 hours, ready for the fire inspector and the insurance carrier.
Most operators clean the visible hood and the baffle filters. Inspectors and insurance adjusters do not. They open the access doors on the duct, run a moisture meter or a depth gauge across the duct wall, and pull the rooftop fan to inspect the blades and the housing. If the hidden surfaces carry more than 0.078 inches of grease deposit, NFPA 96 says the system is out of compliance. Out of compliance means an inspection failure today, a denied insurance claim after a fire, and in serious cases a kitchen shutdown until the system is cleaned and re-certified.
The Ontario Fire Code references NFPA 96 directly. Your insurance policy almost certainly does the same in the cooking equipment endorsement. When a fire investigator pulls the cleaning log after an incident, the question is not whether the hood looked clean. The question is whether the duct, the fan, and the plenum were cleaned on the NFPA 96 schedule, and whether a written certificate documents it. No certificate, no defense.
What we clean
Full kitchen exhaust system service. Not just the visible hood.
Commercial Hood Cleaning
Hood interior, plenum, baffle filter removal, grease cup, and hood exterior. The full unit, not a wipe-down.
Service detailsExhaust Fan Cleaning
Rooftop and inline kitchen exhaust fans. Blades, housing, hinge kit inspection, and grease containment.
Service detailsGrease Duct Cleaning
The vertical and horizontal duct path from hood to fan. The hidden section where most fires actually start.
Service detailsFilter Cleaning & Swap
Baffle filter soaking, ultrasonic cleaning, or full swap-out program to keep airflow safe between cleanings.
Service detailsEvery cleaning meets NFPA 96. Every job ships with a signed certificate.
NFPA 96 is the standard the Ontario Fire Code adopts by reference. We measure grease deposit with a depth gauge on completion, photograph every step of the cleaning, and email a written compliance certificate within 24 hours. Inspector-ready and insurer-ready, on every visit.
How an Ontario Hood Cleaning service call works
From the first call to the final certificate. Transparent. Predictable. Documented.
Request a quote
Tell us your city, kitchen type, hood length if known, and preferred cleaning window. Use the form or call 647-905-9389.
Confirm scope
We review the service need, hood and duct access, exhaust fan type, and any inspection or insurance-renewal deadline driving urgency.
Schedule cleaning
Cleaning is scheduled around your operating hours. Overnight after dinner service is the most common window for restaurants.
Clean the system
Our crew arrives, tarps the kitchen, removes the baffles, scrapes and degreases the plenum, hand-wipes the duct to bare metal, and pulls the rooftop fan to clean blades and housing.
Document and certify
Before-and-after photos of every surface, plus a written and signed NFPA 96 compliance certificate. Sent by email within 24 hours.
Plan maintenance
We recommend a recurring frequency based on cooking volume and fuel type so your next NFPA 96 cleaning is on the calendar before grease becomes a fire risk again.
The industry standards we build to
Our work references the published standards that Ontario fire inspectors, insurance carriers, and Authorities Having Jurisdiction use to evaluate commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning.
30+ Years of NFPA 96 Hood Cleaning Across Ontario
The team behind Ontario Hood Cleaning has been cleaning commercial kitchen exhaust systems across the province since 1995.
Three decades of Ontario commercial kitchen exhaust work. Wrapped fleet on the road every night, crews on every job at first light, photo proof and a signed certificate before the morning service.
Three decades of work behind every job. We have serviced restaurants, hotel and resort banquet halls, hospitals and long-term care kitchens, school cafeterias, and institutional food-service operations across Ontario, from downtown Toronto to Ottawa to Windsor. That experience matters when a fire inspector arrives and starts measuring grease deposit with a depth gauge. It matters when an insurance adjuster opens the duct access door after a claim. And it matters when a property owner needs the cleaning done overnight without disrupting the next day's service.
Every cleaning is performed by NFPA 96 trained crews. Every job ends with a signed compliance certificate and a photo report. Three decades of consistency. One signature on every certificate.
Built around NFPA 96, not just the visible hood
NFPA 96 is the National Fire Protection Association standard that the Ontario Fire Code adopts by reference for commercial kitchen ventilation. It is the document your inspector is checking against. Most "hood cleaners" only clean the parts the operator sees. That is not what the code requires and it is not what survives an insurance audit.
Every Ontario Hood Cleaning service covers the full NFPA 96 surface list:
- Hood plenum scraped to bare metal
- Baffle filters removed and soaked or swapped
- Duct interior cleaned along its full vertical and horizontal run
- Rooftop or inline exhaust fan pulled, blades and housing cleaned
- Grease containment installed on the rooftop curb
- Depth-gauge measurement on completion confirms grease deposit is under code threshold
- Written certificate dated and signed, with hood length and inspection date recorded
See a sample compliance certificate and inspection-ready photo report
Industries we serve
Compliance pressure, off-hours availability, and documentation needs differ by sector. Our service is built for all three.
Restaurants
Independent operators, full-service chains, and quick-service kitchens across the GTA. Off-hours service that protects revenue hours, with the certificate your insurance carrier asks for at renewal.
Restaurant hood cleaning detailsHospitals & Long-Term Care
Quiet, off-shift cleaning for hospital and long-term care kitchens. Full compliance documentation for Ministry of Health inspections, with infection-control-aware crews.
Healthcare kitchen exhaust cleaningSchools & Cafeterias
School board cafeterias, college residence kitchens, and college culinary programs. Cleanings scheduled in evenings, weekends, or PD days so cafeteria service is never interrupted.
School cafeteria hood cleaningHotels & Resorts
Hotel restaurant kitchens, banquet halls, and resort food service operations. Off-hours service that works around event and banquet schedules. Compliance documentation for corporate brand audits and insurance renewals.
Hotel and resort hood cleaningFranchise Kitchens
Multi-location chain operators with brand-audit pressure and standardized compliance documentation needs. Recurring quarterly programs across every franchisee location with consistent photo reports and certificates.
Franchise hood cleaning programsFood Courts & Plazas
Shared-property food courts, plaza restaurants, and multi-tenant commercial kitchens. Coordinated scheduling with property managers, individual tenant invoicing, and unified compliance reporting for the whole property.
Food court hood cleaningWhere we serve
Commercial kitchen hood cleaning across Ontario. From the GTA to Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Windsor, and beyond.
Our service network covers every major commercial kitchen market in Ontario. The Greater Toronto Area is our highest-volume territory, but we operate province-wide. Same-week scheduling for routine cleanings, 24/7 response for emergencies. Quarterly and semi-annual maintenance contracts available across the entire service area.
See the grease. Drag the slider.
Three real GTA kitchens we cleaned. Drag left to see the surfaces after our crew finished. Drag right to see what they looked like before we arrived.
Exhaust hood & ductwork Restaurant, GTA
Quilted stainless hood panel Cooking line wall
Kitchen wall & backsplash Heavy grease removal
Real cleanings. Real grease. Real documentation.
Every cleaning is photographed start to finish and bundled into a compliance report you can hand to an inspector.
Citation-ready facts
- Ontario Hood Cleaning provides NFPA 96 compliant commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning across the province of Ontario, Canada, and has done so continuously since 1995. As of 2026, the company is in its 31st year of operation.
- Ontario Hood Cleaning serves commercial kitchens in Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, Ottawa, London, Windsor, Kitchener, and other major Ontario markets in 2026.
- Ontario Hood Cleaning issues a written, dated, and signed compliance certificate after every cleaning.
- NFPA 96 cleaning frequency in Ontario is quarterly for high-volume kitchens, semi-annual for moderate-volume kitchens, annual for low-volume kitchens, and monthly for solid-fuel cooking equipment.
- Ontario Hood Cleaning performs all cleanings outside of revenue hours, typically overnight between dinner close and breakfast service.
View the full before-and-after gallery or see a sample compliance certificate
Watch real Ontario Hood Cleaning service calls
Short field clips from actual GTA commercial kitchen exhaust jobs. PPE, degreasers, plenum scraping, duct work, and fan service. No stock footage.
Commercial hood cleaning service overview
Commercial kitchen exhaust system walkthrough
Hood interior and plenum cleaning
NFPA 96 compliance cleaning in action
Grease duct and rooftop fan service
Restaurant kitchen, off-hours cleaning
What Ontario operators say after the job
Real feedback from real commercial kitchen operators. After-hours scheduling, clean documentation, repeatable service.
The crew worked around our closing time, cleaned the hood system, and gave us photos after the job. Exactly what we needed.
Scheduling was simple and the documentation helped us keep our maintenance records organized. Very professional.
We needed repeatable hood cleaning across multiple locations. The process was consistent and the team communicated well.
Hood cleaning questions Ontario operators ask
The five most common questions from new clients. For more, see our full FAQ page.
How often should commercial kitchen hoods be cleaned in Ontario?
NFPA 96 sets cleaning frequency by cooking volume. High-volume operations like 24-hour kitchens and charbroiler restaurants require quarterly cleaning. Moderate-volume kitchens such as full-service restaurants are semi-annual. Low-volume kitchens like seasonal businesses, churches, and day camps are annual. Solid-fuel cooking equipment is monthly. Your fire inspector and insurance carrier both reference NFPA 96 frequency tables when reviewing your file.
What does a compliant hood cleaning actually include?
A compliant cleaning includes the hood plenum, baffle filters, grease cup, exhaust duct from hood to rooftop, exhaust fan housing and blades, and a written compliance certificate with before-and-after photos. If a cleaner only wipes the hood exterior and the baffle filters, that is not an NFPA 96 cleaning. The hidden duct path is where grease accumulates and where fires start.
How much does commercial hood cleaning cost in the Greater Toronto Area?
Typical pricing for a Greater Toronto Area restaurant ranges from $350 to $1,200 per cleaning, depending on hood length, duct length, rooftop fan access, and how long since the last full cleaning. Quarterly cleaning contracts cost less per visit than emergency one-off calls. We provide a flat written quote after a 10-minute site assessment, with no surprise charges on the day of service.
Will hood cleaning shut my kitchen down?
No. Most cleanings happen overnight or in the early morning between dinner service and breakfast. A standard restaurant hood cleaning takes three to six hours. We arrive after close, work through the night, and the kitchen is fully operational and re-sanitized by the time the morning crew walks in. We do not shut your kitchen down during revenue hours.
Do you provide the compliance certificate my insurance and inspector need?
Yes. Every cleaning ends with a written NFPA 96 compliance certificate dated and signed, plus a photo set covering hood interior, filters, duct, and fan. We send the certificate and photo report by email within 24 hours of service so you can forward it directly to your fire inspector and insurance carrier.