Commercial kitchen maintenance schedule
Every restaurant kitchen runs on the same handful of recurring services. Here is how often each one is commonly needed, and who does it.
| What | How often (common reference) | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Hood filters washed or exchanged | Often weekly in busy kitchens | Staff or a filter-exchange service |
| Full hood, duct and fan cleaning | Monthly to yearly by cooking volume (NFPA 96) | Hood cleaning company |
| Fire suppression system inspection | Every six months, and after any discharge (NFPA 17A / NFPA 96) | Fire protection company |
| Grease trap or interceptor pumping | At 25% full — often weeks for indoor traps, 30–90 days for interceptors | Grease trap hauler |
| Pest control service | Usually monthly for food service | Pest control company |
| Portable fire extinguishers | Monthly visual check; yearly service by a technician (NFPA 10) | Staff, then a fire protection company |
These are widely used references (NFPA 96, NFPA 17A, NFPA 10 and common local FOG rules). Your fire marshal, health department and wastewater utility decide what applies to your kitchen — check with them and your insurer.
Keep one folder
- The latest hood cleaning certificate, with photos
- Fire suppression service tags and reports
- Grease trap pumping manifests
- Pest control service reports
- Extinguisher service tags
Inspectors and insurers ask for these. Having them in one place makes an inspection quick.
Want a heads-up? Get a free email reminder two weeks before each of these is due.
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