Thierry Desmet, Founder, CEO and Co-Owner of the Valor Services Group in the Benelux is a passionate entrepreneur who has been active in the world of hygiene, health and fire safety in professional, commercial and industrial kitchens, among others. We ask him a few questions, because apparently there are still a lot of ambiguities among owners, facility managers and business managers.
Every professional kitchen has a hood or extraction system, which sucks the air out of the kitchen, so that people can cook in a pleasant way, without the whole kitchen being covered in fumes and odors. The baking and cooking liquid consists of water vapors, fats and oil emulsions. The kitchen ventilation, as it were, draws the air out of the room via the hood, the ventilation duct and thus out via the fan.
These vapors adhere to the outside of the hood, pass through the grease filters, which will capture most of the fats, and then the air will go through the ventilation channel. When this air starts to cool down, the fat falls out of the air and adheres to all surfaces of the ventilation system.
In poorly maintained kitchens or cooker hoods, you often see that the ceilings and walls of the kitchen look yellow or dark brown, which are fats that adhere there because the ventilation works inadequately and therefore does not draw enough air out of the kitchen.
It cleaning kitchen ventilation aims to rid all surfaces in the ventilation system of fats and oils.
As a result, the surfaces become clean and grease-free and therefore also fireproof.
There are various reasons for this:
Yes, indeed a huge problem that is highly underestimated. Until then!
Look, there are customers who call us for a certificate for their fire safety insurance.
But it's actually about fire safety, not about the certificate itself, right?
It is striking to see how some entrepreneurs deal with their company and their staff. The cost of cleaning is outweighed by a fire that can destroy your business, your life's work. I often notice that there are entrepreneurs who only look at the money and not on the operational security of their company and the well-being of their staff.
The cost of cleaning is outweighed by a fire that can destroy your business, your life's work.
Fats are flammable; if you work with an open flame or barbecue and grill, the risk is even higher. One kitchen will be more at risk than others.
Think of kitchens that grill a lot of meat or vegan restaurants or kitchens that work with steamers and that use hardly any fat. There is a huge difference.
There are companies that have one cleaning carried out per year because it has to be covered by the insurance, but when you analyze the kitchen, you quickly see that certain things absolutely need more than 1 cleaning per year. And really not for our wallets, just because of the risk they run.
In other countries in Europe, it is required by law to have the kitchen ventilation cleaned. In America, there is even a standard that states that if the fat layer thickness has a minimum number of mm, cleaning must be done. They are stricter there and that is also reflected in these American chains in Europe. They comply with these strict rules. They don't want to take risks.
You just have to imagine that your business will burn down due to poor or no maintenance and that not only your business, but also other buildings next to you, are going up in flames, the associated dramas are unprecedented. In addition, you also have the damage to staff who find themselves out of work, most things no longer even open and for larger companies, it is also damage to the image that can have far-reaching consequences.
Personally, I think so. First, they should already have an automatic extinguishing system installed in the cooker hoods so that at least one extinguishing system takes action in the event of a fire. Staff often walk or make the wrong decisions, making the fire even worse. It's understandable, in a panic, things go wrong sometimes. Or there is a technical failure that causes a fire during the closing time. Then there is no one.
They do best to invest in such a fire extinguishing system from the start and they suddenly invest in their loan that they have to pay off, so they spread the cost over years and the impact is smaller than having to install a system afterwards.
I am also working for American regulations here and believe that the government should intervene harder here. Now it's all vague for the business owners, it's unclear, it's often all decided differently regionally and that causes confusion, and confusion in turn leads to nonchalance. And the control is completely underwhelming.
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It is best to invest in such a fire extinguishing system from the outset, so they spread the cost over years
However, the law is clear about fire safety in general! All buildings must be equipped with the necessary fire safety measures. However, it is not really clear for industrial kitchens what should be done and how it should be done. It is also all regulated regionally. However, you can already find a lot of information on the government website. https://brandbeveiliging.vlaanderen/
In Belgium, the rules for fire safety in company kitchens are laid down in the General Directorate of Welfare Supervision at Work (FOD WASO) of the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue.
According to Belgian legislation, corporate kitchens must comply with various fire safety standards and regulations, including the regular maintenance and cleaning of the cooker hoods and ventilation systems.
There are no specific legal regulations for cleaning hoods in commercial kitchens in Belgium, but companies must comply with the general rules for fire safety and risk management. This means that companies are responsible for taking appropriate measures to reduce the risk of fire, such as carrying out regular maintenance and cleaning of cooker hoods and ventilation systems, having a properly functioning fire alarm and fire fighting equipment. In addition, it is the insurance companies that also insist that cleaning takes place, just like chimneys and gas boilers must be maintained by an external party, this should also be the case with hoods in company kitchens.
In addition, you have the Codex and the ARAB, which imposes clear guidelines and obligations in the context of fire safety.
The fire safety in buildings Act in Belgium is laid down in the “Codex on well-being at work, Book III - Workplaces, Title 3 - Fire prevention at work”. This legislation applies to all buildings where work takes place, such as offices, factories, shops, schools, hospitals, etc.
The employer also has obligations imposed by the ARAB with regard to fire protection:
Well, I think this is normal, you have large companies like ours that offer national and international coverage and can therefore also serve chains, large companies and international groups. Of course, this requires a larger structure than a one-man business or a small SME with a few employees. In addition, of course, like in any sector, you also have parties that come and go. I've been doing this for 17 years now and I've seen a lot of them coming and going. There should also be a much better framework for this, we often see that companies offer themselves as extractor cleaners, but do not even clean the ductwork and the fan. Yes, then you do have a difference in price, but also in quality and fire safety.
The government has a more important role to play there, because if you are registered as a ventilation cleaning company, you can therefore issue certificates. However, there should be a control mechanism for this. Because does the company clean the entire channel network? We often see customers that we take over where they have been cleaning for years, but there is no oversight in the channels anywhere. So how do they clean them? Well, just not! And then people think they have bought fire safety, but in my opinion, they have paid too much for just cleaning the inside of the cooker hood.
I am calling for a type of label to be launched where customers know that this is a company that works by the art of the rules and that those rules are also clearly laid down in a legal text, not so much the method but the cleanliness! A recognized organization.
After all, we are not just talking about hygiene here, but about fire safety.
There is a supplier on the market for every customer. I can speak from our experience, we offer quality. We are also a company that works on sustainability, the well-being and safety of our people, we also support projects such as food banks, planting trees, etc. That is CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Companies that also find this important are more likely to work with us than with players who have no space for it or companies that do not attach importance to it.
The prices are also largely determined by expertise! I had my hands covered in grease, dust and dirt myself. By the way, our entire management team! We sometimes see prices that are completely unattainable or even far over the top. Expertise is important and that makes the difference in the market.
My advice is to request 3 quotes and especially look at reputable companies. Companies that have also been around for a long time and that are certain will last for a few years. Also, work with companies and not with consultants, because that, in turn, is where there are risks of ultimate responsibility.
By the way, I also think it is important that customers are well informed, because is the company that comes to clean for you in line with social legislation and insurance?
When you compare prices, do you especially check what they offer? What is their working method? Do they do the entire system or only the inside of the cooker hood?
There are many points of comparison that you can look at in order to make the right choice.
Let me be clear, the renowned companies won't have their prices far apart because they all know their business. If prices vary enormously, alarm bells should go off. Cheap is not always good buying. Also read the small print, sometimes we see that prices are 30% cheaper than ours, but when the customer receives his invoice, he sees mileage allowances, rates for cleaning agents, materials, etc., making them as expensive or sometimes even more expensive and not carrying out all the work as stated.
And a correct party will also always take responsibility if something goes wrong.
By the way, I also think it is important that customers are well informed, because is the company that comes to clean to you in line with social legislation and insurance?
Well, fire safety is a very important aspect, I cannot emphasize that strongly enough. But hygiene and health are also two very important reasons why you need to cleanse. Fats stick to everything, fats are breeding grounds for pests, but also fungi and bacteria.
If fats are stacked in such a way, you can imagine that these fats end up back into the food due to leaks from the hood in the food, for example. This must be avoided at all times. Fats give off an odor over time, this is due to the fatty acids. Not only do these pests attract, but they are also a nuisance due to greasy odors in the environment. If people in the environment complain about this, the cause can often be solved by having the ventilation system completely cleaned.
In the event of a malfunctioning ventilation system, the fumes do not leave the kitchen properly. As a result, these fumes stick to the walls and ceilings and actually to everything that is present in the kitchen. Again, a good breeding ground for pests and not really healthy for preparing food in places where there are fat residues.
You also have people working in your kitchen. These people breathe in and out of that air continuously. As an entrepreneur, you care about your people anyway, so make sure they can work in a pleasant and healthy work environment. In an interview I recently gave in hotel compartment I'm talking about hygiene in cold stores. I can already explain there are various risks that you should tackle very well to make your staff work healthily. And, of course, serve your customers healthy food.
Go for fire safety in your business!
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