- Home
- Industries
- Kitchen exhaust hood cleaning
Selling a hood cleaning company?
A permanent home for your kitchen exhaust hood cleaning business
Commercial kitchens are required to keep their exhaust systems clean, and fire marshals and insurers check. If your crews are working nights to keep those kitchens safe, we'd like to talk.
Why we like it
Why we buy hood cleaning businesses
Howler Mountain is a family-owned holding company that buys essential service businesses in the Southeast and holds them for good. Kitchen exhaust hood cleaning fits what we look for: recurring, route-based work that customers can't skip.
Fire code sets the schedule
NFPA 96 ties inspection and cleaning frequency to the type and volume of cooking: monthly for solid-fuel cooking, quarterly for high-volume operations such as 24-hour, charbroiling, or wok cooking, semiannually for moderate volume, and annually for low-volume kitchens.
Inspectors and insurers check
Fire marshals, insurance carriers, and landlords look for service records and certificates, so customers need a dependable provider and rarely let service lapse.
Recurring, contracted work
Because the schedule is set by code, hood cleaning naturally runs on recurring service agreements across restaurants, schools, hospitals, hotels, and other commercial kitchens.
Skilled, safety-focused crews
Doing the job right takes trained technicians (many hold industry certifications such as IKECA's), good documentation, and a strong safety culture.
What we look for
What stands out to us
No business checks every box. These are the strengths we get excited about.
- Recurring service agreements on NFPA 96-based schedules
- Trained or certified technicians and a strong safety record
- Thorough service reports with before-and-after documentation
- Related services such as fan maintenance, filter exchange, and grease containment
- Multi-location or institutional customers alongside independent restaurants
Our criteria
- Geography
- Across the Southeast, with deeper interest in Atlanta and Georgia. We love investing in our community.
- Revenue
- $2.5 – $50 million, typically recurring (smaller for add-ons)
- Cash flow
- $0.5 – $5 million (smaller for add-ons)
- Ownership
- Founder owned or long-time owner
- Structure
- Majority to full buyout, including partnerships with management
For owners
What happens after you sell
We're not private equity. We fund acquisitions with our own capital and are built to hold businesses for decades, not flip them in a few years.
At Howler Mountain, people come first: customers and employees. We invest in teams, infrastructure, and technology, and build on the foundation you established. Deals range from majority to full buyouts, including partnerships with management.
Confidential from the first conversation. We know how sensitive a potential sale is for your employees and customers. What you share with us stays between us.
Know a hood cleaning business owner?
If you introduce us to the owner and we go on to buy the company, we'll pay you $10,000 in cash at close. (Not available to brokers, investment bankers, or other financial intermediaries.)
Contact
Let's talk about your company
Whether you're ready to sell or just starting to think about the future of your hood cleaning business, a conversation costs nothing and stays confidential.
Questions owners ask
Is Howler Mountain a private equity firm?
No. We're a family-owned holding company based in Atlanta. We fund acquisitions with internal capital and are structured to hold businesses for the long term, not to flip them.
Will our conversations stay confidential?
Yes. We know how sensitive a potential sale is for your employees and customers, and we treat every conversation with discretion.
My business is smaller than your criteria. Should I still reach out?
Yes. Smaller companies can be a great fit as add-ons to businesses we already own, so it's worth a conversation.
Other industries we buy