About Us
Click to Enlarge	United Kitchen Exhaust provides superior kitchen exhaust cleaning, maintenance, support, and inspection as well as a wide range of pressure washing services including property maintenance. Based in Toronto, Canada, United currently services the southern regions of Ontario including Toronto, Mississauga, Pickering, Oshawa, Newmarket, Brampton, etc. The United Kitchen Exhaust approach is to emphasize full system restoration from duct and hoods to fans, gaskets, and ecology units.
Experienced, trained and certified kitchen exhaust professionals are the heart and soul of United and provide restaurant owners and kitchen managers with exceptional performance and first class customer service, support, and maintenance. On-going end to end customer support and continued service and preventative maintenance ensure that United clients can maintain a level of protection above and beyond NFPA standards.

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United Team

United Kitchen Exhaust will utilize the experience and leadership from top management in order to successfully coordinate and manage the United team and expand operations throughout Southern Ontario. Experienced entrepreneur and partner, Michael Lott coordinates the management side of the United operation and acts as Director of Sales and Finance. Fellow United partner, Steven Stormont brings an extensive amount of industry experience and leads the United team as Director of Operations.

* Michael Lott – Founder
* Director of Sales

Michael Lott co-founded United Kitchen Exhaust in 2007 alongside Steven Stormont. Mr. Lott has over 5 years of experience dealing directly and indirectly with entities in the hospitality industry. With a degree from the University of Toronto in Economics and Accounting, Mr. Lott has the tools and knowledge necessary to effectively manage and coordinate the day to day activities of United operations.

Mr. Lott has the ability to generate considerable sales and execute decisively. Michael has over 7 years of experience in sales consulting and sales management and over 4 years experience with start-ups. Michael’s responsibilities range from sales to marketing to customer service and include securing new contracts, pursing strategic relationships, and preparing United documents and follow up reports.

* Steven Stormont – Partner
* Director of Operations

Steven Stormont founded United Kitchen Exhaust in 2007 alongside Michael Lott. Mr. Stormont has over 7 years of experience within the kitchen exhaust cleaning industry and has attained the skills and knowledge necessary to lead, train and coordinate the team.

Mr. Stormont has an extensive background ranging from metal fabrication to duct installation and design to HVAC. Steve spent 2 years as Lead Technician at DDK HVAC. Steven has completed a number of certification courses including: Certified Welder/Fabricator; First Aid; Equipment Operator; SALSA/DBI Fall Arrest and Descent Training; Confined Space Training; and WHIMIS.
Mr. Stormont is responsible for all field operations including team management, scheduling, customer service, and conducting surveys. In addition, Steve focuses on supplier relations and inventory management.

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Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Industry

By law, kitchen exhaust cleaning is required for virtually every commercial cooking establishment in the United States and Canada. Restaurants, hospitals, hotels, employee cafeterias and other food-service locations have a "hood" and ductwork over the stove to exhaust smoke, steam, and fumes out of the building. These exhaust gases leave a residue on the inside of the ductwork. This is usually a grease residue of some sort, depending on the type of cooking. Char broilers commonly leave heavy black grease. Chinese cooking normally deposits a sticky or rubbery residue. When a charcoal or wood-burning stove is in use, soot and ash residue builds up in the ductwork. Dishwashers leave heavy lint deposits.

Many kitchen exhaust systems go years with having only the hood and fan areas serviced. Unfortunately, because of this negligence the interiors and exteriors of the exhaust systems become prone to build-up and leakage. This build-up and leakage is a major fire hazard that contributes heavily to not only starting exhaust fires but magnifying them. Improper restoration techniques, inexperienced technicians, and the lack of restaurant owner knowledge and awareness have contributed to this growing concern of inferior exhaust system maintenance.

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Fire Code

All cooking establishments are required to meet Ontario Fire Code and Safety by-laws including compliance with NFPA ’96. In order to meet these requirements, kitchen exhaust systems must be maintained and cleaned regularly. United Kitchen Exhaust provides services to guarantee the compliance of all local and national standards with emphasis on the NFPA ’96 code. Below are excerpts from the NFPA ’96.

1-3.1 Cooking Equipment used in processes producing smoke or grease-laden vapours shall be equipped with an exhaust system that complies with all the equipment and performance requirements of this standard (NFPA96), and all such equipment and performance shall be maintained per this standard during all periods of operation of the cooking equipment. Specifically, the following equipment shall be kept in good working condition:

(a) Cooking Equipment
(b) Hoods
(c) Ducts (if applicable)
(d) Fans
(e) Fire Suppression Systems
(f) Special effluent or energy control equipment

All airflow shall be maintained. Maintenance and repairs shall be performed at intervals necessary to maintain these conditions.

8-3 Cleaning.

8-3.1 Hoods, grease removal devices, fans, ducts, and other appurtenances shall be cleaned to bare metal at frequent intervals prior to surfaces becoming heavily contaminated with grease or oily sludge. After the exhaust system is cleaned to bare metal, it shall not be coated with powder or any other substance. The entire exhaust system shall be inspected by a properly trained, qualified and certified company or person(s) acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction in accordance with Table 8-3.1.

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