Seeking information about the commercial kitchen hood cleaning industry

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by a searcher from University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School
in Portland, OR, USA

1yr ago

Seeking information about the commercial kitchen hood cleaning industry

I'd love to learn more about this fragmented, required-by-health-code industry from anyone who has direct knowledge or has even looked closely at a hood cleaner for sale.

I own a service plumbing company that does a lot of drain and sewer cleaning. Last week at an event a jokester introduced me to another business owner with the line, "The two of you have the grossest jobs of anyone I know... you should compare businesses." He is a retirement-age owner of a 30+ year-old commercial kitchen hood cleaning business with zero knowledge of how to sell and exit a business. We have many mutual friends and he's a solid guy, so I've agreed to spend some time with him to cover the basics of SMB transactions before he enters the sale process inredactedIt's not a large business... 2 vans, 4 employees, and ~$700K in revenue. SDE ~$200K. He handles sales and administration and rarely goes out with his crews to clean.

To best help him I'd like some background knowledge on this space. I'm also starting to ponder the industry as another vertical for my own portfolio and wondering if there are examples of successful aggregations of a handful of these companies in a single geography to make a more robust business.

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reply by a searcher 1yr ago
from University of Pennsylvania in Portland, OR, USA

Thanks for the insights, Ahmad. It's interesting that you mentioned GreenGuard. That is the company which The Riverside Company (PE Firm) purchased and renamed as KitchenGuard to launch the franchise the other posters referenced. This seems like a great space if a searcher finds the rare opportunity to acquire from a retiring owner. Right now there is only one on BizBuySell - in Kansas City doing $285K SDE - a fraction of the listings for most industries. Supports your point about hitting a wall looking for these.

reply by a searcher 5mos ago
from Harvard University in Tenafly, NJ, USA

Curious if anyone's opinion on this has evolved in the year since originally posting here. I also bumped into KitchenGuard recently and became interested in the space. The KG thesis seems sound, and franchisees were able to scoop up new business in their markets by offering a premium service compared to the average mom & pop. BUT my initial assumption about the immaturity of the franchisor was confirmed by the few franchisees I spoke with (who all expressed some level of frustration with the lack of support they were receiving). This led me to believe you could probably do this on your own if you found someone with the technical experience to train more people how to do this well - while you focus on the sales, operational efficiency, and customer support. Would love to hear reactions!