The problem this solves
Baked-on grease, carbon, and food residue accumulate on the backs of equipment, around hood-adjacent surfaces, on oven crowns, behind fryers, and inside mixer bowls and bakery deck ovens. Traditional methods rely on caustic chemicals, hours of scraping, and pressurized water — all of which create their own problems in an active food environment.
Caustic degreaser fumes have to be ventilated. Wash-water has to be captured or it ends up in the grease interceptor. Hand-scraping eats labor hours and rarely reaches the seams and corners where buildup actually starts. And every wet method introduces moisture into electrical compartments, motor housings, and refrigeration coils that aren't designed for it.
Why dry ice blasting fits
Dry ice pellets sublimate on impact — meaning the only thing left behind is the contaminant on the floor for sweep-up. No secondary wash-water, no chemical residue on food-contact-adjacent surfaces, no moisture in motor windings or control panels.
On baked-on kitchen grease specifically, the thermal shock from −78°C pellets embrittles the carbonized layer so it flakes off the substrate cleanly. We can clean around live electrical, behind installed equipment, and on stainless steel without damaging the finish or leaving water trails for QA to chase down.
Surfaces and equipment we clean
- Oven crowns, deck ovens, and rotary rack ovens
- Fryer exteriors and surrounding mechanical
- Mixer bowls, beaters, and gear housings
- Hood-adjacent surfaces and grease-shadow zones
- Walk-in cooler floors, walls, and evaporator housings
- Conveyor framing on bakery and pizza lines
- Behind and beneath installed equipment (no disassembly)
Where this isn't the right method
- Certified kitchen hood and duct cleaning under NFPA 96 — that's a separate, code-driven service. We clean the surfaces around the hood; we don't replace your certified hood/duct contractor.
- ATP or allergen swab-level sanitation on food-contact surfaces — dry ice removes the heavy soil; your sanitarian still handles the verification protocol.
How the engagement runs
- 01Site walk or photo scope
Send photos of the worst zones. We'll scope the work and confirm whether we can clean around live electrical.
- 02Off-hours mobilization
We work into your existing cleaning window — typically after close or before pre-prep. Self-contained rig, no plumbing.
- 03Blast pass + documentation
Per-asset before/after photos and a time log you can file in your sanitation records however you choose. No process water on the floor at handoff.
- 04Recurring program if it fits
Many kitchens move from one-off to monthly or quarterly after the first session.
What drives the quote
- Number of pieces of equipment in scope
- Buildup severity (months vs. years of accumulation)
- Access — installed-in-place vs. wheel-out
- Cleaning window (off-hours vs. business-hours pricing)
- Distance from our Kalispell, MT dispatch base
What we bring, what we coordinate
- We bring our own CO₂ monitor and run continuous ventilation checks in enclosed kitchen spaces.
- LOTO coordination on any live electrical near the blast zone.
- Cold-burn PPE for the crew; staff kept clear of the blast zone while the space is closed.
Commercial Kitchen Degreasing — questions buyers ask us
No. NFPA 96 hood and exhaust duct cleaning is a code-driven, certificate-issuing service. We clean the kitchen surfaces, equipment exteriors, and hood-adjacent grease shadows. Many operators run us in parallel with their certified hood/duct contractor.
Usually no for production-line cleaning, yes for spot work on isolated equipment. Most kitchens schedule us into the off-hours sanitation window. Tell us your hours and we'll fit the route.
The method adds no process water, so surfaces are dry at handoff. When equipment can be returned to service is your team's call under your own release procedure.
Dry ice blasting is a mechanical soil-removal step. Pellets are supplied with job-specific supplier documentation on request, and the process adds no process water and leaves no chemical residue of its own. It does not sanitize or disinfect, and it is not a substitute for your validated sanitation protocol — whether the process fits your SSOP or HACCP plan is your plant's determination with its own QA team or sanitarian.
Monthly to quarterly for hot lines, semi-annually for bakery decks, and one-off for new-tenant turnovers or post-incident cleans.