Hood Cleaning PE Roll-Up Tracker 2026: the Kitchen Suppression Consolidation Map
By Christoph Totter, Managing Partner, CT Acquisitions. This hood cleaning PE roll-up tracker verifies platform ownership and deal attributions against primary sources (sponsor and platform releases, trade press, law-firm deal announcements, and primary code and standard text) where noted. Ownership positions change continuously. Last verified October 2026; refreshed quarterly.
Not investment advice, not a solicitation. This tracker is research for buyers, sponsors, and operators studying consolidation in commercial kitchen exhaust (hood) cleaning and kitchen fire suppression. It is not an offer to buy or sell any security or business, not a recommendation, and not legal, tax, or compliance advice. Figures are directional observations from cited sources, not point estimates. If you are an owner weighing a sale, or a buyer or sponsor evaluating the space, you can book a confidential call with our team.
Key Takeaways
- There is no dedicated hood cleaning PE roll-up buying independent hood cleaning operators at scale. Based on the deals we could verify through October 2026, consolidation runs on two separate tracks: franchise platforms for the cleaning work, and private-equity-backed fire and life-safety platforms absorbing the kitchen suppression work.
- Track 1 (cleaning, franchise model): HOODZ under BELFOR Franchise Group (the largest North American kitchen-exhaust cleaning network) and The Riverside Company’s EverSmith Brands, which added Green Guard Services on April 18, 2023 and launched the Kitchen Guard franchise brand in 2024.
- Track 2 (suppression, PE-backed ITM platforms): Pye-Barker Fire & Safety (Altas Partners plus Leonard Green; ADIA and GIC minority, January 2025; acquired kitchen-suppression firm Fire Science Techniques about February 2025), Summit Companies (BDT & MSD Partners majority, August 2025), Marmic Fire & Safety (KKR from HGGC, July 2024), and AI Fire (Blackstone from TruArc, February 2025, secondary-sourced).
- The consolidation thesis rests on code-mandated recurring revenue. NFPA 96 (volume-based exhaust cleaning) and NFPA 17A (semiannual wet-chemical suppression inspection) become enforceable through International Fire Code and mechanical-code adoption in nearly every US jurisdiction. That is the same regulation-mandated inspection, testing, and maintenance thesis KKR cited for Marmic.
- No disclosed 2023 to 2026 transaction is a pure hood-cleaning-operator PE buyout. We state that as a finding, not an omission. Multiples shown here are external service-business and fire-protection proxies, clearly labeled; we do not publish a platform-premium multiple without a named independent source.
Quick answer
A hood cleaning PE roll-up in the strict sense (a sponsor buying independent hood cleaning operators as a dedicated platform) does not currently exist in the disclosed record we reviewed through October 2026. Instead, the work consolidates on two tracks: franchise platforms for the exhaust cleaning, and PE-backed fire and life-safety ITM platforms that absorb kitchen fire suppression as a sub-segment.
A hood cleaning PE roll-up in the strict sense, meaning a sponsor buying independent hood cleaning operators as a dedicated platform, does not currently exist in the disclosed record we reviewed through October 2026. Instead, consolidation runs on two tracks. On the cleaning side, the work is organized through franchise platforms: HOODZ under BELFOR Franchise Group, described as the largest kitchen-exhaust cleaning network in North America (belforfranchisegroup.com), and The Riverside Company’s EverSmith Brands, which added Green Guard Services on April 18, 2023 (riversidecompany.com) and launched the Kitchen Guard franchise brand in 2024. On the suppression side, the money sits with PE-backed fire and life-safety platforms that run inspection, testing, and maintenance (ITM) work and tuck in kitchen fire suppression firms: Pye-Barker Fire & Safety (Altas Partners plus Leonard Green & Partners, with ADIA and GIC joining as minority investors in January 2025), Summit Companies (BDT & MSD Partners majority, August 2025), Marmic Fire & Safety (KKR, July 2024), and AI Fire (Blackstone, February 2025). The common thread is code-mandated recurring revenue: NFPA 96 and NFPA 17A become enforceable through International Fire Code and mechanical-code adoption in nearly every US jurisdiction, which is the same regulation-mandated ITM thesis KKR cited when it acquired Marmic (lw.com). Last verified October 2026.
Methodology and confidence framework
This tracker covers two consolidation tracks for US commercial kitchen exhaust (hood) cleaning and commercial kitchen fire suppression across the 2023 to 2026 window: franchise cleaning platforms, and PE-backed fire and life-safety ITM platforms absorbing kitchen suppression. We carry each figure with its named source and its verification tier.
This tracker covers two consolidation tracks for US commercial kitchen exhaust (hood) cleaning and commercial kitchen fire suppression across the 2023 to 2026 window: franchise cleaning platforms, and PE-backed fire and life-safety inspection, testing, and maintenance (ITM) platforms that absorb kitchen suppression work. Sources include sponsor and platform press releases, law-firm deal announcements, trade press, primary International Fire Code text, and the primary text of the NFPA 17A standard where we were able to read it directly. We assign confidence as follows. HIGH reflects a primary source read directly (for example, the IFC 904.12 text or the NFPA 17A standard text). MEDIUM reflects secondary press confirmation or a third-party tracker whose nearby entries we independently confirmed. SECONDARY and UNVERIFIED flags, carried through from our research file, mark figures that a reader should treat as directional or confirm against a primary source before relying on them. Where sources disagree, as they do on market size, we present the range and attribute it rather than publishing a single number. We do not cite ctacquisitions.com as a source for any statistic in this tracker.
Two framing points shape everything below. First, on the regulatory language: NFPA 96 is a standard, and on its own it is voluntary. Its legal force comes from adoption by reference into fire and mechanical codes, so the correct framing is code-mandated via International Fire Code and mechanical-code adoption, not NFPA requires. We use that framing throughout. Second, on deal structure: the absence of a dedicated hood-cleaning buyer is itself the headline finding, and we treat it as a result rather than a gap in coverage.
The code-mandate demand engine: why this work is sticky
The recurring revenue that makes this space investable is code-mandated, not voluntary. NFPA 96 sets a volume-based exhaust cleaning schedule, and NFPA 17A requires semiannual wet-chemical suppression maintenance. Both become enforceable through International Fire Code and mechanical-code adoption in nearly every US jurisdiction, and insurers independently condition coverage on documented compliance.
The recurring revenue that makes this space investable is code-mandated rather than voluntary, and that distinction is the whole thesis. NFPA 96 sets a volume-based cleaning and inspection schedule for commercial kitchen exhaust systems. Industry sources consistently cite the frequency schedule as NFPA 96 Section 11.4, with four tiers by cooking volume (tfp1.com, service-techcorp.com). We present the exact table number as sources cite it and flag that the current-edition table number should be confirmed against NFPA 96 directly before anyone relies on it in print.
| Cooking operation type | Minimum cleaning or inspection frequency |
|---|---|
| Solid-fuel cooking (wood or charcoal ovens, smokers, char-broilers) | Monthly |
| High-volume (24-hour cooking, charbroiling, wok cooking) | Quarterly |
| Moderate-volume (most full-service restaurant kitchens) | Semiannually |
| Low-volume (churches, day camps, seasonal, senior centers) | Annually |
The second recurring line is suppression inspection. We read the NFPA 17A standard text directly: it requires wet-chemical fire-extinguishing system maintenance at least semiannually (Section 7.3), owner inspection monthly (Section 7.2.1), and replacement of fusible-link elements at least annually (Section 7.3.3), with service performed only by trained and qualified persons, and it references UL 300 for restaurant cooking-area systems (NFPA 17A standard text). The semiannual requirement is long-standing and stable across editions. The freely available full text we verified is the 2002 edition, so we cite the requirement itself rather than lean on specific section numbers in print.
What turns these standards into enforceable, recurring revenue is code adoption. International Fire Code Section 904.12, covering commercial cooking systems, requires systems to be installed and maintained in accordance with NFPA 96, its listing, and the manufacturer instructions (up.codes IFC 904.12). Both the International Mechanical Code and the Uniform Mechanical Code reference NFPA 96 as the primary standard for commercial cooking exhaust, and NFPA 96 becomes law when a state adopts the IFC (facilitec-sw.com). The honest caveat, which we keep in view, is that the mandate is as strong as the local jurisdiction’s adopted code: near-universal in practice, but technically jurisdiction by jurisdiction. On top of the code, insurers independently require NFPA 96 compliance as a condition of coverage and have denied fire claims where cleaning documentation was missing or outdated (oxmaint.com). That combination, fire marshal enforcement plus insurer pressure, is structurally comparable to the NFPA 25 sprinkler-inspection recurring-revenue thesis, and it is why fire and life-safety platforms treat kitchen suppression as attractive, sticky ITM work.
Market structure and fragmentation: a range, not a number
Market-size estimates for this space disagree by scope, running from roughly $413M to about $1.5B depending on how the segment is drawn. The industry is highly fragmented, dominated by independent owner-operators, which is repeatedly cited as the rationale for franchise and platform expansion.
Market-size estimates for commercial kitchen cleaning disagree, and we present them as a range rather than a single figure. One third-party market-research vendor puts the US commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning services market at roughly $1.5B in 2024, projected toward about $2.5B by 2033 at roughly a 7.3% CAGR (marketresearchintellect.com, secondary, treat as directional). A separate, more narrowly scoped estimate from IMARC Group puts the broader commercial kitchen cleaning services market at about $412.8M in 2025 at roughly a 6.73% CAGR (imarcgroup.com, secondary). These figures use different scope definitions and conflict with one another, so the honest read is a range of roughly $413M to about $1.5B, attributed, not a point estimate.
On the establishment base, vendor and franchise material cites nearly 750,000 restaurants in the United States, plus schools, hospitals, and other commercial kitchens, with virtually every one requiring periodic hood cleaning by law. That restaurant count traces back to National Restaurant Association data, but it reaches us through a franchise page, so we treat it as secondary and would verify the hard number against restaurant.org before relying on it (hoodzfranchise.com). The structural point that matters for an investor is fragmentation. The industry is explicitly characterized as highly fragmented, with a multitude of independent operators ranging from local owner-operators to regional franchise networks to full-service facility-maintenance firms, and that fragmentation is repeatedly cited as the rationale for franchise and roll-up expansion (hoodzfranchise.com, riversidecompany.com).
The trade body is the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association (IKECA), founded in 1989, which serves kitchen-exhaust cleaners, insurers, facility managers, and authorities having jurisdiction. IKECA certifies individuals, for example the Certified Exhaust Cleaning Technician (CECT) credential, rather than companies (ikeca.org). We were not able to obtain a current IKECA membership count from a direct source, so we do not publish one.
Track 1: franchise platforms consolidating the cleaning work
Hood cleaning consolidates through franchise platforms rather than EBITDA buyers. HOODZ sits under BELFOR Franchise Group as the largest North American kitchen-exhaust cleaning network. The Riverside Company’s EverSmith Brands added Green Guard Services on April 18, 2023 and launched the Kitchen Guard franchise brand in 2024.
On the cleaning side, the organizing structures are franchisors, not funds writing checks for independent operators’ earnings. That distinction matters for anyone modeling an exit: these platforms grow by signing and supporting franchisees, so for an owner-operator the realistic counterparties tend to be a local or regional strategic, a facilities-services buyer, or conversion into a franchise network, rather than a headline PE check.
| Platform | Owner or sponsor | Nature | Date | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOODZ International | BELFOR Franchise Group (division of BELFOR Property Restoration) | Largest kitchen-exhaust cleaning network in North America; franchising since 2009 | Ongoing | MEDIUM |
| Green Guard Services | The Riverside Company (add-on to EverSmith Brands) | Commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning; cited as essential for fire prevention and mitigation | Invested April 18, 2023 | HIGH |
| Kitchen Guard | The Riverside Company (EverSmith Brands) | Hood-cleaning franchise brand | 2024 | MEDIUM |
HOODZ International (BELFOR Franchise Group)
HOODZ sits inside BELFOR Franchise Group, a division of BELFOR Property Restoration, and is described as the largest kitchen-exhaust cleaning network in North America, franchising since 2009 (belforfranchisegroup.com). The model is a franchise network, so HOODZ expands by adding units rather than by acquiring the earnings of independent cleaning businesses. For an investor mapping the space, HOODZ represents the single largest branded footprint in hood cleaning, but it is not a vehicle through which a financial sponsor buys up independents.
Green Guard Services (The Riverside Company, EverSmith Brands)
The clearest dated private-equity touchpoint in hood cleaning is The Riverside Company’s investment in Green Guard Services, a commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning business, as an add-on to its EverSmith Brands platform, announced on April 18, 2023 (riversidecompany.com). Riverside’s own release frames kitchen exhaust cleaning as essential for fire prevention and mitigation and points to the fragmentation of the space as the expansion rationale. This is a franchise-platform add-on rather than a direct roll-up of independent hood-cleaning operators.
Kitchen Guard (The Riverside Company, EverSmith Brands)
EverSmith also operates the Kitchen Guard franchise brand, a hood-cleaning franchise launched in 2024 (imarcgroup.com, secondary). Together, Green Guard and Kitchen Guard give Riverside’s EverSmith a franchise-led position in kitchen exhaust cleaning. As with HOODZ, the mechanism is franchising and brand-building, not the acquisition of independent operators’ EBITDA.
Track 2: fire and life-safety platforms absorbing kitchen suppression
The real private-equity money in this space sits with fire and life-safety ITM platforms that treat kitchen fire suppression as a sub-segment. Pye-Barker, Summit, Marmic, and AI Fire are all PE-backed and all active, and each carries a dated kitchen-suppression tie or a national ITM mandate.
The private-equity capital that touches kitchen fire suppression flows through fire and life-safety platforms built on inspection, testing, and maintenance work. These platforms are serial acquirers of local fire and suppression firms, and kitchen suppression enters the portfolio as a tuck-in rather than as a dedicated thesis. Four platforms anchor the track, each with a named sponsor, a dated control event, and a kitchen-suppression connection.
| Platform | PE sponsor(s) | Kitchen-suppression tie | Key date | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pye-Barker Fire & Safety | Altas Partners (majority) plus Leonard Green & Partners; ADIA and GIC minority | Acquired Fire Science Techniques (IL, commercial-kitchen suppression) about February 2025; earlier restaurant and kitchen-suppression tuck-ins | Recap January 2025; FST about February 2025 | HIGH |
| Summit Companies (SFP Holding) | BDT & MSD Partners (majority); prior BlackRock Long Term Private Capital | Services include pre-engineered kitchen suppression systems; serial acquirer of local fire and suppression firms | Acquired by BDT & MSD August 2025 | HIGH |
| Marmic Fire & Safety | KKR (acquired from HGGC) | Regulation-mandated fire equipment inspection, testing, and maintenance; 56,000-plus customers | July 2024 | HIGH |
| AI Fire | Blackstone (acquired from TruArc Partners) | National fire and life-safety ITM platform (secondary-sourced) | February 2025 | MEDIUM |
Pye-Barker Fire & Safety (Altas Partners, Leonard Green; ADIA and GIC minority)
Pye-Barker Fire & Safety is the clearest example of a PE-backed fire and life-safety platform absorbing kitchen suppression. In January 2025, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and GIC joined existing backers Altas Partners and Leonard Green & Partners as investors in the company (abfjournal.com). Around February 2025, Pye-Barker acquired Fire Science Techniques, an Illinois commercial-kitchen suppression firm, and it had earlier added restaurant and kitchen-suppression capability through other tuck-ins (securityinfowatch.com). Pye-Barker is the platform where kitchen suppression most visibly enters a large PE-backed ITM roll-up.
Summit Companies / Summit Fire & Security (BDT & MSD Partners)
Summit Companies, operating under SFP Holding, was acquired by a majority investor, BDT & MSD Partners, in August 2025; its prior backer was BlackRock Long Term Private Capital (summitcompanies.com). Summit’s service lines include pre-engineered kitchen suppression systems, and it is a serial acquirer of local fire and suppression firms. For an investor, Summit represents another national ITM platform where kitchen suppression is one sub-segment of a broader fire-safety service base.
Marmic Fire & Safety (KKR)
Marmic Fire & Safety was acquired by KKR from HGGC in July 2024 (lw.com). KKR’s description of the business, regulation-mandated fire equipment inspection, testing, and maintenance serving more than 56,000 customers, is the single cleanest articulation of the thesis that underpins this entire tracker: the recurring revenue is code-forced, and that is what makes it attractive to a sponsor. Marmic’s framing is the same logic that applies to code-mandated kitchen exhaust cleaning and suppression inspection.
AI Fire (Blackstone)
AI Fire is a national fire and life-safety ITM platform that Blackstone acquired from TruArc Partners, reported as February 2025 (cbinsights.com). We label this entry as secondary: the sponsor change and date reach us through a company database and a third-party tracker rather than a primary Blackstone or press release we read directly, and we would seek primary confirmation before treating the date as settled. AI Fire rounds out the set of large PE-backed ITM platforms positioned to absorb kitchen suppression work.
Several additional fire and life-safety platforms appear in a third-party sector tracker, including Sciens Building Solutions (Carlyle), Encore Fire Protection (Permira), Guardian Fire Protection (Knox Lane), Consolidated Fire Protection (Gryphon), and ASPYRE Fire & Life Safety (Percheron) (dealseam.com, secondary). We confirmed the Pye-Barker, Summit, Marmic, and AI Fire entries above against primary or trade sources, which raises our confidence in that tracker generally, but each remaining sponsor pairing should be verified against a primary source before it enters a published list, so we name them here only as leads.
Deal-flow note: no disclosed pure hood-cleaning PE buyout
No disclosed 2023 to 2026 transaction we reviewed is a pure hood-cleaning-operator PE buyout. Kitchen suppression appears only as tuck-ins into fire-ITM platforms, and hood cleaning appears only through franchise-platform investment. We present this as a finding.
Across the disclosed 2023 to 2026 record we reviewed, no transaction is a pure hood-cleaning-operator private-equity buyout. Kitchen suppression shows up only as tuck-ins into fire and life-safety ITM platforms, and hood cleaning shows up only through franchise-platform investment. The dated transactions that define the two tracks are as follows.
| Date | Transaction | Track | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 18, 2023 | The Riverside Company invests in Green Guard Services (kitchen exhaust cleaning) via EverSmith | Franchise cleaning | Primary |
| July 2024 | KKR acquires Marmic Fire & Safety from HGGC | Fire-ITM | Primary |
| 2024 | EverSmith launches Kitchen Guard franchise brand | Franchise cleaning | Secondary |
| January 2025 | Pye-Barker recap; ADIA and GIC join Altas and Leonard Green | Fire-ITM | Primary |
| About February 2025 | Pye-Barker acquires Fire Science Techniques (commercial-kitchen suppression) | Fire-ITM | Primary or trade |
| February 2025 | Blackstone acquires AI Fire from TruArc | Fire-ITM | Secondary |
| August 2025 | BDT & MSD Partners acquires majority of Summit Companies | Fire-ITM | Primary or company |
The pattern is consistent. The nearest thing to a hood-cleaning private-equity event is a franchise-platform add-on (Riverside and Green Guard). The nearest thing to a kitchen-suppression private-equity event is a tuck-in into a fire-ITM platform (Pye-Barker and Fire Science Techniques). An investor looking for a standalone hood-cleaning platform to back, or to compete with, will not find one in the disclosed record as of October 2026.
Valuation multiples: external proxies, clearly labeled
There is no public transaction category for hood cleaning specifically, so any multiple is a proxy. We use BizBuySell’s service-business aggregate for owner-operator reality and fire-protection tiers as directional framing, both labeled. We do not publish a platform-premium multiple without a named independent source.
There is no public BizBuySell category for hood cleaning, so every multiple below is a labeled proxy rather than a hood-cleaning-specific benchmark. For owner-operator reality, the honest proxy is BizBuySell’s service-business aggregate. Note that BizBuySell’s benchmarks page returned an HTTP 403 block on direct fetch, so the figures below are BizBuySell-attributed through indexed content and should be re-verified on-page before anyone relies on them. BizBuySell’s service-business benchmarks show a median asking price of about $350,000, median revenue of about $654,792, median seller’s discretionary earnings (SDE) of about $173,205, a revenue multiple with a median near 0.72, and an SDE multiple with a median near 2.55 (bizbuysell.com, secondary, on-page fetch blocked).
A word on the earnings basis, because it is easy to get wrong. Most small hood-cleaning and single-truck suppression shops are owner-operated and are valued on SDE, which adds back owner compensation. Contract-heavy, management-run firms with route density move to an adjusted EBITDA basis. The rough transition sits around $1M of earnings: below it, SDE and lender and search-buyer language dominate; above it, adjusted EBITDA dominates. SDE and EBITDA measure different things and are not interchangeable, and it is wrong to quote an EBITDA multiple to a sub-$1M-earnings owner-operator.
For directional industry framing only, fire-protection and suppression-service businesses are commonly discussed in tiers: owner-operated, project-heavy firms around 3x to 5x SDE or EBITDA, and regional firms with a management team and a recurring base around 5x to 8x EBITDA. We deliberately do not publish the higher platform-premium figures (reported in some sources as high as roughly 17x to 20x EBITDA), because the cleanest articulation of those tiers in our research traced back to the client’s own site, which is not an independent source. We will add a platform-premium multiple only when a named, independent transaction or report substantiates it.
Why we omit the high-end multiple. A platform-premium multiple for a scaled, PE-backed business is not comparable to what a single owner-operator receives, and the specific 17x to 20x figure we saw was self-referential in our sourcing. Publishing it next to BizBuySell owner-operator medians would mislead a reader about what a small hood-cleaning or suppression business actually trades for. We show the labeled proxies and leave the high end out until an independent source supports it.
The value drivers that lift a multiple map directly onto the recurring-revenue thesis: density of NFPA 96 route contracts, semiannual NFPA 17A suppression-inspection contracts, IKECA and CECT-certified technicians, state suppression licensing held in-house, multi-location and master-service-agreement relationships, low customer concentration, and documented compliance records. These are the same value drivers PE cites in fire-ITM generally, which is why KKR’s description of Marmic as regulation-mandated ITM reads as a valuation argument as much as a market one (lw.com).
The qualifier-license barrier as a consolidation driver
Kitchen fire-suppression work is licensed at the state and local level and routinely requires a designated qualifying individual. Because that credential often attaches to a person rather than the company, it is a real transfer risk on a sale, and it favors multi-state platform buyers who already hold licensing.
Kitchen fire-suppression work is licensed at the state and local level, and the licensing regimes routinely require a designated qualifying individual who holds a specific credential. New Jersey requires a kitchen fire suppression system contractor to list a state-certified qualifying individual who has passed the ICC and NAFED pre-engineered kitchen fire extinguishing systems exam (nj.gov). Kentucky’s Louisville-Jefferson County requires both a state and a local fire suppression contractor license (louisvilleky.gov). Colorado Springs requires an FSC-B license to design, install, service, or inspect commercial kitchen hood suppression (coloradosprings.gov). Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh, and Iowa all operate contractor and worker licensing regimes built on NICET or ICC and NAFED credentials plus a qualifier (phila.gov, nyc.gov, dial.iowa.gov).
The consolidation implication is direct. When the suppression license or certification attaches to a qualifying individual rather than the entity, and that person is the selling owner, a buyer can lose the ability to legally perform suppression work after close unless it already employs or retains a qualified individual. Hood cleaning carries lighter licensing (often no state suppression license), but IKECA and CECT technician certifications are held by individuals too, so technician retention becomes a diligence item. Both dynamics favor the strategic or platform buyer that already holds multi-state licensing and certified staff over a financial buyer with no fire-trade footprint. In our experience, that is a meaningful part of why the realistic counterparty in this space tends to be a fire-ITM platform or a regional strategic rather than a standalone fund, and it reinforces the two-track structure described above.
Who should and should not expect a platform buyer
Multi-state suppression firms with recurring code-mandated contracts, in-house licensing, and clean compliance records are the natural targets for fire-ITM platforms. Single-truck owner-operators and pure hood-cleaning shops generally should not expect a headline PE check and tend to exit to local strategics or franchise networks.
Pulling the threads together, the businesses most likely to attract a platform buyer tend to share a profile: a recurring base of code-mandated suppression-inspection and exhaust-cleaning contracts, suppression licensing and qualifying individuals held in-house across more than one state, IKECA or CECT-certified technicians, low customer concentration, and documented compliance records that a buyer can underwrite. A firm like that reads as ITM revenue to a Pye-Barker, Summit, Marmic, or AI Fire, and it fits the regulation-mandated thesis those platforms are built around.
The businesses that generally should not expect a platform buyer are the single-truck owner-operators and pure hood-cleaning shops, however well run. Hood cleaning consolidates through franchise platforms, not through funds buying operator earnings, and the suppression platforms want licensed, multi-state, contract-dense ITM businesses rather than a route that depends on one owner’s credential. For those owners, the realistic exit tends to be a local or regional strategic, a facilities-services buyer, or conversion into a franchise network. We say that plainly because the alternative, implying a PE bidding war that the disclosed record does not support, would not serve a reader making real decisions.
Related CT research
For what sellers actually receive and how to prepare a hood cleaning or kitchen suppression business for sale, see our companion valuation guide. This tracker stays on the buyer map and the consolidation research; the valuation guide covers the seller side.
Related research: for what sellers get and how to prepare a sale, see our Hood Cleaning and Kitchen Suppression Business Valuation guide.
Related research: for the broader fire and life-safety sponsor map, see our Private Equity in Fire & Life Safety 2026 research.
Related research: for PE platforms organized by vertical, see our Private Equity Platforms by Sector 2026 index.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a dedicated hood cleaning PE roll-up buying independent operators?
No. Based on the disclosed record we reviewed through October 2026, there is no pure-play private-equity roll-up acquiring independent hood cleaning operators at scale. Hood cleaning consolidates through franchise platforms (HOODZ under BELFOR Franchise Group; Green Guard and Kitchen Guard under The Riverside Company’s EverSmith Brands), while kitchen fire suppression is absorbed as a sub-segment by PE-backed fire and life-safety ITM platforms.
Who owns HOODZ?
HOODZ International sits under BELFOR Franchise Group, a division of BELFOR Property Restoration. It is described as the largest kitchen-exhaust cleaning network in North America and has franchised since 2009. HOODZ grows as a franchise network rather than by acquiring independent operators.
Who owns Green Guard Services and Kitchen Guard?
Both sit under The Riverside Company’s EverSmith Brands platform. Riverside invested in Green Guard Services, a commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning business, on April 18, 2023, and EverSmith launched the Kitchen Guard franchise brand in 2024.
Which PE-backed platforms absorb kitchen fire suppression?
Pye-Barker Fire & Safety (Altas Partners and Leonard Green, with ADIA and GIC minority since January 2025; acquired kitchen-suppression firm Fire Science Techniques about February 2025), Summit Companies (BDT & MSD Partners majority since August 2025), Marmic Fire & Safety (KKR from HGGC, July 2024), and AI Fire (Blackstone from TruArc, February 2025, secondary-sourced).
Why does this space consolidate at all?
Because the recurring revenue is code-mandated. NFPA 96 sets a volume-based exhaust cleaning schedule and NFPA 17A requires semiannual wet-chemical suppression maintenance, and both become enforceable through International Fire Code and mechanical-code adoption in nearly every US jurisdiction. Insurers independently condition coverage on documented compliance. That is the regulation-mandated inspection, testing, and maintenance thesis KKR cited for Marmic.
Is NFPA 96 itself the law?
NFPA 96 is a standard, and on its own it is voluntary. Its legal force comes from adoption by reference into fire and mechanical codes, principally International Fire Code Section 904.12 and the mechanical codes, which the vast majority of US jurisdictions adopt. The correct framing is code-mandated via code adoption, not NFPA requires, and the strength of the mandate is jurisdiction by jurisdiction.
How big is the hood cleaning market?
Estimates disagree by scope. One vendor puts US commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning services at roughly $1.5B in 2024; a more narrowly scoped estimate puts broader commercial kitchen cleaning services at about $412.8M in 2025. The honest read is a range of roughly $413M to about $1.5B, attributed, rather than a single number.
What multiple does a hood cleaning or suppression business trade for?
There is no hood-cleaning-specific transaction category, so any figure is a proxy. BizBuySell’s service-business aggregate shows a median SDE multiple near 2.55 and a median asking price near $350,000 for owner-operators. Fire-protection tiers run directionally around 3x to 5x for project-heavy owner-operators and 5x to 8x EBITDA for recurring, management-run regional firms. SDE and EBITDA measure different things and are not interchangeable, and we do not publish platform-premium multiples without an independent source.
What is the biggest transfer risk when selling a suppression business?
The qualifier license. Kitchen fire-suppression work typically requires a designated qualifying individual, and that credential often attaches to a person rather than the entity. If the qualifier is the selling owner, a buyer may be unable to legally perform suppression work after close unless it already holds licensing, which favors multi-state platform buyers and argues for an earn-out or transition period.
Sources
Regulatory and standards
- IFC 904.12 commercial cooking fire protection: https://up.codes/s/fire-protection-for-commercial-cooking-operations
- NFPA 17A standard text (semiannual maintenance, Section 7.3; 2002 edition verified): https://atapars.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/atapars.com-NFPA-17A-2002.pdf
- NFPA 96 cleaning frequency (Section 11.4 schedule): https://www.tfp1.com/blog/nfpa-96-cleaning-frequency/
- NFPA 96 hood cleaning overview: https://www.service-techcorp.com/blog/hood-cleaning
- NFPA 96 code adoption summary: https://facilitec-sw.com/compliance/nfpa-96-codes/
- Insurer compliance and claim-denial context: https://oxmaint.com/industries/facility-management/commercial-kitchen-hood-exhaust-nfpa96-maintenance
Market and association
- MarketResearchIntellect commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning services market: https://www.marketresearchintellect.com/product/commercial-kitchen-exhaust-cleaning-services-market/
- IMARC Group commercial kitchen cleaning services market: https://www.imarcgroup.com/commercial-kitchen-cleaning-services-market
- HOODZ franchise (restaurant count, fragmentation): https://hoodzfranchise.com/featured/hood-cleaning-business/
- IKECA about page (CECT, founded 1989): https://www.ikeca.org/page/AboutIKECA
- IKECA certification page: https://www.ikeca.org/page/IKECACertification
Franchise cleaning platforms
- BELFOR Franchise Group HOODZ brand page: https://belforfranchisegroup.com/our-brands/hoodz/
- The Riverside Company Green Guard release (April 18, 2023): https://www.riversidecompany.com/currents/greenguard-news-release/
Fire and life-safety platforms
- ADIA and GIC join Leonard Green and Altas in Pye-Barker (January 2025): https://www.abfjournal.com/adia-and-gic-join-leonard-green-and-atlas-as-investors-in-pye-barker/
- Pye-Barker acquires Fire Science Techniques (kitchen suppression): https://www.securityinfowatch.com/integrators/news/55266610/
- Summit Companies acquisition by BDT & MSD Partners (August 2025): https://summitcompanies.com/insights/news-press/summit-companies-announces-acquisition-by-bdt-msd-partners/
- Latham & Watkins advises KKR on Marmic Fire & Safety (July 2024): https://www.lw.com/en/news/latham-watkins-advises-kkr-in-acquisition-of-marmic-fire-safety
- AI Fire company profile (Blackstone, secondary): https://www.cbinsights.com/company/ai-fire/financials
- Fire and life-safety PE roll-up tracker (third-party, secondary): https://dealseam.com/fire-life-safety-pe-rollup-tracker-2026
Valuation proxies
- BizBuySell service business valuation benchmarks (on-page fetch blocked, secondary): https://www.bizbuysell.com/learning-center/valuation-benchmarks/service-business/
Licensing and transfer risk
- New Jersey DFS fire protection equipment contractor permit (qualifying individual): https://www.nj.gov/dca/divisions/dfs/forms/bfds/contractor%20forms%202022/fire%20protection%20equipment%20contractor%20business%20permit%202022.pdf
- Louisville-Jefferson County fire detection and suppression permits: https://louisvilleky.gov/government/construction-review/fire-detection-and-suppression-permits
- Colorado Springs 2021 IFC commercial kitchen (FSC-B license): https://coloradosprings.gov/system/files/2023-11/2021_ifc_commercial_kitchen_2023_final.pdf
- Philadelphia fire suppression systems contractor license: https://business.phila.gov/fire-suppression-systems-contractor-license/
- New York City DOB fire suppression piping contractor license: https://www.nyc.gov/site/buildings/industry/obtain-a-fire-suppression-piping-contractor-class-a-b-or-c-license.page
- Iowa fire protection system licensing: https://dial.iowa.gov/licenses/alarms-fire/fire-protection-system-licensing
About the author
This tracker was prepared by Christoph Totter, Managing Partner at CT Acquisitions, a buy-side M&A advisory and research platform. We maintain platform maps, deal chronologies, multiples bands, and regulatory tracking across route-based and code-mandated recurring-service verticals, and we work with 500+ capital partners on the buy side.
This tracker was prepared by Christoph Totter, Managing Partner at CT Acquisitions, a buy-side mergers and acquisitions advisory and research platform. We maintain continuously updated platform maps, deal-flow chronologies, multiples bands, and regulatory tracking across route-based and code-mandated recurring-service verticals, and we work with 500+ capital partners on the buy side. No fee to you on buy-side introductions; sell-side mandates are paid on success at closing. Last verified October 2026; refreshed quarterly.
Buyers and sponsors studying this space can book a confidential call to compare notes on the platform map and deal flow.
Owners weighing a sale can book a confidential call for a no-cost, confidential read on where your business fits.
Disclaimer
CT Strategic Partners LLC dba CT Acquisitions is a buy-side M&A advisor, not a registered investment bank, broker-dealer, or appraiser. Multiple ranges are directional observations from cited sources and active engagement observations, not point estimates; where figures are proxies or sources disagree, they are presented as such. SDE and EBITDA multiples measure different things and are not interchangeable. Regulatory, licensing, and code references are general summaries, not legal or compliance advice; requirements vary by jurisdiction and change over time. Individual outcomes vary materially. Past patterns are not a guarantee of future results.