Yes. Regular filter cleaning is essential, but grease can still build up inside the canopy and other parts of your kitchen extraction system.
For restaurant owners and kitchen managers, clean filters can give an incomplete picture. Your team may wash them regularly and wipe down the visible stainless steel, while surfaces behind them still need attention.
A recent BCPC canopy-cleaning job at a restaurant in Stellenbosch shows why both routine cleaning and professional attention matter.
A real Stellenbosch restaurant canopy clean
The restaurant’s staff cleaned the filters regularly. Despite that routine, grease had accumulated inside the canopy and cooker hood.
BCPC cleaned, degreased and disinfected the reachable canopy and cooker-hood surfaces. The job took approximately three hours and included a cleaning certificate.
The before-and-after photographs show the visible grease deposits before cleaning and the cleaner metal surfaces afterwards.
For this project, the work covered the reachable areas of the canopy and cooker hood. The time required for another kitchen will depend on its size, condition, equipment and access.
Why washing the filters is only part of the job
Your canopy filters are one component of a larger extraction system.
Depending on the installation, the system may also include:
- Internal canopy surfaces.
- Grease collection channels.
- Extraction ducting.
- An extraction fan and discharge point.
Washing the removable filters does not clean these other components. Kitchen ventilation manufacturer Halton describes professional extraction cleaning as addressing grease build-up across hoods, filters, ductwork and exhaust components.
The useful question is therefore: which parts of your system have been cleaned, and which still need attention?
What should restaurant staff clean regularly?
Routine cleaning helps keep your kitchen maintained between professional visits.
Your team should follow the equipment manufacturer’s instructions and your kitchen’s cleaning procedures for removable filters and accessible surfaces.
Make the responsibilities clear in your cleaning schedule. Record which tasks staff complete, which components require a contractor and when the condition of the system should next be reviewed.
This helps prevent a gap where everyone assumes someone else has cleaned behind the filters.
What does professional canopy cleaning include?
The scope should be agreed before work begins.
For the Stellenbosch restaurant featured here, BCPC’s work included:
- Cleaning the reachable canopy and cooker-hood surfaces.
- Degreasing those surfaces to remove accumulated grease.
- Disinfecting the cleaned areas using food-safe chemicals.
- Issuing a cleaning certificate for the completed service.
Other projects may require attention to additional extraction components. Ask whether your quotation includes filters, accessible ducting and the extraction fan, and clarify any areas that cannot be reached.
A clear scope makes quotations easier to compare and gives your kitchen manager a record of what was completed.
Does BCPC provide a canopy-cleaning certificate?
Yes. Every BCPC canopy-cleaning job includes a certificate confirming that the agreed areas were cleaned to standard using food-safe chemicals.
The certificate records the completed cleaning service and should be kept with your premises’ maintenance documentation.
For this Stellenbosch project, the certified cleaning covered the reachable canopy and cooker-hood surfaces. The documented scope should reflect the areas serviced and any access limitations.
How do you know when professional cleaning is needed?
Regularly washed filters are a good maintenance habit, but they should not be the only measure of the system’s condition.
Visible grease on internal canopy surfaces, residue behind the filters or uncertainty about the last professional clean are reasons to arrange an assessment.
Cleaning frequency should be considered alongside your cooking activity, equipment, grease accumulation and the requirements applicable to your premises. Read our guide to how often restaurant canopies and extraction systems should be cleaned.
Keep cleaning dates, certificates and photographs together. These records help your kitchen manager and cleaning contractor plan future work.
Arrange canopy cleaning in Stellenbosch, Cape Town and the Cape Winelands
BCPC provides canopy and extraction cleaning for restaurants, hotels and commercial kitchens across Stellenbosch, Cape Town and the Cape Winelands.
We agree the scope around your equipment, the condition of the surfaces and the access available. Every canopy-cleaning job includes a cleaning certificate.
Send us photographs of your canopy, your location and a brief description of what needs cleaning. We’ll help clarify the work and prepare a quotation.
Request a Canopy Cleaning Quote ↗
Or call 021 891 4886. You can also request a quotation online.
Regular filter cleaning matters. Make sure the areas behind the filters receive attention too.