Restaurants
From oceanfront seafood houses to Conway’s year-round kitchens, we clean the full exhaust system and leave the photographic record your inspector and insurer will ask for.
Certified Commercial Hood Cleaning
Full-System Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning for the Grand Strand
From the hood canopy to the fan on the roof, our NFPA 96-trained technicians clean the whole exhaust system — canopy, filters, plenum, the horizontal duct run and the rooftop fan — degreased to bare metal where the standard requires it. Every access point is photographed before and after, including the roof. That report is the document a fire marshal, a South Carolina Department of Agriculture inspector or an insurance adjuster will ask to see.
Why Grand Strand Kitchens Choose Kitchen Guard
The Hood Cleaning Standard for Myrtle Beach Restaurants
Overnight and early-morning appointments are standard here, not an upcharge. In a market where one summer Saturday is the whole year in miniature, closing a kitchen mid-service to clean a hood is not a serious proposal.
Clean before the season, not after it. A system that goes into Memorial Day weekend already loaded spends the entire summer getting worse, and the fire risk peaks at exactly the moment your dining room is fullest and your kitchen is running its thinnest crew of the year. Pre-season is also when we can get on your roof without working around a full house. The cheapest cleaning you will ever buy is the one in April.
What Sets Us Apart
Why Myrtle Beach Restaurants Trust Kitchen Guard
Two different clocks run on a Grand Strand kitchen, and operators routinely confuse them. One agency decides how often somebody comes to look at you. NFPA 96 decides how often the system actually has to be cleaned. We work to the second one and document it for the first.
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We Know Who Inspects You NowOn 1 July 2024 retail food safety moved out of DHEC and into the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, taking roughly 115 inspector positions with it. SCDA now runs risk-based inspections — annual or quarterly depending on your menu and your history — and publishes the result publicly. Fire code stays with your municipal fire department.We Know Who Inspects You Now
On 1 July 2024 retail food safety moved out of DHEC and into the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, taking roughly 115 inspector positions with it. SCDA now runs risk-based inspections — annual or quarterly depending on your menu and your history — and publishes the result publicly. Fire code stays with your municipal fire department.
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Inspection Reports with Digital PhotosEvery visit produces a dated report with before-and-after photographs of each access point, including the fan on the roof — one file that answers the fire marshal, the SCDA inspector and your insurance carrier.Inspection Reports with Digital Photos
Every visit produces a dated report with before-and-after photographs of each access point, including the fan on the roof — one file that answers the fire marshal, the SCDA inspector and your insurance carrier.
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Scheduled Around Your SeasonYour NFPA 96 tier follows your cooking volume, and on the Grand Strand volume is a season. We build the schedule around that instead of against it.Scheduled Around Your Season
Your NFPA 96 tier follows your cooking volume, and on the Grand Strand volume is a season. We build the schedule around that instead of against it.
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24/7 SupportOvernight and early-morning service across Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Conway, Murrells Inlet and the rest of the Strand, so nothing closes mid-service.24/7 Support
Overnight and early-morning service across Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Conway, Murrells Inlet and the rest of the Strand, so nothing closes mid-service.
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Technicians Trained to NFPA 96Full-system cleaning — canopy, filters, plenum, horizontal duct and rooftop fan — degreased to bare metal where the standard requires it, not just the surfaces your staff can see.Technicians Trained to NFPA 96
Full-system cleaning — canopy, filters, plenum, horizontal duct and rooftop fan — degreased to bare metal where the standard requires it, not just the surfaces your staff can see.
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One Call for Back of HouseFilter Exchange, exhaust fan hinge kits and rooftop repairs, grease containment, and commercial pressure washing alongside the hood cleaning itself.One Call for Back of House
Filter Exchange, exhaust fan hinge kits and rooftop repairs, grease containment, and commercial pressure washing alongside the hood cleaning itself.
Grand Strand Commercial Kitchen Services
Hood Cleaning Built for Myrtle Beach
Hood Cleaning
MYRTLE BEACH HOOD CLEANING SPECIALISTS
Full-System Hood Cleaning in Myrtle Beach, SC to NFPA 96
Serving Myrtle Beach, Horry County and the whole Grand Strand
What’s Included in Every Hood Cleaning Service
Our NFPA 96-trained technicians clean the full exhaust system — hood canopy, filters, plenum, horizontal ductwork and the rooftop exhaust fan — degreased to bare metal where the standard requires it. If your ductwork has no access panels we install them, because a system that cannot be inspected cannot be certified.
Who Inspects Your Kitchen on the Grand Strand
Food safety: the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. On 1 July 2024 retail food safety transferred out of DHEC into SCDA’s Consumer Protection Division, taking roughly 115 inspector positions with it. SCDA’s Retail Food Safety team now inspects around 24,000 establishments statewide on a risk-based schedule — annually or quarterly depending on your food processes and compliance history — and publishes your result on the state food grades tool. The regulations did not change with the transfer; the agency did.
Fire: your municipal fire department. The Myrtle Beach Fire Department runs six stations and holds an ISO Class 1 rating, the highest the Insurance Services Office assigns. North Myrtle Beach has its own Fire Marshal’s Office, and Horry County Fire Rescue covers the unincorporated county. All of them work to the 2021 South Carolina Fire Code, which is based on the 2021 International Fire Code with South Carolina modifications and has been in effect statewide since 1 January 2023 and points at NFPA 96 for commercial cooking exhaust.
Proof of Compliance After Every Hood Cleaning in Myrtle Beach, SC
A dated inspection report with before-and-after photographs of every access point, including the fan on the roof, plus certified service stickers on the hood. One file that satisfies the fire marshal, the SCDA inspector and the insurance adjuster who will ask for it after any kitchen fire.
Cleaning Frequency Requirements
- Solid fuel — wood-fired ovens, charcoal, smokers: Monthly
- High-volume, 24-hour, charbroiling or wok cooking: Quarterly
- Moderate-volume restaurants: Every 6 months
- Low-volume, seasonal, churches and day cares: Annually
- Frequencies per NFPA 96. Your tier follows your cooking volume — and on the Grand Strand, volume is a season. A Murrells Inlet fryer bank running flat out from Memorial Day to Labor Day is a high-volume operation for those months, whatever it looks like in February.
Grease Traps and Interceptors on the Grand Strand
There is no single Horry County grease rule — the answer changes with your address. Inside Myrtle Beach city limits the city runs its own sewer system, and under Chapter 21 of the city code restaurants, grocery stores with food preparation, and cafeterias in industrial, medical and retail facilities must install a grease trap on all kitchen waste lines, with all domestic waste bypassing the trap. The ordinance sets no gallon minimum.
In Conway, Surfside Beach and much of unincorporated Horry County, Grand Strand Water & Sewer Authority requires food-preparation businesses to have a grease interceptor of at least 1,000 gallons, and advises inspection and pump-out roughly every six months.
Kitchen Guard works to whichever standard applies at your address. Grease containment on the exhaust side — a hinge kit so the fan can be serviced safely, and containment catching the grease that comes off it — is a separate item from what happens below your sink, and we fit both.
Two agencies inspect your kitchen, and one of them changed recently enough that plenty of operators — and plenty of vendors — still name the wrong one.
Commercial Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning
Every Kind of Grand Strand Kitchen
Oceanfront restaurants, resort banquet kitchens, golf clubhouses, campus dining and healthcare — each on its own NFPA 96 schedule.
From a MarshWalk wood-fired oven on a monthly cycle to a seasonal concession stand on an annual one.
Hotels & Resorts
Roughly 425 properties line the Grand Strand. Banquet kitchens, breakfast lines and poolside grills all run through one exhaust system that nobody has scheduled — we put it on a cycle that matches the season.
Campus Dining
Campus dining at Coastal Carolina University and Horry-Georgetown Technical College, including the Culinary Institute’s teaching kitchen, held to NFPA 96 with documentation for every visit.
Golf Clubhouses
More than 80 championship courses and about 3.2 million rounds a year. Clubhouse kitchens, halfway houses and turn shack fryers — the last of which is the one most often missed.
Healthcare & Senior Living
Kitchens that never close and cannot be shut down for a service call. We schedule overnight, work in sections, and document as we go.
Hotel Chains
From downtown Myrtle Beach boutique hotels to extended-stay properties throughout Horry County, Kitchen Guard delivers hood cleaning that keeps your kitchen compliant and ready for every guest.
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MYRTLE BEACH HOOD CLEANING FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Who inspects restaurants in Myrtle Beach now — DHEC or someone else?
The South Carolina Department of Agriculture. Retail food safety transferred from DHEC to SCDA on 1 July 2024. Inspections are risk-based — annual or quarterly depending on your menu and compliance history — and the results are published on the state food grades tool. Fire code is separate and stays with the Myrtle Beach Fire Department, the North Myrtle Beach Fire Marshal’s Office, or Horry County Fire Rescue depending on where your kitchen sits.
How often does my Myrtle Beach kitchen need its hood cleaned?
NFPA 96 sets the interval by cooking volume. Solid fuel — the wood-fired ovens on the Murrells Inlet MarshWalk — is monthly. High-volume and charbroiling operations are quarterly. Most full-service kitchens are semi-annual. Genuinely low-volume or seasonal kitchens are annual. If your volume swings with the season, your tier can swing with it too, and we will put that assessment in writing.
Should I clean before the season or after it?
Before. A system that enters Memorial Day weekend already loaded spends the entire summer getting worse, at exactly the point your covers are highest and your crew is thinnest. Pre-season is also when we can get on your roof without working around a full dining room.
Do you work outside Myrtle Beach city limits?
Yes — the whole Grand Strand, from Little River and North Myrtle Beach down through Conway, Surfside Beach, Garden City and Murrells Inlet to Pawleys Island and Litchfield, plus the inland Horry County communities.
Can you work around our service hours?
Overnight and early-morning appointments are standard, not an upcharge. In a market where one summer Saturday is the whole year in miniature, closing a kitchen mid-service to clean a hood is not a serious proposal.
What do I actually receive after a cleaning?
A dated inspection report with before-and-after photographs of every access point, including the rooftop fan, plus certified service stickers on the hood. One file that satisfies the fire marshal, the SCDA inspector and your insurance carrier.
Which fire code applies to hood cleaning on the Grand Strand?
The 2021 South Carolina Fire Code — the 2021 International Fire Code with South Carolina modifications, in effect statewide since 1 January 2023. The exhaust system itself falls under the 2021 South Carolina Mechanical Code.
Do I need a grease interceptor, and what size?
It depends on your address. Inside Myrtle Beach city limits, Chapter 21 of the city code requires a grease trap on all kitchen waste lines with domestic waste bypassing it, and sets no gallon minimum. In Conway, Surfside Beach and much of unincorporated Horry County, Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority requires a grease interceptor of at least 1,000 gallons and advises pump-out roughly every six months.
Do you clean my hood filters?
We exchange them. Kitchen Guard runs a Filter Exchange program — clean filters swapped in on a schedule and your used ones taken away — rather than cleaning filters on site, so your kitchen is never waiting on a soak tank.
What happens if a fire official finds a non-compliant hood?
Depending on what they find, you may face a written notice, a required remediation, or an order to stop cooking until the system meets code. Kitchen Guard provides the cleaning and the dated photo documentation needed to close it out.
How do I get a quote for hood cleaning in Myrtle Beach?
Call (336) 690-5527 or use the consultation form. We ask about your kitchen type, number of hoods, cooking equipment and seasonal volume, because all four change the answer.