Ken Schwartz FCSI, president/CEO at SSA, is a highly experienced food service design consultant. In the recently released report Kitchen Condition, he addresses the impact that ventilation can have on the conditions of kitchen employees.
Ask people what the most efficient item in their kitchen is and they might guess at some sort of slicer or processing equipment. But the simple fact is that good ventilation is hard to match. An ASHRAE study found that if your temperature moves by 10°F (5.5°C) above the comfort level, productivity drops by as much as 30%.
That’s roughly one extra person you’ll need for every three – versus spending a little more on putting in better equipment that creates a better working environment. So, this idea that you can put in a cheaper hood and save money is pie in the sky, because anything that can’t keep you in that comfort zone is going to cost you more in labor. And that’s for the lifespan of your operation.
And in that better environment, people are more likely to stay too. Cut corners on ventilation, though, and you’ll have to go through the cost of training and onboarding again and again – it’s rinse and repeat. I tell that to every client. Put in the Rolls-Royce of ventilation systems and your first-in capital cost will be a little bit higher, but your forever labor costs will be much less.
THE MONEY YOU INVEST IN A HIGH-QUALITY VENTILATION SYSTEM WILL PAY YOU BACK MANY TIMES OVER
Let’s say you have a hood that is 30% less effective than the best equipment on the market. Where that top system would be pushing out 10,000 cubic feet per metre (CFM) and typically bringing in and treating 80% of that – so 8,000 CFM – the lower-grade system would need to push out 13,000 CFM and bring in and treat 10,400. So, 2,400 CFM more.
When you share the calculations with an operator who is fairly astute – and show them how much harder a lower-spec machine would have to work to create the same comfortable environment, how much extra air it would need to condition – they tend to go with the higher-spec machines we specify.
Peak Performance
But it’s not just about creating a more comfortable working environment. Sometimes I go into a kitchen where it’s super-hot and people are sweating near or on whatever they’re prepping. And they’re also worn out. You can tell they’re not performing at their peak and they’re not thinking or processing clearly either. An owner might be sitting there thinking “How come the orders are coming out wrong?” not realizing that this is why.
Heat is not the only problem here either. If you don’t have the appropriate ventilation system, kitchens get humid, because they’re just bringing in outside air rather than treating that air, so you’re bringing all that humidity into the building. That’s when you start to get mold. You don’t necessarily see it. It can be blowing around in the air. It can be on surfaces that you can’t see, or it might be small enough that you can’t see it with the human eye. So, all of a sudden, you just have people who are constantly sick and missing work.
Overall, the money you invest in a high-quality ventilation system will pay you back many times over in staff retention, employee wellbeing and food quality.
Article from Ken Schwartz FCSI, president/CEO at SSA Foodservice Design from the Kitchen Condition Report release April 2025
The Kitchen Condition Report
This new in-depth report – including data gathered from an extensive 2025 survey of 146 chefs in North America – assesses the impact that kitchen conditions have on the wellbeing of workers. It also explores the knock-on
impact on recruiting and retaining talent. Finally, it suggests ways to fix it.
Inside this report you’ll find:
- Survey results on chef challenges and needs
- Highlights from the Chef Panel at NAFEM 2025
- Real-world stories from major food service operations
- Actionable insights for designing better kitchens
Do you have any questions? Leave us a message below or please send your questions by using the “Ask the Expert“
Subscribe to kitchenventilation.com
Stay up to date by subscribing to Halton’s Commercial Kitchen Ventilation Blogs by entering your email address to subscribe and Halton will provide you with the latest information on commercial kitchen exhaust hoods, pollution control units, air handling, and safety systems. You will receive notifications of new posts by email.