Guide
Ghost kitchen / shared kitchen hood responsibilities
When six brands cook under one roof — ghost kitchen, shared commissary, or food-hall stalls — the grease still travels one path. The facilities question is not “who cooks the most?” It is who schedules the clean, who holds the certificate, who pays for the shared riser and rooftop fan, and what happens when one tenant’s fry line loads a duct everyone else depends on. Secondary cites of NFPA 96 §4.1.5 name the equipment owner as responsible by default, with written transfer allowed through a lease or management contract. This page is an operator checklist of common patterns — not a lease opinion and not legal advice. Read your agreement; if it is silent, get the split in writing before the next AHJ visit.
Short answer
Map every component (hood, branch duct, shared riser, fan, access panels) to a named party. Secondary sources: owner is the default under §4.1.5 unless the lease / use agreement transfers the duty in writing. Shared systems should follow the highest grease-producing tenant’s inspection cadence, not the quietest brand’s. One coordinator should book the cleaner, hold report custody, and keep COIs current — finger-pointing after a deficiency notice is how every station gets tagged.
Common responsibility patterns (verify your lease)
| Component / task | Often tenant / brand | Often landlord / facility | Watch-outs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canopy / baffle filters at the station | ✓ | Staff wash between visits; still part of the exhaust system | |
| Branch duct inside the demised suite | ✓ | Sometimes | “Kitchen equipment” language may or may not include fixed duct |
| Shared riser / trunk / rooftop fan | ✓ | Highest dispute zone in food halls and multi-pod ghosts | |
| Scheduling the cleaner + roof access | Sometimes | ✓ | Needs one named coordinator — not six calendars |
| Certificate / report custody | Copy on site | Master binder | Both sides should keep PDF; AHJ may ask the operating party on site |
| Vendor insurance / WC (COI) | If you hire | If they hire | Whoever contracts the crew verifies COI — see related verify-insurance guide |
These are field patterns, not rules. Silent leases are common; secondary operator notes say both sides often assume the other is handling the file until a deficiency notice arrives.
Shared exhaust path — what breaks multi-tenant kitchens
- Partial cleans — one brand pays for its canopy; the shared riser stays loaded. Inspectors often judge the system as a whole.
- Cadence mismatch — a low-volume baker sharing a duct with a 24-hour fry pod: plan shared sections to the heavier load (secondary shared-system guidance).
- Access fights — missing panels above the corridor, locked roof hatches, or “no after-hours” rules that block the only window the cleaner can use.
- Certificate orphaning — vendor emails the landlord; brand never sees the report; sticker falls off; next inspection looks like nobody cleaned.
- Insurance gaps — facility-hired crew with expired WC, or brand-hired crew with no additional-insured language the lease demanded.
- Violation ping-pong — AHJ tags the operating kitchen on site while landlord and tenant argue who pays — correction clock still runs.
What a workable shared plan looks like
- Lease or side letter names hood / duct / fan / who pays / who schedules
- One facility coordinator books recurring cleans for shared path
- Scope includes shared riser + fan, not canopy-only per stall
- Reports + photos copied to landlord binder and each brand’s on-site file
- COI on file for the crew that actually walks the roof
What usually fails first
- “Common area maintenance covers it” with no hood line item or schedule
- Each brand hires a different canopy wiper; nobody opens the riser
- No master binder — certificates live in six inboxes
- New brand moves in; grease load jumps; cadence never upgraded
- Assuming ownership of the building equals automatic cleaning duty without checking the lease
Field note — owner default vs lease transfer
- Secondary cites of NFPA 96 §4.1.5.1: responsibility for inspection, testing, maintenance, and cleanliness sits with the equipment owner.
- §4.1.5.2 (secondary): owner may transfer that responsibility in writing (lease, use agreement, management contract). Verbal “the tenants handle it” does not count.
- If the lease is silent, do not invent a rule — get a written amendment or side letter before the next service due date.
- Shared systems: secondary multi-tenant notes recommend aligning frequency to the highest grease producer and assigning one party to manage access and scheduling.
Pre-lease / onboarding checklist (operators & facility managers)
- Ask for the last 12 months of hood/exhaust reports for the shared path — if they cannot produce them, treat the system as neglected until proven otherwise.
- Walk the path — station hood → branch → shared riser → fan → grease containment; note missing access panels.
- Name the coordinator — email/phone for scheduling, roof keys, after-hours security.
- Cost-share formula — equal split vs grease-load vs square footage; put it in writing (facility fee line item if used).
- Cadence — state the Table 12.4 row you are planning to (high-volume quarterly is common for fry-heavy ghost pods; solid-fuel monthly if anyone burns wood).
- Documentation custody — who keeps master PDFs; each brand keeps on-site copies (see documentation binder guide).
- Insurance — who contracts the cleaner verifies COI / WC before roof day.
Put this in the vendor / facility email
- Layout — number of stations on this exhaust; shared vs dedicated; roof access path
- Responsible party — who is billed; who signs; who receives the report
- Scope — station hoods + shared riser + fan + containment (yes/no each)
- Cadence — planned Table 12.4 row; upgrade if a heavier brand joins
- Proof — labels on each hood served, panel tags on shared access, path photos, COI on file
Who it’s for / not for
- For: ghost-kitchen / commissary brand operators; facility managers of multi-pod buildings; food-hall landlords rewriting CAM language; anyone inheriting a silent lease before an AHJ visit
- Not for: inventing legal outcomes; single-tenant strip leases with clear tenant duty (still verify); food-truck-only setups (use the food-truck guide); replacing your AHJ’s adopted edition
Sources
- Facilitec Southwest — NFPA 96 codes reference (secondary; §4.1.5 owner responsibility + written transfer; Table 12.4)
- Qwick Solutions — landlord or tenant hood cleaning (secondary; lease transfer patterns; food-hall / shared exhaust notes; not legal advice)
- Qwick Solutions — ghost kitchen maintenance (secondary; shared exhaust ownership gaps; demand maintenance records before signing)
- Hoods Kitchen Exhaust — shared commercial exhaust systems (secondary; component split; cadence to highest grease producer; one coordinator)
- Night Vision Clean — lease maintenance obligations (secondary; common tenant vs landlord component patterns — verify your own lease)
- Pulse RevOps — ghost kitchen / commissary lease terms (secondary operator note; facility fees sometimes claim to cover shared hood cleaning — itemize and verify)
- Facilitec Southwest — hood cleaning insurance documentation (secondary; documentation stack insurers and AHJs ask for)
Next step
Pull the lease (or facility use agreement) and highlight every line that mentions exhaust, hood, duct, fan, fire code, or “building systems.” If the shared path is unnamed, send a one-page side letter that assigns scheduling, payment, report custody, and cadence — then book the next full-path clean with COI on file before the sticker expires.