Guide · Timing & triggers · UK-Wide
Swing the menu toward frying or chargrilling and the grease load climbs. The clean that follows the switch resets the system and re-baselines the interval it needs.
The short answer
A seasonal menu is not just a change of dishes - it is a change in how your kitchen throws grease. Swing toward frying, chargrilling or roasting and the airborne load climbs; the clean that follows the switch resets the system and, crucially, resets the interval it should be cleaned on.
Cooking method is the single biggest driver of how fast grease builds in a canopy and duct. A summer menu heavy on chargrilled and fried plates loads the extraction far harder than a lighter spring one; a winter shift to roasts and comfort food does the same. The kitchen that was comfortably on a longer interval can quietly move into a heavier band the week the new menu goes live - and nobody notices until the extractor is straining or a filter is re-greasing twice as fast.
Why the switch is a trigger
For extraction, the risk-based standard the industry works to - TR19 Grease - sets cleaning frequency by how hard the kitchen runs, not by the calendar. As a working guide, a heavy operation running twelve to sixteen hours a day points to roughly every three months, a moderate six-to-twelve-hour kitchen to six months, and a light two-to-six-hour one to twelve. But those bands assume a stable cooking style. Change the style and you can jump a band without changing your hours at all, which is why a menu switch is a natural moment to re-measure rather than carry an old schedule forward. You can see how output sets that number on the extraction side of the business at kitchen extraction cleaning.
The deep clean that follows a menu change does two jobs. It clears the residue of the outgoing menu - and where that menu leaned on fried and chargrilled plates, that residue sits heaviest behind the line, in the exact zone covered by cleaning behind the line at fryers, ranges and chargrills. And it gives you a clean baseline from which to judge the new menu's load, so the next interval is set on the new cooking style rather than a guess. Keeping that interval right is what protects a hard-won rating through the busy season, as set out in how often to deep clean to protect a five-star rating.
There is a food safety angle to a menu switch as well, beyond grease. New ingredients can mean new allergens and new cross-contamination paths, and the changeover is the sensible point to deep clean the surfaces and equipment that will now handle different foods - resetting not just the fire-risk picture but the contamination one. The deposits a daily wipe never reaches are the ones most likely to carry the old menu into the new, described in the hidden grease traps a daily wipe-down never reaches.
The honest limit holds. A clean that follows a menu switch resets the system and the baseline - but it is necessary, not sufficient. It does not set your new interval on its own; that comes from measuring the load the new menu actually produces. And it does not maintain itself through a busy season - the daily routine does that. Treat the switch as the trigger to clean and re-measure, and let the routine carry the new interval from there.
Questions
It can, and often does. Cooking method is the biggest driver of grease load - a shift toward frying or chargrilling can move you into a heavier band with the same hours. The switch is the moment to re-measure rather than assume.
As a working guide: heavy use of twelve to sixteen hours a day points to roughly every three months, moderate six-to-twelve-hour use to six months, and light two-to-six-hour use to twelve. They are baselines - a survey of your actual grease load sets the real interval.
Because the outgoing menu leaves residue that sits heaviest behind the line, and you want a clean baseline to judge the new menu's load from. The clean clears the old and gives you a fair starting point for the new interval.
Yes. New ingredients can bring new allergens and cross-contamination paths. The changeover is the sensible point to deep clean the surfaces and equipment that will now handle different foods, not just the grease-bearing extraction.
No - it resets the baseline, but the daily and weekly routine is what holds the interval through a busy season. The clean is the trigger to reset and re-measure; the routine carries it from there.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Book a deep clean after your menu switch. We clear the old load, reset the baseline and measure the interval the new cooking style needs. No-obligation quote, UK-wide.