How Cleaning Pros Plus — a 300+ kitchen operation — went from fighting generic software to building the solution that became HoodOps.
For over a decade, Cleaning Pros Plus operated like most hood cleaning companies: a mix of spreadsheets, paper inspection forms, manual NFPA 96 certificates created in Word, and photos dumped into shared Google Drive folders organized by date.
Arthur tried every field service tool on the market. Jobber. ServiceTitan. Smart Service. Every one of them shared the same problem — they were built for HVAC, plumbing, or general cleaning. None of them had heard of NFPA 96. None could generate a compliance certificate. None had a checklist designed for kitchen exhaust cleaning.
The workarounds became a second job:
Every NFPA 96 compliance certificate was built from scratch in a Word template. Job details entered manually. Client info copy-pasted. Photos attached separately. One certificate per job — at 300+ jobs per year, that's 225+ hours annually on paperwork alone.
Technicians took before/after photos on their phones and uploaded them to a shared Google Drive — sometimes. Photos were mislabeled, out of order, or missing entirely. When a fire marshal requested documentation for a specific location, finding the right photos could take 30+ minutes.
NFPA 96 Table 12.4 requires different cleaning frequencies for different cooking types. Tracking which client was due monthly vs. quarterly vs. semi-annually was done in a spreadsheet that only one person understood. When that person was out, cleanings got missed.
A client called asking for their compliance certificate from six months ago. It took me two hours to find the photos, rebuild the certificate, and email it over. That night I started writing the spec for what became HoodOps.
45 minutes per certificate, manual Word template
Auto-generated on every job. Digital, timestamped, photo-verified. Delivered to client email instantly after QA approval.
Shared Google Drive, mislabeled, 30+ minutes to find a specific photo
Every photo captured in the mobile app, tagged to the job and access point, scored by Claude AI for NFPA 96 compliance. Searchable in seconds.
One spreadsheet, one person, missed cleanings
Table 12.4 frequency auto-calculated per client based on cooking type. Reminders sent automatically. Dashboard flags overdue accounts.
Every job now goes through a quality review before invoicing. Photo quality issues and incomplete checklists are caught before the client sees them — not after.
Technicians in Yosemite National Park have zero cell signal on most job sites. HoodOps works fully offline and syncs everything when they're back in range.
For the first time, Arthur could see margin per job and per client. Three clients were immediately flagged for price increases — a net revenue gain of $12,000/year.
Every client now has a portal with their complete service history, compliance certificates, and photos. Fire marshal requests are handled in seconds, not hours.
Cleaning Pros Plus is now the proving ground for every HoodOps feature. When Arthur builds a new capability — AI photo analysis, grease depth trending, revenue forecasting — it gets tested on his own 300+ kitchen operation before any customer sees it. That's the advantage of software built by an operator: every feature is battle-tested in real kitchens before it ships.
HoodOps launches Q3 2026. Claim your spot to get early access and Founding Member pricing.