What we build · Kitchens
Serving or Cooking
Whether the center cooks or serves prepared food changes the kitchen from a room into a regulated installation.
The site, the age groups, and the capacity your model needs. We will tell you whether the building and the outdoor space can support it.
Capacity
Decided by the building, not by the business plan
Outdoors
Play area frequently caps licensed capacity, not the building
Licensed
We build to what the licensing authority requires
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
The scope is decided after the design
A center plans to serve prepared meals and later decides to cook, or plans to cook and discovers what that requires — hood, exhaust route, grease interceptor, health department review, drainage and finishes. The difference changes the building, and it is a decision to make before design rather than during it.
What cooking adds
- A hood and a route for exhaust to reach the roof.
- A grease interceptor, sized and located for servicing.
- Health department review, separate from the building permit.
- Floor finishes, drainage and slope to what will be inspected.
- Electrical and gas capacity for the equipment.
How we handle it
- 01Establish the kitchen scope before design.
- 02Confirm requirements with the authority rather than assuming.
- 03Provide an exhaust route if cooking is ever contemplated.
- 04Build drainage and finishes to inspection standard.
- 05Coordinate both reviews toward the opening date.
Provide the exhaust route even if the center starts by serving prepared food. Adding a route through a finished building later is disruptive and sometimes impossible, and while the walls are open it costs very little.
Said plainly
Where we stop
A serving kitchen cannot become a cooking kitchen without the hood, the exhaust route and the interceptor. We will say so rather than letting an operator assume an easy upgrade.
FAQ
Common questions
- Do we need a commercial kitchen?
- Only if you cook. The difference changes the building rather than the fittings.
- Can we upgrade later?
- Not easily. Provide the exhaust route now if cooking is ever contemplated.
- Is there a separate review?
- Food service is reviewed separately from the building permit.
- What is most often missed?
- The exhaust route to the roof, and where the interceptor can be serviced.
What decides it
Licensing
Child care facilities are licensed, and the physical requirements attached to that license shape the building before any design decision.
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Capacity
Licensed capacity comes from the building and the site, and it is the number every part of the business model rests on.
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The Site
Three site facts decide whether a child care center is viable, and all three are checkable before purchase.
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Finishes & Safety
Everything within reach of a child is a safety item, and everything is cleaned constantly.
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Opening
A center cannot open until it passes inspection, and families have already been told a date.
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More what we build
Infant Rooms
The room with the tightest staffing ratios, the most sanitation requirements and the lowest revenue per square foot.
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Toddler & Preschool Classrooms
The rooms that carry the business. Their area determines licensed capacity, and their layout determines whether staff can supervise.
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Outdoor Play
The outdoor requirement is frequently the binding constraint on licensed capacity, and it is the one operators check last.
Read more →
Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.