How the Grease Filter Exchange Service Works

The Grease Filter Exchange Service Restaurants Count On.

Tiger Exchange replaces commercial kitchen filters on a schedule built around your cooking volume. Dirty filters come out, clean UL-listed stainless steel baffle filters go in. The dirty ones come back to our facility for off-site cleaning to NFPA 96 standards. Most exchanges take 15 to 30 minutes per location and happen during your off-hours.

GET A FREE ESTIMATE

Doing It Yourself vs. Tiger Exchange

Before getting into how Tiger Exchange works, it helps to look at what in-house cleaning actually involves — and where the program fits in.

In-House Filter Cleaning

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Staff time pulled from cooking and prep to handle filter cleaning, sometimes weekly
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Industrial degreaser, neutralizing rinse, and replacement scrub pads added to supply budgets
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Improper Cleaning and chemical exposure
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Wastewater drains straight into the sewer — a violation of most municipal pretreatment ordinances and the Clean Water Act
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Service records you have to track yourself — often a paper trail nobody wants to inherit during an inspection
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Inspection prep that falls entirely on your shoulders
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Hidden labor and replacement costs spread across multiple budgets

Tiger Exchange

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UL-listed stainless steel filters in your hood every visit
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Off-site cleaning to NFPA 96 standards by our technicians
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Zero staff labor required
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EPA-compliant wastewater disposal handled off-site
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Service documentation sent automatically the next business day
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Inspection-ready every day of the year
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One predictable monthly cost — no surprises

How the Service Works

Step 1: Free Estimate and Site Visit

Start with our online cost calculator. Answer a few questions about your kitchen — cooking style, number of hoods, total filters — and see your estimated monthly price on the spot. A Tiger Exchange rep will call within one business day, often the same day, to talk through the details. From there, a technician comes out for a 10-minute site visit to measure your filters, look at hood configuration, and confirm your quote.

The site visit isn't a sales pitch. It's measurements. Just enough to confirm your quote for your specific kitchen.

Step 2: Custom Schedule and Onboarding

Once you accept the quote, we order your filter sets, set up access (key or lockbox — you choose), and schedule your first exchange. Onboarding usually takes one to two weeks. Filters are sized specifically for your hood — baffles come in dozens of dimensions, and we order yours custom.

Step 3: The Exchange Itself

A Tiger Exchange technician arrives during your scheduled off-hours window. Equipment is cold. Kitchen is quiet. The tech removes the dirty filters and installs clean ones in roughly 15 to 30 minutes. No mess, no disruption, no degreaser fumes for your morning shift to deal with.

Step 4: Off-Site Cleaning to NFPA 96 Standards

The dirty filters travel back to our facility, where they're cleaned by our technicians to the standards NFPA 96 requires for grease-laden ductwork. The cleaning happens off-site, which means the wastewater — loaded with FOG (fats, oils, and grease) — gets handled through EPA-compliant disposal channels rather than your kitchen drain.

Step 5: Documentation Sent Automatically

Service records are emailed to you the next business day. Not 'available on request.' Not 'let me check with the office.' Automatically. Every time. Without you having to chase anyone down. That documentation is what you hand to fire marshals, insurance auditors, Joint Commission surveyors, and health inspectors when they come through.

What Makes the Schedule Work

Tiger Exchange runs on a route-based service model. Four service vans cover Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, southern Maine, and the New Hampshire Seacoast. The same techs service the same kitchens on a recurring basis. You see familiar faces. They know your hood configuration. They know your alarm code.

Schedules are built around your cooking volume, not a one-size-fits-all template. Biweekly for high-volume operations. Monthly for moderate volume. Custom cadence for seasonal or academic-calendar kitchens.

If the original cadence turns out to be wrong — your kitchen is busier than estimated, or seasonal patterns weren't accounted for — we adjust within the first 30 to 60 days. The schedule is a tool, not a contract.

Ready to See What It Would Cost for Your Kitchen?

See your estimated monthly price in about two minutes. From there, a Tiger Exchange rep will call within one business day, and a quick 10-minute site visit confirms your quote. No high-pressure follow-ups.