Mike Mavromatis · Owner & Founder
Last updated
Written from Air It Up's first-hand field experience across Greater New Orleans since 2000 and reviewed for accuracy by owner Mike Mavromatis. Equipment specifics (warranty terms, efficiency ratings) reflect manufacturer-published information at the time of writing — always confirm current terms for your exact model.
What does restaurant HVAC have to solve?
A restaurant has two HVAC worlds: a kitchen that exhausts huge volumes of hot air through the hood, and a dining room that must stay cool and dry for guests. The kitchen exhaust must be balanced by makeup air measured in CFM, or the whole building goes negative-pressure.
When should you design the kitchen and the room separately?
- Design dining-room cooling for crowd load at peak seating, not empty square footage.
- Size makeup air to the hood exhaust so the kitchen breathes and stays workable.
- Control dining-room humidity so guests feel cool, not clammy, on a busy Saturday.
Failure modes in restaurant comfort
- Exhaust without makeup air: doors slam or will not open, pilot lights struggle, comfort collapses.
- Undersized dining cooling: a full room overwhelms an AC sized for the floor plan alone.
- No humidity control: humid makeup air makes the room sticky even when it is cool.
Proof
New Orleans dining rooms pack people in, and the kitchens run hot year-round. The restaurants that stay comfortable are the ones whose exhaust, makeup air, and dining cooling were sized together with a real load calculation — not bolted on piecemeal.
Your next step
Opening, remodeling, or fighting a hot kitchen and clammy dining room? Talk to a commercial tech about balancing your restaurant.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why won't my restaurant doors close?
- Almost always negative pressure: kitchen exhaust is removing more air than makeup air replaces. Adding or correcting makeup air fixes the door pull and improves comfort.
- Why is my dining room hot when it's full?
- Each guest adds heat. If cooling was sized for an empty room, a full house overwhelms it. We size dining-room cooling for peak occupancy.
- How much makeup air does my kitchen need?
- It depends on your hood exhaust CFM and local code. We measure exhaust and design makeup air to balance it, keeping the kitchen workable and the building neutral.
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