Negative building pressure
Exhaust without make-up air pulls doors and dumps dining comfort.
Commercial · PM / RFP toolkit
Restaurants & Food Service: HVAC requirements for project managers
Restaurant projects need comfort HVAC, make-up air balance, and commercial refrigeration treated as one operations system. If your RFP separates them without interfaces, you will inherit temperature fights and grease-room complaints.
When this page applies
- New restaurant TI
- Hood / make-up air changes
- Dining-room comfort retrofit
- Walk-in / reach-in refrigeration repair or replacement
Requirements checklist
Copy must-haves into your SOW as scored evaluation criteria. See also the universal HVAC requirements matrix.
Must-have
- Hood CFM and make-up air strategyBalance is non-negotiable
- Grease duct / fire code coordinationGC / specialty interface
- Dining zone comfort targetsSeparate from kitchen
- Refrigeration scope boundaryWalk-ins, reach-ins, drains
Nice-to-have
- Health department inspection timingAlign mechanical completion
Suggested RFP / SOW outline
- 1Kitchen mechanical survey
- 2Comfort system scope
- 3Refrigeration scope
- 4Balance / startup
- 5Owner training
Full playbook: Commercial HVAC RFP guide.
Failure modes to design against
Orphaned refrigeration
HVAC bidder excludes walk-ins; PM discovers gaps at opening.
Grease-laden air ignore list
Wrong equipment in kitchen zones fails early.
Vendor qualification criteria
- Restaurant mechanical experience
- Commercial refrigeration capability
- Licensed contractor (CSLB #1056688)
- After-hours / pre-opening surge capacity
Questions to ask bidders
- 1. How will you balance make-up air with hood exhaust?
- 2. What refrigeration equipment is in / out of scope?
- 3. What is your plan for opening-week callbacks?
FAQs for project managers
Do you repair commercial refrigeration?
Yes — commercial refrigeration repair is part of our published service catalog. Pair it with kitchen HVAC in one RFP when possible.
Restaurants & Food Service by city
Priority commercial × city pages with local climate and utility notes.
Related building types
Retail & Shopping Centers
Retail HVAC RFPs fail when landlord base-building scope and tenant improvement scope blur. Separate RTU responsibility, storefront comfort expectations, and after-hours access before you collect bids.
Warehouses & Light Industrial
Warehouse RFPs should state whether you need whole-volume conditioning, spot cooling, or office-mezzanine comfort only. Dock infiltration and high-bay stratification destroy “office tonnage” logic.
Related Learn · Evaluate · Act
Intent chaining so this page never dead-ends — learn first, evaluate next, then bid.
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