Philadelphia — The International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association (IKECA), an international non-profit trade organization, committed to fire prevention and life safety by advancing the quality of cleaning, inspection and maintenance of commercial exhaust systems worldwide, has appointed Randall (Randy) Rauth of Milwaukee-based Hood Cleaning Inc. as its new president.
Rauth started his career in the restaurant service business. His first job was working for Safety-Kleen in Waukesha, Wis., as a route salesman for grease filter service. He later was promoted to the national sales team. In 1984, Rauth and his wife Patti started cleaning kitchen exhaust systems. They incorporated in 1989 as Hood Cleaning Inc.
Hood Cleaning Inc. now services commercial kitchens, restaurants, universities, senior living centers and corporate kitchens throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
“I welcomed the opportunity to become president of IKECA and lead such a great group of people,” says Rauth. “My goal is to continue to reinforce IKECA’s position as the industry leader and expand recognition of all the great members who play such a vital role in the life safety of our community.”
IKECA operates a rigorous, industry-leading certification program for kitchen exhaust cleaning specialists and was founded in 1989 by a small group of exhaust cleaners with similar beliefs in the correlation of proper and complete exhaust cleaning and fire safety. Within 2 years, these founders created the first kitchen exhaust cleaning nonprofit trade association, which has made significant contributions to the decrease in commercial kitchen fires in the U.S. today. In 2009, IKECA joined the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and began defining standards for the cleaning, inspection and maintenance of commercial kitchen exhaust systems.
SOURCE: IKECA