This article gives me great pain to write. I believe that there has been a great injustice committed against hood cleaners every where and one of the parties involved, I would consider my friend. I have done videos about their products because I love them. I have sat on the board of directors of the Grease Police with this guy and know that he is an honest, hard-working, smart, cream-of-the-crop kind of guy. That’s why it makes it so hard to believe that he has sold out all hood cleaners in a big way. He’s probably going to hate me after this, but I can’t help it, for the sake of the industry, I feel that you guys – my readers- need to know what’s going on!
What am I talking about?
In case you haven’t heard yet, Driploc has sold out to BELFOR Holdings, Inc., The parent company of HOODZ. Now, I have nothing against HOODZ as a company, but they are selling franchise opportunities in YOUR backyard. Here is a press release from their website:
HOODZ, Nation’s Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Leader, Grows to 50 Locations in 4 Months of Existance
Ann Arbor, MI – HOODZ, the nation’s largest and most reputable kitchen exhaust hood cleaning franchise, has quickly become the nation’s largest and most reputable franchise in the industry by growing to more than 50 franchise locations in 26 states in just four months.
Having launched the franchise in July 2009, HOODZ has already opened locations in markets such as Atlanta, Tampa, Raleigh and Houston. With more than 50 HOODZ locations now in development as part of its strategic expansion, the company is anticipating even more explosive growth in 2010, and is poised to reach 150 total franchise locations by 2011.
They are planning on having 150 locations by 2011? If you thought you had competition before, just wait.
My problem with this is every time you purchase a Driploc product now, you will be feeding your competition. In my opinion, there is a HUGE conflict of interest in this setup. Every grease containment pad you get from Driploc, every magnet you buy, every hinge you put on will put money in the pockets of your competition. Unless of course you have a HOODZ franchise.
So what do you do?
Well, there are solutions. There are other grease containment systems out there that work well. I am in the process of setting up an interview for you all to hear with Jason Wellman, owner of The Grease Box. I believe that his systems are a GREAT alternative to Driploc’s. If you would like to send in questions for me to ask him, feel free to do so. That covers our grease containment needs.
What about magnets? Well, you can always go with the big square Harbor Freight magnets that I show in my first hood cleaning weekly tip. They’re $5 and strong.
Hinges: Good luck with that one. Driploc’s hinges are bombsheezy. They are so awesome, that the owner of the hood cleaning school I went to tried to claim credit for inventing them and was selling them as his. Captive Air hinges are good, but conditions have to be perfect for them to work. They’re fairly easy to install, but again, conditions have to be pretty much perfect. So, the jury is still out on hinges. If you have a suggestion, pass it along.
Unfortunately, Driploc didn’t ask my opinion before selling out. They are smart guys over there and they are good guys that is why this is so surprising and disturbing. I’m sure they made a wise financial decision for their company, but at what cost to the industry, did they do it? I, for one, feel betrayed.
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