HOODZ

The 2025 HOODZ FDD names three entities that must appear as additional insured on your policies: HOODZ International, LLC; BELFOR USA Group Inc.; and BELFOR Franchise Group, LLC. Each one must be listed by exact legal name on every certificate of insurance you issue. A certificate that names only "HOODZ" or omits one of the BELFOR entities is non-compliant.

That is where the FDD compliance question starts. Here is where it gets more complicated — and more important.

The primary franchisor entity is HOODZ International, LLC. The 2025 FDD also requires your policies to name BELFOR USA Group Inc. and BELFOR Franchise Group, LLC as additional insureds. BELFOR Franchise Group is the parent organization that owns the HOODZ brand. All three must appear on your certificates by exact legal name.

Your certificate of insurance names your own legal business entity — the LLC or corporation you operate through — as the named insured. The HOODZ entities are additional insureds. Additional insured status means those parties can make a direct claim under your policy if a loss involves their interests. Getting all three named correctly is not a formality; it is what protects the franchise relationship when a commercial kitchen owner names everyone in a lawsuit.

The FDD also requires your policies to be primary and non-contributory. Primary means your policy responds before any coverage the HOODZ or BELFOR entities carry. Non-contributory means your insurer cannot force theirs to share in the loss. Both terms must appear on your certificate.

What the 2025 HOODZ FDD requires you to carry:

Commercial general liability at $1,000,000 per occurrence, $2,000,000 general aggregate, $2,000,000 products and completed operations aggregate, and $1,000,000 personal and advertising injury. The policy must be written on an occurrence form. It must be primary and non-contributory. Waiver of subrogation is required. There must be no limitation reducing coverage when a claim is made by any of the additional insured parties. An occurrence form means the policy covers events that happen during the policy period, regardless of when the claim is filed. That matters for HOODZ: a kitchen fire six weeks after a cleaning is still a completed-operations event that occurred within the policy period.

Commercial auto liability at a combined single limit of $1,000,000 for all vehicles used in the operation. The additional insured endorsement naming the HOODZ and BELFOR entities applies on auto as well.

Workers compensation at statutory limits for your state, plus employers' liability at $500,000 per accident, $500,000 per disease per employee, and $500,000 disease policy limit — or the minimum required by your state, whichever is higher. Workers' compensation covers your employees when they are injured on the job. Employers' liability — the sister coverage on the same policy — responds when an injured employee sues you directly outside the workers' compensation system. The FDD minimum of $500,000 is a floor; the Rikor benchmark for commercial cleaning operations recommends $1,000,000 across all three employers' liability limits.

Umbrella liability at $2,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate, written follow-form above commercial general liability and commercial auto liability. Follow-form means the umbrella covers the same events the underlying policies cover, at a higher limit.

Employee dishonesty insurance at a minimum of $50,000. The FDD language specifies that this coverage must also cover acts of stealing against third parties — meaning theft from commercial kitchen clients, not just theft from your own business.

All coverage must be written by an admitted carrier rated A.M. Best A- VII or better. Your carrier must provide 30 days' written notice before terminating, expiring, or cancelling any policy.

HOODZ technicians clean commercial kitchen exhaust systems — hoods, ducts, fans, and filters — to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 96. NFPA 96 is the fire code that governs ventilation control and fire protection for commercial cooking operations. After a HOODZ cleaning visit, the franchisee issues a written service report documenting the work performed and confirming NFPA compliance. That report goes to the restaurant. The health department and fire marshal may rely on it.

When that same restaurant has a kitchen fire six weeks later, that piece of paper becomes the center of everything.

The restaurant's attorney — or their insurer in a subrogation action — will argue that the cleaning was performed negligently or incompletely, that the grease level in the exhaust system was not reduced to NFPA 96 standards, and that the inadequate cleaning contributed to the fire. They have your service report, your date of service, and your NFPA compliance certification. 

The claim is not "you bumped something during the job." It is "you told us the system was clean and it was not."

That framing is a professional liability claim, also called contractors errors and omissions (E&O). General liability — the occurrence form the HOODZ FDD requires — covers accidental property damage and bodily injury that happen during operations. It covers the standard accident. It does not fully cover claims grounded in the adequacy of a professional service after that service is complete.

Products and completed operations coverage (included in your general liability aggregate) covers bodily injury and property damage that occur after the work is done. A fire that starts in an inadequately cleaned exhaust system after service is a completed operations event. Your GL policy's products and completed operations aggregate responds to the direct property damage and bodily injury components. But when the restaurant argues professional negligence — that HOODZ promised an NFPA compliance standard and failed to deliver it — that framing often moves outside the general liability insuring agreement entirely.

Contractors errors and omissions insurance responds to financial loss caused by professional mistakes in the performance of your work. For a HOODZ franchisee, the professional mistake is a cleaning that fell short of NFPA 96 requirements. The resulting financial loss — a restaurant fire, the kitchen closure, property damage, and downstream business interruption — can run well above $400,000 in a serious case.

This is the signature coverage gap for HOODZ franchisees. The brand exists to prevent kitchen fires. When one happens after your visit, the question is always whether the cleaning was adequate. Completed-operations GL answers part of that question. Contractors E&O answers the rest.

Every HOODZ cleaning job involves commercial-grade chemical degreasers. These products remove accumulated kitchen grease effectively — and they are genuine chemical hazards. Degreasers can cause burns on contact with skin, respiratory irritation from vapor exposure, and damage to surfaces or equipment if they migrate beyond the hood and duct system. Removed grease is regulated waste material in many jurisdictions.

Standard general liability policies contain a pollution exclusion. The exclusion removes coverage for bodily injury and property damage arising from the discharge, dispersal, release, or escape of pollutants. Most exclusions define pollutants broadly — chemical irritants, contaminants, and waste materials often qualify. Courts in many states have found commercial degreasers to meet the definition of pollutant under broad-form exclusion language.

That creates a gap in coverage tied directly to HOODZ's core operations. A degreaser that contacts a restaurant employee's skin is a bodily injury claim. A cleaning chemical that damages a stainless steel surface or discolors a commercial kitchen floor is a property damage claim. Both can be excluded under the standard GL pollution exclusion before the insurer evaluates the merits.

Contractors pollution liability (CPL) is the insurance product built to cover this gap. A CPL policy covers bodily injury and property damage arising from pollution conditions — including chemical degreasers used in professional cleaning operations. It also covers on-site cleanup costs when a spill requires containment and remediation. The HOODZ forensic analysis confirmed that pollution exposure is present on every job. The FDD does not require CPL. That makes it a gap — and one of the most important ones in the HOODZ coverage stack.

The Rikor benchmark for cleaning operations with confirmed chemical exposure: contractors pollution liability at $1,000,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 aggregate.

HOODZ technicians also handle waste material when removed grease and cleaning residue require disposal. CPL policies can include coverage for cleanup costs resulting from inadvertent grease discharge — a real scenario when portable containment equipment leaks or overflows at a job site. Local environmental regulators treat improperly disposed grease as a contamination event. Having CPL in place means the cleanup cost does not come out of your operating budget.

HOODZ serves commercial accounts — restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools, sports facilities, and any building with a commercial kitchen. These are not residential customers. They are businesses with risk management programs, commercial leases, and certificate of insurance (COI) requirements of their own.

A restaurant chain requiring exhaust cleaning across multiple locations will issue a COI request from their procurement or risk team. The request will state the limits they require. Those limits are often higher than the HOODZ FDD minimum.

Property management companies that manage restaurant-anchored retail often require $2,000,000 per occurrence on general liability. Hotels and institutional accounts may require the same, plus the property owner named as an additional insured. A hospital or school district with a commercial kitchen program may require a $5,000,000 umbrella above the primary stack.

The HOODZ FDD requires $1,000,000 per occurrence on general liability with a $2,000,000 umbrella above it — a combined stack of $3,000,000 for a single occurrence. Some commercial accounts accept this. Others set their own floor. The day you lose a multi-location restaurant contract because your certificate cannot satisfy a $2,000,000 per occurrence requirement — while the competitor who built their policy to the commercial standard keeps the account — is the day the difference becomes real revenue.

HOODZ's operational model is built around recurring commercial contracts: quarterly cleaning schedules, annual compliance certifications, and multi-year service agreements. Each contract is a revenue stream. Each COI request is a gate. Build your policy to open those gates — not just to satisfy the franchise agreement.

Like every cleaning contractor, a HOODZ franchisee pays two auditable insurance lines. General liability and workers compensation are both estimated at the start of the policy year and reconciled against actual operations at year-end. Understanding how that reconciliation works prevents a surprise bill from landing as a lump sum.

How general liability premium is built

General liability for a commercial cleaning contractor is typically rated on gross receipts — the total revenue your HOODZ franchise generates. The carrier estimates your revenue at policy inception and sets a deposit premium. At year-end, the carrier conducts an audit. An audit is the carrier's review that compares the revenue you estimated against what you actually collected, then adjusts the premium up or down.

For commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning, GL rates vary by carrier and class code — commonly in the range of $8 to $18 per $1,000 of gross receipts, depending on how the carrier prices the completed-operations exposure. Those figures are approximate and vary by market; your actual rate comes from a quote built for your operation and state.

A concrete example. You estimate $300,000 in revenue when the policy starts. Your operation grows — you add a hotel account and two restaurant chains mid-year — and you finish at $500,000. 

At a GL rate of $12 per $1,000, the audit adds $2,400 on that $200,000 difference (200 units × $12). That bill arrives as a single lump sum a few months after the policy year ends. The carrier is not penalizing you for growth. It is collecting the premium that was always owed on the revenue you actually generated.

Subcontractor costs are part of this calculation. Any 1099 technician who cannot produce a current certificate of insurance showing their own GL coverage may have their payments added to your exposure base. A franchisee who uses a 1099 tech for a busy stretch and cannot produce their certificate at audit sees that payment treated as additional revenue at the same rate.

How workers compensation premium is built

Workers' compensation premium follows a different formula: total payroll divided by 100, multiplied by the state's rate for your class code, multiplied by your experience modification factor. The per-$100 rate for each class code is set by your state's rating bureau — typically the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) — not by the carrier. The insurer applies the bureau's rate and conducts its own year-end payroll audit.

HOODZ technicians are cleaning commercial kitchens, handling chemical degreasers, and accessing rooftop exhaust equipment.

The applicable NCCI code in most states is 9014 (Janitorial Services — by Contractor), though carriers may review whether rooftop fan access, height work, or chemical handling profile warrants a supplemental classification. Confirm the correct code with your carrier at policy inception. Using the wrong code is not a claim denial — it is an audit exposure that produces a corrective bill at year-end.

An example on payroll. You estimate $160,000 in technician payroll when the policy starts. You add a second crew mid-year and finish at $240,000 — an $80,000 difference. At a state rate near $5.50 per $100 of payroll for the cleaning classification, the audit adds approximately $4,400 on that gap (800 units × $5.50). That bill arrives several months after the policy year closes.

The cash-management point

Estimate revenue and payroll as close to reality as you can at policy inception. If your business grows meaningfully mid-year — a new restaurant chain, a hotel contract, a school district agreement — ask your carrier for a mid-term adjustment. 

Spreading the increase across remaining monthly installments is easier to manage than a single lump-sum bill. The carrier is reconciling what was always owed. Ask for the adjustment before the year closes, not after.

The FDD minimum gets you compliant. The coverages below are what experienced HOODZ franchisees carry because they understand the commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning exposure — and because a single post-fire claim or lost commercial contract makes the cost of these policies look small. Rikor's recommendations are calibrated to a newer franchisee's operational profile and scale as your business grows.

Contractors errors and omissions (E&O) at $1,000,000 per claim / $1,000,000 aggregate. This is the signature gap coverage for a HOODZ franchise. The FDD does not require E&O. But HOODZ franchisees issue NFPA 96 compliance certifications after every service visit. When a kitchen fire occurs after a cleaning, those certifications define the professional standard the claim is measured against. Contractors E&O responds to professional negligence claims — the allegation that the cleaning service was performed incorrectly, incompletely, or to a standard below NFPA 96 requires. This is a distinct insuring agreement from general liability. The annual cost of a $1,000,000 E&O policy for a commercial kitchen cleaning contractor is a fraction of the defense cost for a single post-fire lawsuit.

Contractors pollution liability (CPL) at $1,000,000 per occurrence / $1,000,000 aggregate. The pollution exclusion in your general liability policy can apply to commercial-grade degreasers, grease waste, and cleaning chemicals. Every HOODZ job involves all three. CPL covers bodily injury, property damage, and cleanup cost claims that the GL pollution exclusion removes. For a brand whose entire operation involves chemical application in regulated commercial spaces, CPL is not supplemental — it is the policy that responds to the claims most likely to be excluded on your primary GL.

Inland marine (tools and equipment) coverage sized to your actual equipment value. HOODZ franchisees transport specialized equipment — pressure washing systems, vacuum and containment equipment, chemical dispensing systems, and safety gear — on every route. Standard commercial property coverage applies only at a fixed address. Equipment in service vehicles or at job sites is typically uninsured without an inland marine policy. Size the coverage to your actual replacement cost.

Commercial crime at $250,000 with a third-party endorsement (Loss Discovered form). The HOODZ FDD requires $50,000 in employee dishonesty coverage and correctly specifies it must cover third-party theft. That is the right structure — but $50,000 is a low limit for a franchise sending technicians into commercial kitchens. Restaurants and institutional facilities hold cash, equipment, and stored goods. The Rikor benchmark: commercial crime at $250,000 with the third-party theft endorsement, on a Loss Discovered form. A Loss Discovered form covers theft found during the policy period regardless of when it began. A Loss Sustained form covers only theft that both occurred and was discovered within the same policy period — a meaningful gap if theft patterns surface slowly or after a carrier change.

EPLI at $250,000. Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) covers claims from employees alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, or harassment. HOODZ technicians work in third-party commercial environments — restaurants, hotels, institutional kitchens — where workplace conduct exposure is real. The FDD does not require EPLI. The Rikor benchmark for a cleaning operation: $250,000 as a baseline, scaling as headcount grows above ten employees or revenue climbs past $750,000.

Cyber liability at $250,000. HOODZ franchisees maintain commercial customer databases with contact information, service schedules, and payment records. The Rikor baseline for a franchisee with recurring commercial accounts: cyber liability at $250,000, covering breach response, notification costs, and third-party liability. Scale up as revenue grows.

Umbrella — exposure-based. The FDD requires a $2,000,000 umbrella above your $1,000,000 GL — a combined $3,000,000 stack per occurrence. For HOODZ franchisees serving commercial accounts, the question is whether $3,000,000 is enough. A kitchen fire in a busy restaurant can exceed that limit when property damage, business interruption, and multi-party liability combine. Commercial accounts — chains, hotels, institutional kitchens — routinely require $5,000,000 certificates. The umbrella is the correct instrument to satisfy those requirements without inflating the primary GL occurrence limit. If your account mix includes properties where a single loss could approach or exceed $3,000,000, or if commercial contracts are requiring $5,000,000 certificates, the right response is a larger umbrella — not a larger primary GL.