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Four people, one route at a time

A small Houston shop. Three field technicians and a dispatcher. Below: who each of them is, where they came from, and how they got onto a hood.

Co-founder · Route 1

Dale Hesso

TDLR-licensed mechanical contractor (M-39184). Twelve years on commercial kitchen exhaust before opening Updraft.

Co-founder · Route 2

Marisol Quiñones

IKECA-certified hood technician. Houston native. Came up in fire-protection inspection before pivoting to ventilation.

Route 3 · Dispatch

Kenji Buenrostro

Joined 2023 from a barbacoa pit at the Original Ninfa's on Navigation. Knows what the kitchen actually does at 9 p.m. on a Friday.

How we hire

We hire field technicians on three criteria, in this order. First: have they ever worked the hot side of a real commercial kitchen line? The answer informs how a person reads a grease pattern. Second: are they comfortable on a roof at 5:30 a.m. in July when it is already 87°F? The answer informs whether they will still be here in eighteen months. Third: do they read the code before they read the manual?

We do not hire on certifications alone, though every Updraft technician is IKECA-certified within twelve months of hire and recertified on the published two-year cycle. We pay for the certification. We pay the day they sit the exam.