In February 2009 , Dependable Hood & Duct was formed. Having been passionate in his former entrepreneurial endeavors, Steve, while watching his own commercial kitchen exhaust system being cleaned, realized that this type of service business would be the avenue of his next endeavor. Steve discussed with Rich, his brother-in-law, the possibility of starting their own kitchen exhaust cleaning and inspection company. We converted Rich’s family van into a well-equipped kitchen exhaust cleaning van. By 2011 we realized that the work demanded a three-man crew to consistently adhere to the NFPA 96 Fire Code Standard. In December 2012, we bought our first Mercedes sprinter van to accommodate our three-man crew and to house our state-of-the-art equipment. Our company grew steadily with national account management companies and local businesses.

As the business grew, we purchased a second Mercedes sprinter in October of 2014, a third in November of 2016, our first FilterShine van in October 2017, and a fifth van has been ordered as of July 2020. In October 2017, we moved Dependable Hood out of our home office, where it had been operating for eight years, in order to meet contract obligations for our FilterShine New England operation being set up at our new and current commercial business location. FilterShine New England is our new sister company that offers a grease baffle filter exchange service that utilizes high-quality stainless-steel filters. Currently, we have multiple three-man crews, office staff, and Managers. The owners are Rich Amador, Steve and Kim Kassaras. Rich is the operations manager, Steve is the general manager, and Kim is our finance administrator and bookkeeper. Dependable Hood and FilterShine New England are family-run businesses with the next generation Elias Kassaras, Levi Amador, and Adrianna Amador.