Restaurant equipment repair, and which trade covers each machine
“Restaurant equipment repair” is one phrase covering about a dozen different trades, and California licenses roughly half of them. This page says which half, because the difference decides whether there is a public register with a name and a number in it or nothing at all.
The rule underneath it is simple once you have seen it. The state licenses the supply behind a machine, the gas line, the exhaust duct, the refrigeration circuit, the water and the electrical feed. It does not license the machine. So there is a classification for the pipe feeding your fryer and none for the fryer.
Pick the machine that has failed and enter your ZIP. Where a register covers the work you get names, license numbers and phone numbers sorted by distance. Where it does not, you get a page that says so.
What we can answer
Machines with a licensed trade behind them
Each of these resolves to a CSLB classification, which means the register publishes who holds it. Open the row to see the businesses listed for that trade, nearest to your ZIP first.
| What has failed | Who covers it | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Walk-in cooler and freezer | Commercial walk-in cooler repair | C-38 refrigeration |
| Reach-in cooler, prep table, display case | Reach-in cooler and door repair | C-38 refrigeration |
| Rooftop unit, dining room heating and cooling | Commercial rooftop HVAC repair | C-20 warm-air heating, ventilating and air-conditioning |
| Hood exhaust fan, make-up air | Kitchen hood and exhaust fan repair | C-20 warm-air heating, ventilating and air-conditioning |
| Gas line to the range, fryer or griddle | Commercial gas line repair | C-36 plumbing |
| Water heater, hot water to the sinks | Commercial water heater repair | C-36 plumbing or C-4 boiler, hot water heating and steam fitting |
| Kitchen drains and the grease line | Commercial drain cleaning | C-36 plumbing |
| Grease trap and interceptor | Grease trap cleaning and pumping | C-36 plumbing |
| Power to the line, breakers, panel | Commercial electrical repair | C-10 electrical |
Classifications are read out of the same table the matcher searches on, so this page cannot name one the listings are not being matched against. A classification proves what the state licensed the holder to do. It does not prove they have ever touched your model of equipment, and nothing here says otherwise.
What we cannot answer, and why
Machines California does not license anyone to fix
This is the half nobody publishes, and it is the more useful half if one of these is what has failed.
Why the list above is empty of names
No California contractor classification covers appliance repair, so there is no register to read and no license number to print. That is not a gap in our data and importing another state register will not fill it. What we will not do is hand you the nearest plumber or refrigeration contractor under a fryer heading: it would look like an answer and would waste a callout. Ask your equipment dealer, the manufacturer’s authorized service list, or whoever installed the machine, and check whether it is still inside warranty or on a service agreement before anybody bills you.Start from the trade
The kitchen trades a register does list
Kitchen down
Work out which trade you need, then call them yourself
Pick the machine, enter the ZIP of your premises, and where a register covers the work you get the businesses licensed for it nearest to you, with the license numbers and phone numbers we read off the register.
- Cost to search
- Free
- Account needed
- None
- Who you call
- The business