A refrigeration rack with pressure gauges, copper lines and a compressor

24/7 for refrigeration Red Seal certified Qualicum Beach and Parksville

Cold holding that passes an inspection

Name: Griffin Refrigeration Ltd.
Address: Qualicum Beach, BC, CA
Telephone: +1-250-797-2829

Reach-ins, prep tables, line coolers and display cases for kitchens, pubs and grocers from Parksville to Bowser.

Red Seal certified technicians 24/7 for commercial refrigeration Owner-operated by Mark Griffin Based in Qualicum Beach, BC

What we look after in a kitchen

A kitchen does not have one fridge. It has a line of them, and they fail in different ways.

All commercial refrigeration

A prep table that creeps up through service, a reach-in that ices its evaporator every third day, a bottle cooler that gives up on the one hot afternoon of the summer. We work the whole line rather than the single unit that quit, because the thing that killed it is usually shared: a grease-loaded condenser, a drain that has not run in a year, a door that stopped sealing in spring.

Kitchens and bars The line you cook behind: reach-ins, under-counter units, prep tables and bottle coolers. Temperature that drifts up through serviceIced evaporators and blocked drainsDoor gaskets, hinges and closersControls, sensors and defrost timing

Grocers and markets Open cases, merchandisers and the condensing units that carry them. Case temperatures and defrost cyclesCondensing units, racks and controlsNight curtains, doors and sealsLeak checks on the cold side

When it quits mid-service 250-797-2829 is answered around the clock for commercial refrigeration, holidays included. Details

Walk-in coolers and freezers Ice machines

The numbers an inspector works from

These are not our targets. They are the Food Premises Regulation, and they apply to every unit holding food in your premises.

4 °C Cold holding, maximum Potentially hazardous food, stored or displayed. Food Premises Regulation, section 14.

−18 °C Frozen, maximum Stored, displayed or transported. Same regulation, same section.

1 °C Thermometer accuracy Every refrigeration and hot holding unit carries one. Section 19.

Island Health says its environmental health officers carry out more than 7,000 inspections of restaurants, food facilities and stores a year. A cooler that drifts to 6 °C through a warm afternoon, or a thermometer reading three degrees out, is what an inspection is looking for. Both are cheaper to find on a scheduled visit than on an inspection day.

See what a maintenance visit covers

Before you open, or after close

Most of the work in a kitchen happens when the kitchen is not running.

Tell us the window when you book, and we will tell you straight what we can do for it. Nobody wants a technician on the line at seven on a Friday.

Our shop is in Qualicum Beach. A good deal of the refrigeration work on this stretch of the Island is done by crews driving in from Nanaimo or Courtenay. Ours start the day here.

If you are taking over an existing restaurant, get the refrigeration looked at before you sign. A health operating permit does not transfer to a new owner (Island Health), so the equipment has to satisfy your permit rather than the last owner's.

Maintenance plans Why a local contractor matters

Worth saying on the call

The window that suits: before service, after close, or your quiet day
Which units are on the line, and which can wait a day
Whether the room is trading, being renovated or empty
The dining room too, if the rooftop unit is part of the problem

Kitchens and stores we cover

Kitchens across the Oceanside communities and Nanaimo, up the valley in Port Alberni, and out on the coast in Tofino and Ucluelet.

Parksville

Restaurants, pubs, grocery and hotel kitchens, on the same call-out as the shop town.

Details

Qualicum Beach

The shop is here. Kitchens on the Beach, the village cafés and the resort dining rooms.

Details

Nanaimo

Down Highway 19 from the shop. Refrigeration for kitchens, grocery and walk-ins.

Details

Port Alberni

Thirty-three licensed restaurants and nineteen pubs and bars up the valley, and behind them the undercounters, prep tables, walk-ins and ice machines.

Details

Tofino

Twenty-three licensed restaurants for the 2,516 residents the last census counted. That is a lot of kitchens for a small town, and the season is when their refrigeration gets worked hardest.

Details

Ucluelet

Thirteen licensed restaurants around the harbour, most of them small rooms where one cooler going down takes the menu with it.

Details

Also covered Nanoose Bay French Creek Coombs Errington Bowser Qualicum Bay Deep Bay Lantzville Ladysmith Chemainus Duncan Courtenay Comox Cumberland Campbell River

Deep Bay and Bowser reach the marinas and the shellfish operations along Baynes Sound. Outside those towns, ask and we will tell you straight whether we can cover it.

What rebates actually cover in a kitchen

Two utility programs reach an Oceanside kitchen. Neither of them is the one most flyers mean.

FortisBC foodservice equipment. Instant rebates taken through a participating supplier, and you have to be a FortisBC commercial customer. Most of the eligible list is cooking equipment, ovens, fryers and griddles, but ENERGY STAR refrigerators, freezers and ice machines sit on it as well (FortisBC, foodservice equipment rebates).

BC Hydro business energy-saving incentives. These do include add-on upgrades for refrigeration, and BC Hydro is running a 30% bonus on projects submitted between June 3, 2025 and February 11, 2027 and completed by March 14, 2028. Projects are pre-approved in BC Hydro's CEM Hub before the work starts, and the incentive application is completed by a contractor in BC Hydro's Alliance of Energy Professionals (BC Hydro, business energy-saving incentives). Tell us early if you are planning to apply, so the equipment on the quote is equipment the program will take.

The one to ignore

FortisBC also lists refrigeration equipment rebates, and they need a FortisBC or municipal electricity account. Businesses here buy their power from BC Hydro, so those rebates do not reach a kitchen on this part of the Island, whatever the supplier flyer says.

Read the incentives page

Questions kitchens ask us

Can you check our units before a health inspection?

Yes. We read the holding temperatures against the 4 °C rule, check that every unit has a thermometer accurate within 1 °C, and look at the things that push a cooler out of spec on a busy day: door seals, defrost, drains and a condenser coil packed with kitchen grease. You hear what we find before anything is changed.

What temperature do we have to hold?

Potentially hazardous food sits at 4 °C or colder, or 60 °C and hotter. Frozen food sits at −18 °C or colder. Every refrigeration and hot holding unit needs a thermometer accurate within 1 °C. Those are the Food Premises Regulation numbers.

Can you come in before we open or after we close?

Say which window suits when you call: before service, after close, or your quiet day. We will tell you straight what we can do for that window rather than book you in and turn up mid-rush.

Is there a rebate on new kitchen refrigeration?

On some of it. A FortisBC commercial customer gets an instant rebate through a participating supplier on ENERGY STAR refrigerators, freezers and ice machines, which sit on the same foodservice list as the ovens and fryers. FortisBC runs a separate refrigeration equipment rebate as well, and that one needs a FortisBC or municipal electricity account, so it does not reach a kitchen here. BC Hydro business incentives do cover add-on refrigeration upgrades.

We are buying an existing restaurant. Should the refrigeration be looked at first?

Yes, before you sign if you can. A health operating permit does not transfer to a new owner (Island Health), so the equipment has to satisfy your permit, not the last owner's. An hour with the coolers is cheaper than finding out in week one.

Cooler down in the middle of service?

One number reaches the shop, and commercial refrigeration is answered around the clock, holidays included.

Call 250-797-2829 Book a service call