exception is the Camarillo location currently under construction – which creates unique challenges and requires unique solutions .
Going into the Ventura location , for instance , meant converting a 100-year-old former bank building into a restaurant . The challenges with that establishment were plentiful , Wilkinson recounted . For starters , it was a historic building , so nothing about its exterior aesthetics could be altered . Then came the conundrum of how to safely get rid of the grease exhaust from the cook line and pull in fresh air to replace it when traditional methods weren ’ t an option .
“ There ’ s typically a fan on the roof that blows the grease exhaust into the atmosphere , and code has specific limits for how close anything can be to that kind of fan ,” Wilkinson said . “ One of the limits is the fan can ’ t be closer than 10 feet to a property line . This separation allows time and space for the grease and smoke to diffuse into the atmosphere , reducing the concentration of exhaust products that might be transmitted to neighboring properties or public areas .”
That in and of itself was an issue as this location was a zero-lot line – meaning there was virtually no room between the building and the property line . This meant the team had to come up with an alternative .
“ What we wound up doing is we suspended what ’ s called a pollution control unit , or PCU , which is basically an exhaust processing machine that uses electromagnetic plates to separate the grease and smoke components of the exhaust from the clean air ,” Wilkinson explained . “ So anything that responds to a magnetic field kind of gets stuck to these big plates and anything that doesn ’ t just goes out the top and comes out the roof . We were able to get good information on exactly how clean that made the air … and
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