Is Epoxy Flooring Good for a Commercial Kitchen? What Victorian Councils Look For

If you are fitting out a cafe, restaurant or small food production space, the floor is one of the first things a council environmental health officer will look at. So the question comes up early: is epoxy flooring good for a commercial kitchen? In most cases it is, provided it is specified and installed for wet, greasy, hot-water conditions. Here is what Victorian council guides actually ask for, and how a resin floor answers each point.

One caution first. Victoria has no single prescriptive list of floor specifications, and each council interprets its guide through its own officers. Surf Coast Shire's fit-out guide says it is aligned with Standard 3.2.3 of the Food Standards Code and Department of Health guidance, and the examples below come from council guides in Surf Coast and Wyndham. Check your own council's guide, and send plans before work starts.

What the guides say about food premises floors

Surf Coast Shire's guide says floors in a new food business should suit the area, be easy to clean, be unable to absorb grease, food particles or water, be laid so water does not pond, and give pests nowhere to live or hide (Surf Coast Shire). Wyndham City Council's guidelines say floors must be smooth, waterproof and durable with no open joints, and they list epoxy resins among the acceptable materials alongside sealed quarry tiles, ceramic tiles with epoxy grout, vinyl sheeting and laminated plastic sheeting (Wyndham City Council).

That list matters because it shows tiles can pass too. The difference is maintenance. Grout lines are joints, and joints are where grease and moisture collect over a few years of daily wash-downs. A seamless resin floor has none. Our food-grade systems are seamless and non-porous, built to cope with grease, oils, sanitising chemicals and hot-water wash-downs, which is the work a kitchen floor does every night.

Coving

The wall-to-floor junction is the hardest corner to clean in any kitchen. Surf Coast recommends coving in food handling areas to stop grease, dirt and food building up in corners. Wyndham asks for sealed coving that runs up walls and partitions to 75mm with a concave curve, and it advises against aluminium, feather-edge or plastic strips laid on top of the floor because food can get trapped underneath.

That last point is a good argument for a resin cove over a stuck-on strip. The cove is formed from the same material as the floor, so the floor and the lower wall are one continuous surface. We install coved skirting to walls and drains where required as part of the food-grade scope.

Falls, drains and wash-down

If staff hose the floor, both guides expect a fall to a drain. Surf Coast says floors with drains should be graded at least 1:100 and the joins around drains sealed well so water does not leak under the slab. Wyndham says floors should be graded at 1 per cent to a floor waste gully connected to sewer where large amounts of water are used, and that at minimum a floor waste drain is needed.

Epoxy does not fix a slab that was poured flat. If water ponds, the resin will show it. This is why our food-grade scope includes crack, joint and drainage fall repair before the body coat goes on. We look at the falls during the site inspection, not after the coating is down. If the slab needs regrading, that belongs in the quote.

Grip when the floor is wet and greasy

A kitchen floor that cleans easily is no use if staff slip on it. Food-grade systems include an anti-slip additive for wet, greasy areas, and there is a trade-off: more texture means better grip and slightly more work to clean. We cover how slip ratings work in our post on slip resistant epoxy floor coating for commercial sites.

Timing a fit-out in spring

September and October are busy for fit-outs in Melbourne, as new venues aim to open before summer trade. Council plan approval, the floor, equipment installation and the final inspection all have to be sequenced, and the floor tends to be squeezed. Tell us if a council inspection or lease date is driving the schedule. Fast-cure options are available when a deadline is tight, and we do not recommend rushing prep.

What to ask before you choose a floor

• Has your council's food premises guide been read, and have plans been submitted?
• Is the system seamless, with a formed cove rather than a stuck-on strip?
• Are falls to drains checked and repaired before coating?
• Is there an anti-slip additive suited to wet and greasy areas?
• Will the installer put the system in writing, with a warranty?

Our food-grade and hygienic flooring page lists what each system includes, and the wider commercial flooring page covers the other businesses we work with. If your site is in Broadmeadows or Roxburgh Park, we quote there regularly: see our Broadmeadows commercial page. If the venue sits in a larger warehouse, our guide to staging a floor job explains how to keep working while it is done.