Restaurant Air Curtains

Restaurants use air curtains at the front of house to:

• Increase customer comfort / maintain ambience
• Decrease employee complaints
• Keep fumes and cigarette smoke out
• Save energy

In the back of the house, air doors (fly fans) help restaurants meet health code by providing chemical-free insect control. But the locations for air curtains don’t stop there.

Where Restaurants Use Air Curtains:

1. Service Entries – Health departments recommend the chemical-free insect control provided by an EPH Listed per NSF 37 certified Berner Air Curtain to maintain a healthier kitchen environment.
2. Walk-in Coolers – Kitchen managers know that using an air curtain over a walk-in cooler saves energy and therefore money for their restaurant. It decreases compressor run times and the threat, and associated costs, of food spoilage.
3. Customer Entrance / Patio Door – Maintain a comfortable, welcoming space for customers seated close to the door, waiting for a table, or sitting at the bar. Berner has several architectural air curtains to choose from to support the interior design.
4. Indoor / Outdoor Bar – Leave a bar open while keeping the restaurant cool. Air Curtains help to keep hot air and flying insects out while those at the counter are served.

Berner is a UL Listed panel shop, authorized to build UL Listed Motor Control Panels. We also have AMCA certified air curtains allowed by ASHRAE 90.1-2019 as an alternative to vestibules. By using an air curtain to meet energy codes rather than a vestibule with new construction or major renovations, a restaurant can increase the usable space near the entrance.

Air curtains have also started being used in conjunction with the growing trend of “open-air dining”. This consists of a large section of a restaurant’s wall made into an openable garage door or a series of french doors that open to the outside. By installing air curtains over these openings, restaurants can offer the ambiance of open-air dining while keeping out external temperatures and flying insects.

Find out more about air curtain related building codes and certifications.