Florida DOE's State Requirements for Educational Facilities (SREF) is the design rule book for K-12 schools. For cafeterias, it sets ventilation, food-prep, and dishwashing standards that interact directly with refrigeration equipment selection and HVAC sizing. New builds and major renovations in Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco districts must comply.
SREF is published by the Florida Department of Education under FAC 6A-2. It governs site planning, building systems, and finish standards for public K-12 schools and certain charter facilities.
It applies to new construction, additions, and major renovations. Day-to-day operations fall to FDACS for food safety and to local AHJs for code; SREF sets the design baseline.
SREF Chapter 4 specifies kitchen, serving line, dish room, dry storage, and refrigerated storage requirements. Square footage per meal capacity, ceiling heights, finish requirements, and ventilation are all spelled out.
For a 1,200-student elementary school, expect roughly 1,800–2,400 sf of kitchen plus dish plus storage. Refrigerated storage is sized by meals/day.
SREF and the Florida Mechanical Code together require Type I hoods over grease-bearing cooking and Type II hoods over warewashing. Makeup air must be balanced (typically 80–90% of exhaust). Kitchen ambient design conditions are 75–80 F.
For Tampa Bay summer load, kitchen AHU sizing must include exhaust makeup-air heat gain plus equipment latent and sensible loads. Most undersizing happens at the makeup-air calculation.
SREF references general industry standards rather than fixing exact refrigeration capacity. A working rule for K-12: 0.5 cubic feet of walk-in cooler per student-meal/day plus 0.25 cu ft of freezer.
A 1,200-student elementary school running 1,000 lunches/day needs a 500 cu ft cooler and a 250 cu ft freezer. New construction commonly under-sizes both because the architect costed for the bid budget rather than the operating fleet.
SREF requires Type II hoods over high-temperature dish machines, drainage to grease interceptor or to sanitary depending on equipment, and ventilation rates that prevent condensation on adjacent surfaces.
Most condensation problems on existing K-12 cafeterias trace to dish-room ventilation that didn't meet SREF at original install or that has degraded since.
Major renovations that touch kitchen layout, ventilation, or refrigeration capacity trigger SREF review. Local building officials enforce the Florida Building Code; FDOE reviews SREF compliance on educational projects.
On a district capital cycle, refrigeration replacement that doesn't change layout typically does not trigger full SREF review, but the new equipment must still meet code at install.
Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco districts manage capital renovation cycles on 20–30 year intervals per building. Cafeteria HVAC and refrigeration replacement is often deferred until a major renovation forces SREF review.
Suncoast Cold Systems works on commercial refrigeration and HVAC for K-12 facilities; full SREF design review is typically led by the district's contracted MEP engineer.
State Requirements for Educational Facilities — the Florida DOE design standard for K-12 public schools, published under FAC 6A-2.
It references industry standards rather than fixing exact numbers. A working rule is 0.5 cu ft cooler plus 0.25 cu ft freezer per student-meal/day.
A like-for-like replacement that doesn't change layout or ventilation typically does not trigger SREF review, but the new equipment must meet current code.
Type II — SREF and the Florida Mechanical Code require Type II ventilation over warewashing equipment. Type I is for grease-bearing cooking exhaust.
Suncoast Cold Systems handles exactly this kind of commercial refrigeration issue across Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Brandon, Riverview, Temple Terrace, and Wesley Chapel. 24/7 dispatch. Licensed Class A A/C Contractor (FL #CAC1824642), EPA 608 Universal, OSHA 30 Construction.
Working sizing rules for K-12 walk-in cooler and freezer capacity.
Why dish rooms sweat and how to fix exhaust, makeup, and AHU sequencing.
Equipment heat gain and exhaust makeup-air are the two loads most contractors miss.