The emphasis on enhancing dealer education and professionalism continues to be a priority for the Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association. The FEDA Education Foundation has announced it will award 30 scholarships for each... »

Hey dealers—worked lately with any operators you could call visionary? The National Restaurant Association plans to honor commercial and noncommercial operators with its first-ever 2012 Operator Innovations Awards, recognizing... »

The Vollrath Co. has added five new district sales managers to enhance its market presence in the U.S., Canada and Europe. On the domestic front, Vollrath has named Van Bennett, a veteran of Rubbermaid Commercial Products,... »

Henry Motes Jr., the guiding force behind the century-old dealership E.H. Thompson Co., died Jan. 18 at the age of 93. Motes joined E. H. Thompson Co. in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1952, where he became an owner and built the... »

Manitowoc Foodservice’s Jan. 12-14 national sales meeting in Dallas included awards for the New Port Richey, Fla., company’s top manufacturer's representative and commercial distributor for 2011. Mirkovich &... »

Electrolux Professional ended 2011 by honoring its top performers for the year, and adding two new rep groups to its sales force roster. Honorees were chosen in their respective categories for showing strong growth over the... »

I’ve been making speeches the past couple weeks, doing forecast overviews for MAFSI’s member meeting in Palm Springs, Calif., and for Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric. I want to mention that at every... »

After what it deems a very successful debut of its new concept, Chipotle Mexican Grill is working to open its second ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen. The Denver chain opened the inaugural unit in Washington, D.C., in September.... »

The National Restaurant Association is looking for the visionaries in the foodservice industry. The association plans to honor commercial and noncommercial operators with its first-ever 2012 Operator Innovations Awards, which... »

Karl Winterhalter, the founder of Winterhalter Gastronom Gmbh, died Jan. 16 at the age of 100. Winterhalter established the Meckenbeuren, Germany, manufacturer in 1947, and turned a small family business into a worldwide... »

With a number of operator indicators improving in the last quarter of 2011, we thought we’d check in with the two major groups that forecast operator sales—Technomic Inc. and the National Restaurant Association—to see if the... »

Chris Baron has joined Focus Products Group as president of Focus Foodservice LLC. The Lincolnshire, Ill., company provides bakeware, smallwares, storage and transportation products, and coffee and beverage dispensers. ... »

Earlier this month, under a planned succession process, Michael Cate was appointed CEO of AllPoints Holdings. Cate succeeds John Hanby, who retired as CEO but will remain on the board of directors and serve as a consultant to the... »

RJS Associates and Theodore Barber & Co., well-known consultant firms and longtime collaborators, are merging into a new firm: RJS|Barber Associates. The new company will offer integrated foodservice design and advisory... »

Wholesales food prices fell in December for the second time in three months, according to data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices at all three production stages tracked by the BLS posted declines. The... »

State tax revenues continued to improve in the third quarter of 2011, according to preliminary data from the Rockefeller Institute of Government, based in Albany, N.Y. Data from 48 early-reporting states show an overall 7.3%... »

While most of the economic data from the last quarter of 2011 was better than many economists anticipated, the outlook for the coming year and the first forecasts for ’13 remain muted. The consensus forecast for real growth of... »

Chicago’s operators will be coming clean, on their own, under a new self-certification plan. Recently inspected restaurants with no history of foodborne illness will be able to police themselves and send inspection reports to... »

In a move that cuts costs but raises concerns about food safety, the U.S. Agriculture Department announced Jan. 9 that it will close 259 offices, labs and facilities nationwide. The plan, which will save $60 million, affects... »

The National Registry of Food Safety Professionals’ food-safety manager certification program has been accredited by the American National Standards Institute. The certification is based on the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 standard for... »

A name familiar to many has returned to the E&S industry. Scotsman Industries has appointed Rich Gleitsmann as interim president of Scotsman Ice Systems. Gleitsmann spent more than a decade in the foodservice industry,... »

Strategic Equipment and Supply Corp., a leading supplier of foodservice equipment, design, and supply solutions to the restaurant, retail, and hospitality industries, has appointed Karen McCain as chief financial officer.... »

Happy New Year! I know Robin’s FER Dealer Report editorial for Jan. 4 was the official Happy New Year from all of us, but this one’s my chance to add my own personal best wishes for the year ahead. It should be a decent one if... »

The Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association has mailed its members their 2012 dues invoices and the deadline for remittance is nearing: Dues must be received in the FEDA office by Jan. 31. In addition, last week the... »

The Vollrath Co. kicked off the new year by inaugurating its new European base, a wholly owned subsidiary in Rijen, Netherlands. CEO Paul Bartelt said the move would help further Vollrath’s growth and expansion into the European... »