In This Section:
Early-Bird Deal Extended For FER
Forecast Seminar
Have Food Prices Reached Bottom?
NRA Touts Summer-Employment Growth
IFMA Slates Forecast & Outlook Seminars For
September
This issue's Regulatory Report Sponsor:
Manitowoc Foodservice
Industry ReportSponsor:
Food&HotelVietnam2009
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By Robin Ashton
Early-Bird Deal Extended For
FER Forecast Seminar
Okay, the good news:
Early-bird registrants to
Foodservice Equipment
Reports’ 2010 E&S
President’s Preview Market
Forecast meeting save $100
off the seminar fee.
The bad news: Deadline for
the early-bird deal was last
Friday.
The good news: The
extended deadline now is
Fri., July 3. If you can
sign up by that date, you
still get the Benjamin taken
off the fee.
The meeting is set for Wed.,
Aug. 5, at the Hotel
Orrington, in Evanston, Ill.
It begins at 9:45 a.m. and
goes until 4 p.m. so many in
the East and Midwestern can
fly in and fly out on Aug.
5.
The program is designed to
give a complete overview of
the equipment and supplies
market that can be used for
planning and budgeting for
’10 and beyond. The agenda
will kick off with an open
forum of leading multiunit
operators discussing the
challenges facing their
businesses. Then, John
Muldowney, principal at
Clarity Marketing, Tipp
City, Ohio, will join FER
Publisher Robin
Ashton in analyzing general
economic, operator and
materials-price data.
Muldowney also will update
his listing of the top 150
E&S manufacturers and review
their performance in ’08.
Michael Greenwald, president
of AutoQuotes, Inc. will
present exclusive
information on E&S
manufacturer pricing trends.
The meeting will close with
Ashton and Muldowney
offering hard-number
forecasts of the E&S market
for ’10.
Attendees receive all data
in both print and electronic
formats.
The registration fee is $845
until July 3, $945
afterward. The hotel is $159
a night. For agenda, hotel
and registration
information, go to
www.fermag.com/events/index.htm,
or call Christine Palmer at
847/336-2049.
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Section sponsored by
FER E&S Market Forecast Meetings
Have Food Prices Reached Bottom?
After rising 1% in April, overall food prices dropped 0.6% in May, the seventh decline in eight months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Producer Price Index data. Accounting for most of the decline: Prices for fruits and vegetables fell 13.6%, and egg prices plummeted 35.7%.
Overall, wholesale food prices have fallen 4.2% in the past 12 months, a welcomed respite following 8% to 12% annual gains in 2007 and ’08.
Unfortunately, the party may be coming to an end, judging by several indicators. Beef and veal prices spiked 9.2% in May, following months of decline that pushed beef prices down some 20%. Pork prices rose 1.7%, the second consecutive monthly increase.
Commodities expert Robert D. Bresnahan, president of Trilateral Inc., told an audience of operators at Technomic Inc.’s annual Restaurants 2009 Trends & Directions Conference on June 20 that the timing might be right to lock in contracts for most proteins and grains. His analysis showed that most food commodities markets have entered a period in which prices are moving “sideways.” While this condition is likely to continue for a short time, he said, markets always move higher following “boom-bust-sideways” periods.
And he noted a number of fundamental forces are applying upward pressure, including a drought in Brazil’s soybean belt and the likelihood that the recession is beginning to wind down. He also said the recent strengthening of the U.S. dollar impacts commodities of all types and that the increased volatility in food prices in recent years has been strongly influenced by a huge upsurge in investor funds “playing” commodities markets.
For information on Technomic research and products, go to www.foodpubs.com.
Section sponsored by
FER E&S Market Forecast Meetings
NRA Touts Summer-Employment Growth
The National Restaurant Association projects that the restaurant industry will add nearly 382,000 jobs this summer, as hospitality adds to payrolls to staff the summer surge. The projected increase is a 4.1% gain in total eating and drinking place employment over March 2009.
“Restaurant operator optimism has increased steadily this year,” said Hudson Riehle, NRA’s senior v.p. of the research and knowledge group. That factor, “combined with these advances in summer restaurant employment, (suggest) the end of the current downturn for the restaurant industry is likely in sight.” Riehle noted the restaurant industry added jobs in May for the first time in 10 months.
The summer restaurant employment gain is similar to last year’s gain of 4.1% but slightly behind the 4.8% surge for the summer of ’07.
Section sponsored by
FER E&S Market Forecast Meetings
IFMA Slates Forecast & Outlook Seminars For September
All right, take this down: The annual Forecast & Outlook Seminars sponsored by the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association have been slated for three locales across the country in September.
The forecast meetings, prepared each year by Technomic Inc., provide an in-depth look at the foodservice-operator market, including general economic and consumer trends and hard-number forecasts for 2009 and ’10 of foodservice-operator segments. Attendees also receive a comprehensive “Data Digest,” which details thousands of data points that impact the industry.
The three seminars are scheduled for Sept. 17 in Newark, N.J.; Sept. 25 in Millbrae, Calif., near San Francisco; and Sept. 30 in Rosemont, Ill., near Chicago. For details on attending and registration, contact IFMA at www.ifmaworld.com or call 312/540-4400.
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www.fermag.com
