NSF Int’l. presented its Food Safety Leadership Awards on April 20 during the 2011 Food Safety Summit in Washington, D.C. The awards recognize individuals and organizations that have made a real and lasting impact on food safety.... »

Chris Berghoff, the founder and CEO of Control Products, died of cancer April 7; he was 58. Control Products is a leading provider of electronic controls to the foodservice equipment industry and other markets. Berghoff founded... »

Carpigiani USA has named John Babila as its exec. v.p.-sales and marketing. His lengthy resume of sales management experience includes his most recent role in the same post at ISA. Babila has also held the title for E&S... »

Just after our last FER Fortnightly deadline, Chipotle Mexican Grill unveiled additional details for its new restaurant concept slated to open this summer. We’d already reported most of the news, but now we have the location of... »

The launch of a new series of operator awards by the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association has brought honors to four chains. The inaugural winners were honored in Orlando, Fla., during IFMA’s annual Chain Operators... »

The Middleby Corp., which has acquired 15 companies over the past five years, keeps getting bigger. On April 12, the company announced its acquisition of Beech Ovens Pty. Ltd., a Brisbane, Australia-based manufacturer of stone... »

KFC is already the dominant player in India’s quick-serve market, and it’s getting bigger elsewhere as well. The chain’s Louisville, Ky., parent Yum! Brands opened its 400th franchise store in Indonesia on April 18. PT Fastfood... »

The 2011 Women’s Foodservice Forum Annual Leadership Development Conference in Orlando, Fla., April 10-13, brought together more than 2,000 executives to celebrate leadership and to push further the ideals of gender equality and... »

“More optimistic” is the way Prime Advantage, the Chicago-based buying organization, described the results of its third annual Group CFO Survey, released last month. The group includes a significant number of foodservice... »

The Bureau of Labor Statistics had a bit of good news on the commodity-price front during March. After six straight months of run-ups, food prices at the wholesale level fell slightly in March. Combined wholesale food prices, as... »

Always on the lookout for positive economic signs to offset the negatives, two upbeat reports came across our desk last week. The National Restaurant Association, analyzing recent employment data from the state perspective,... »

New guidelines issued April 15 recommend a slow roll-out of the July 1 enforcement of California’s Food Handler Card. The new recommendations posted by the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health recommend... »

The National Restaurant Association’s 25th annual Public Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C., April 13-15, covered a number of hot topics, including debit-card swipe fees. Nearly 500 restaurateurs from 44 states headed to... »

Rezoning neighborhoods to allow for more restaurants is not working out as swiftly as hoped in San Francisco. For the second time in two years, the city’s Board of Supervisors has voted to remove a neighborhood’s longstanding... »

The government giveth, and the government taketh away. Or maybe it taketh away first, and giveth back when forced. Bureaucracies cut both ways. And while we’ve spent a lot of time lately dealing with the folks pushing bills... »

Canadian dealers Hendrix Hotel & Restaurant Equipment & Supplies Ltd. and Longo Food Service Equipment have signed an agreement to merge. The agreement was effective March 31. The news was reported by local media,... »

When our April 5 FER Dealer Report came out, the Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association had just concluded its 2011 Convention in Phoenix. Here’s a recap and a bit of news we couldn’t fit in that issue. Outgoing FEDA... »

Meeting season is at its peak for dealer buying groups and associations. A quick roundup: Excell Marketing Group’s Annual Buying Conference is next week, April 25-30 in San Diego.Int’l. Foodservice Equipment Distributors (IFED)... »

Wood Stone Corp. founders Keith Carpenter and Harry Hegarty are taking on new posts—Carpenter as CEO, and Hegarty as COO—and passing on some day-to-day management responsibilities to company veterans. Kurt Eickmeyer has been... »

Menu labeling requirements proposed April 1 by the Food and Drug Administration will require chain restaurants as well as bakeries, grocery stores, c-stores and coffee chains with 20 or more locations to clearly post the calorie... »

Kent Motes, founder of AutoQuotes Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has received the President’s Dealer-based Distribution Award from the Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association. Outgoing FEDA Pres. Kimberley Gill Rimsza of... »

In a year marked by a return to sales growth for some of the country’s biggest name brands, Five Guys Burgers & Fries was 2010’s fastest-growing restaurant chain. The news comes through the market research firm Technomic... »

Marty Rothschild has taken the reins as president of Aladdin Temp-Rite, an Ali Group company.  He will report to Robert Nerbonne, CEO of Ali Group North America. Rothschild succeeds Jim Clapper, who announced his retirement... »

Christopher Leader has been named president of Hoshizaki America. Leader joined the Peachtree City, Ga.-based manufacturer in January 2010; he had been serving as COO. Leader also was appointed president of Hoshizaki USA Holdings... »

Wood Stone Corp. founders Keith Carpenter and Harry Hegarty are taking on new posts—Carpenter as CEO, and Hegarty as COO—and passing on some day-to-day management responsibilities to company veterans. Kurt Eickmeyer has been... »