Ten exhibitors received Editors’ Choice Awards at the Nov. 13 opening ceremonies of the 96th annual International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show and 2nd annual Boutique Design New York. The awards recognize best new products within the categories of design, equipment & supplies, guest amenities, tabletop, and technology, as well as an eco-friendly equivalent to each…

Eugene “Gene” Vader, longtime member and past-president of the Manufacturers’ Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry, died Nov.11. He was 81. Vader began his career in foodservice equipment sales in 1957 at Koch Refrigeration of Kansas City, moving from inside sales to factory representative for their Chicago-based sales territory.  He joined Minneapolis-based Okinow Sales in `67,…

More changes at

The Blanco CS Group has named Friedrich Schock co-CEO of Blanco CS GmbH + Co KG. In mid-2012, Schock will also assume the title of chairman of the managing board. He will succeed Rolf Waldi, who plans to retire after more than 20 years with the Blanco Group.

The MAFSI Business Barometer, a reflection of equipment and supplies sales by manufacturers’ reps, rose 4.4% in the third quarter versus the year-prior quarter, marking its fourth consecutive quarterly gain. And sales in the U.S. appeared to be even stronger, as growth in three of four regions of the United States exceeded the average. Canada,…

Average wholesale food prices fell 0.9% in October, according to the National Restaurant Association’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index data released Nov. 15. The decline was a bit of a surprise after four months of strong gains that added 3.5% to average wholesale food prices. Still, over the past 12 months,…

As we go to press this week, it appears the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the so-called “Super Committee,” will fail to come up with a way to trim the federal deficit over the next 10 years. The joint committee was created back in August after the debt ceiling crisis that eventually led…

As we get closer to the end of the year, we like to keep an even closer eye on the macroeconomic forecasts for the U.S. and major economies worldwide. We are always watching them, but just don’t always report them, figuring most of you pay attention anyway. Blue Chip Economic Indicators reports in its November…

It’s a colorful tale: Yellow grease sold on the black market for the green biofuel industry. Say what? Well, in yet another sign of the myriad ways the world of foodservice is changing, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has teamed up with law enforcement to stop thefts of used cooking oil. The dirty…