It’s National Ice Cream Month, and the nation’s other giant ice cream chain is busy as well. Baskin-Robbins launched its first store in Singapore in early June, which not only marked the chain’s 4,000th international location, but also unveiled the company’s new international store design.The company has been testing elements of the new design in…

Manitowoc Foodservice has hired business veteran Dennis O’Toole as v.p.-marketing for its North America Ovens and Advanced Cooking Technology (ACT) operating company. O’Toole’s marketing responsibilities will cover the five companies which comprise ACT: Cleveland, Convotherm USA, Garland convection ovens, Lincoln and Merrychef USA. O’Toole’s two decades in sales and marketing includes his most recent position…

Ice-O-Matic has appointed Terry Hoelle, CFSP, as its director of sales. Hoelle will focus on leading U.S. sales efforts in distribution and channel development. Hoelle joins the Denver-based company after nine years with Structural Concepts, where she served as director of sales and helped build its foodservice division from the ground up. She has extensive…

Training its eye on accelerating worldwide growth, especially in China, Starbucks Corp. is creating a third regional division. The Seattle company is currently structured as Starbucks U.S. and Starbucks Coffee International, which encompasses 54 markets outside the U.S. It will move to a three-region system. John Culver, president-SCI, takes the reins of the China and…

These are busy times at the Dietary Managers Association. Members of the St. Charles, Ill.-based organization for nutrition and foodservice professionals have approved a name change, effective Jan. 1, 2012. The new moniker, Association of Nutrition and Foodservice Professionals, is the outgrowth of an 18-month strategic rebranding effort to more accurately reflect members’ professional responsibilities.…

There’s news from two of the 76 countries serving the Whopper. Burger King Restaurants of Canada has opened three new restaurants built in the company’s 20/20 global restaurant design. The locations, all LEED-certified and all located at service plazas, are the latest in a major expansion plan across Canada. During the next three to five…

Sonic’s newest unit will be the first of the chain’s 3,500 restaurants to offer beer and wine on its menu, along with burgers, hot dogs and cherry limeades. The Homestead, Fla., City Council gave the chain approval to serve alcohol at the Sonic Beach Experience, a variation on the drive-in chain’s standard unit and the…

You must register now for Foodservice Equipment Reports‘ E&S Market Forecast President’s Preview meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, July 27, at the Hotel Orrington, in Evanston, Ill. This annual meeting offers manufacturers, operators, dealers and others in the industry an early look at the foodservice equipment and supplies industry next year and beyond, in time for…

Prices for most steels and aluminum softened moderately through June and early July and appear to be on a trend for further decreases in the months ahead. But prices for nickel and copper bottomed out in late spring and have been rising since that time. Responding to earlier declines in nickel prices, surcharges for 304…

A new state-by-state analysis of eating- and drinking-place establishment growth by the National Restaurant Association’s Chief Economist Bruce Grinsby finds the most robust growth of new units in Louisiana and New York. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show New York added a net total of 1,609 units last year. Other states adding more than 900…