The National Restaurant Association has unveiled “Daily Deals,” a show-based group buying program for exhibiting manufacturers and attendees at the 2011 Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show this month. The service allows buyers to purchase a deeply discounted deal online and fulfill it face-to-face at the May 21-24 NRA Show at Chicago’s McCormick Place.“The NRA Show Daily Deals…

Stephen McGarry, who took on the presidency of the Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association last month, will be retiring as president of Paramount Restaurant Supply, Warren, R.I., in June and will also step down from his FEDA post on May 31. Until then, McGarry will continue as an active member of the FEDA executive committee. The…

On April 28, The Vollrath Co. announced it had acquired Traex Co. from Libbey Glass, a subsidiary of Libbey Inc., Toledo, Ohio. Both companies are headquartered in Wisconsin: Vollrath is based in Sheboygan; Traex operates from a plant and warehouse in Dane. The Traex acquisition broadens Vollrath’s product line to include warewashing systems, tabletop accessories,…

Mike Carpenter, a name and face recognized by hundreds in the E&S business, passed away suddenly April 23 in Utah. He was 58. Carpenter had been chief marketing officer for Cooper-Atkins Corp. for the past two years. His long resume in the E&S industry spans posts at foodservice manufacturers including Anchor-Hocking, Focus Brands, Hobart Corp.…

The Dietary Managers Association has announced its new leadership. Based on election results from the St. Charles, Ill., group’s national membership, the new chair-elect for 2011-12 is Ginger Cater of South Carolina.  Paula Bradley of Kansas will serve as secretary/treasurer. Ken Hanson of Iowa will serve the remaining one-year term of Bradley’s position as director…

The recovery of foodservice equipment and supplies sales continued in the first quarter 2011, according to the latest Business Barometer from the Manufacturers’ Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry. Overall sales of like lines rose 4% versus first quarter of ‘10, with clear gains in all five regions and all four product categories. It is…

We must admit we thought the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index would fall back in March. After all, the full impact of rapidly rising gasoline prices hit American consumers during the month. But thankfully, no, the overall index rose 0.3 point to 101. It’s the fourth consecutive month the index has stood above the…

List-price increases for foodservice equipment and supplies were surprisingly moderate during the past nine months, even though materials prices have soared during the period. According to data from AutoQuotes Inc., the average price increase was 2.2% for all 358,262 products from 411 manufacturers in the company’s database. The analysis covers the period July 1, 2010…

Maybe the two surprises are related. The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said last Friday, May 6, that non-farm payroll jobs increased by 244,000 in April, surprising most forecasters, who expected growth in the 175,000-200,000 range. We noted that we were surprised by an increase in the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index in March,…

When Deirdre Flynn from NAFEM called me a week ago Monday to tell me that Mike Carpenter had suddenly passed away, I was so flabbergasted, all I could say was, “What? What? That really, really sucks!” Not the most elegant of responses, but a deeply heartfelt one. Judging from all the e-mails and phone calls…