Stephen McGarry, who took the reins as president of the Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association in late March, will retire as president of Paramount Restaurant Supply Corp., Warren, R.I., June 1 and will step down from his FEDA post on the same date. Until then, McGarry will continue as an active member of the FEDA executive…

Hockenbergs Food Service Equipment and Supply Co., a dealer headquartered in Omaha, Neb, has acquired Global KES. Based in Lee’s Summit, Mo., Global KES was a subsidiary of Sub-Technologies Inc., a supplier of smallwares—including janitorial products, scales and cutting boards—with a special focus on products for the Subway chain. Sub-Technologies will continue to operate under…

Average list-price increases for equipment and supplies remained moderate over the past nine months, according to new data from AutoQuotes Inc., even though materials prices have soared during the period. The average price increase was a moderate 2.2% for all 358,262 products from 411 manufacturers in the company’s database. The analysis covers the period July…

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. Winners include: NSF Food Safety Leadership Education Award: Brenda Halbrook, M.S., R.D., dir.-Office of Food Safety, USDA, Food…

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 the Chanhassen, Minn., company in 1985 after a decade at Honeywell. Berghoff was an active member of the North…

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 companies including Electrolux Professional in North America and Middleby Corp. He will remain based in his Jupiter,…

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 chain’s new Asian concept: ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen will open its doors this summer in Washington, D.C.…

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 Exchange conference held Feb. 27 to March 2. The COEX awards, designed to recognize stand-out innovations among chain operations, went to…

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 hearth, tandoor and rotisserie ovens with approximately $10 million in annual sales. In a statement, Selim Bassoul, Middleby chairman and…

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 Indonesia is the chain’s franchise partner for the new store in Jakarta. Yum! Restaurants International is the leading restaurant…