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 diversity.During the four-day conference, the WFF announced the incoming 2011-12 executive committee and board of directors. The executive committee includes:•   Carin Stutz,…

“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 equipment and supplies manufacturers. Of the chief financial officers surveyed, 74% said they are more optimistic about the economy, up from 67% in…

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 reported by the National Restaurant Association, were off 0.1% while so-called “finished foods” prices fell 0.2%, said…

States’ tax revenues rose significantly during the latter part of 2010, continuing a trend toward gradual fiscal recovery, according to the Rockefeller Institute of Government’s latest State Revenue Report. But local tax revenues, highly dependent on property taxes, moved in the opposite direction in the fourth quarter last year, the Albany, N.Y., organization reported. Publicly…

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, reported on its TrendMapper research website that 34 states saw their jobless rates decline in March–“one of the most broad-based improvements since…

Budget watch: Despite concerns that budget wrangling in Washington would lead to cuts in food-safety programs, it appears that most funding for the Food Safety Modernization Act signed into law in January is secure. The Senate Appropriations summary says the funding level for the U.S. Food & Drug Administration takes into account the government’s distinct…

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 that from July 1 through Jan. 1, 2012, enforcement of the law be limited to “education and notification of requirements for compliance.”…

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 Capitol Hill to call on Congress to fight back against banks and debit-card companies seeking to halt recent reforms to swipe fee practices.…

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 restriction on opening new restaurants, and approved a limited number of new restaurant spaces in three other neighborhoods.…

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 legislating interior design and whether dealers are allowed to do it, something more to our liking needs…