Christopher Leader has been named president of Hoshizaki America. Leader joined the Peachtree City, Ga.-based manufacturer in January 2010; he had been serving as COO. Leader also was appointed president of Hoshizaki USA Holdings Inc., the parent company of Hoshizaki America and Lancer Corp., a beverage dispenser maker headquartered in San Antonio. Hoshizaki USA Holdings…

Wood Stone Corp. founders Keith Carpenter and Harry Hegarty are taking on new posts—Carpenter as CEO, and Hegarty as COO—and passing on some day-to-day management responsibilities to company veterans. Kurt Eickmeyer has been named president-sales and marketing and Wade Bobb president-engineering, manufacturing and IT. Phil Eaton will assume Eickmeyer’s former role as v.p.-sales and marketing. Jackie…

California Pizza Kitchen has opened its second restaurant in India. The Los Angeles chain has partnered with franchisee JSMGGC India Pvt. Ltd., a joint-venture between Mumbai-based JSM Corp. and Dubai-based Gourmet Gulf Co. Like CPK’s other location in the country, the new unit is in Mumbai. Located in the city’s densely commercial High Street Phoenix,…

Electrolux Professional has a new southeast shipping hub outside of Atlanta. The company’s new regional distribution center in Fairburn, Ga., optimizes service for customers in an 11-state area and reduces current delivery time to dealers and end-users served by a soon-to-close facility in Chattanooga, Tenn., according to the company. The 600,000-sq.-ft. warehouse will store and…

Menu labeling requirements proposed April 1 by the Food and Drug Administration will require chain restaurants as well as bakeries, grocery stores, c-stores and coffee chains with 20 or more locations to clearly post the calorie count for each item on their menus. The new rules will apply to menus and menu boards in restaurants…

On April 5, the Senate voted to repeal the health care overhaul’s 1099 tax reporting requirements. The House of Representatives earlier repealed the 1099 provision. The Senate voted 87 to 12 to approve the Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011. The legislation repeals the expanded 1099 reporting requirement…

The National Restaurant Association is applauding bipartisan bills introduced in Congress March 30 which would make permanent a 15-year tax depreciation schedule for restaurant improvements and new construction, leasehold improvements and retail improvements. Under S. 687 and H.R. 1265, restaurant operators, their landlords and other commercial-property owners could write off the cost of improvements to…

Child-targeted marketing by foodservice operators, and the toys that go with it, continues to run into trouble. A bill based on toy bans on the West Coast has inspired a similar proposal in New York City. The city councilman who introduced the bill last week said it would create an incentive for restaurants to cook…

For the first time in three years, a majority of operators reported they plan to make a capital purchase during the next six months, according to the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index data for February. The component for such intentions reached a 40-month high at 100.4, with 52% of those surveyed saying they plan…

Steel producers raised base prices for most stainless products 6% in March and the nickel surcharges for 304 grades rose nearly nine cents during the month, according to a report from O’Neal Steel. The company’s Market Informer newsletter was published in the March issue of Prime Times, the monthly e-newsletter from Prime Advantage, a buying…