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…

Oh, those pesky gasoline- and food-price increases! Worried about how inflation of these critical commodities will affect their household income, and also less optimistic about continuing employment growth this year, American consumers sent the two major measures of confidence reeling in March. The Consumer Sentiment Index from Thomson Reuters/The University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers…

While consumers have plenty of worries about consumer-price inflation and the strength of the economic recovery, non-farm payroll growth hit 216,000 in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was the first month employment grew by more than 200,000 since spring of 2010. Private sector growth hit an even stronger 230,000 level. According…

The Middleby Corp., which has acquired 15 companies over the past five years, has announced further expansion. On April 12, the Elgin, Ill., company announced it has acquired 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,…

If you haven’t done so, get your form for Foodservice Equipment Reports’ new dealer survey in right now. The deadline was last Friday, April 1, but many of you were at the FEDA Annual Convention. And so were we. So please get it in now, as we will begin sorting the data this week. Remember,…

Kent Motes, founder of AutoQuotes Inc., has received the President’s Dealer-based Distribution Award from the Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association. Outgoing FEDA Pres. Kimberley Gill Rimsza of TriMark Gill Marketing, Phoenix, presented the award at the kickoff of FEDA’s 2011 Annual Convention last week. The four-day meeting, held at the J.W. Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix…

AllPoints Foodservice Parts & Supplies has named David Bernstein its new v.p.-sales. Bernstein joins the Mount Prospect, Ill., company to focus on business development in the United States and Canada. He brings 25 years of experience in the E&S industry. Bernstein started with Carl Kaufmann and Associates in 1983, and then five years later joined…

Christopher Leader has been named president of Hoshizaki America. Leader, who joined the Peachtree City, Ga., manufacturer in January 2010, had been serving as the company’s COO. He will be responsible for all of Hoshizaki’s business in the Americas, which includes two manufacturing facilities and six company-owned distribution centers in the United States. In addition,…

Some restaurant chains and retail markets kept growing through the depressed economy and are poised to come out of the Great Foodservice Recession with new growth momentum. New studies and reports from Technomic Inc. and ChainLinks Retail Advisors detail the players and metro areas. While not all dealers have big chain customers, the studies help…

The shipping origin label might look a bit different if you’re a dealer for Electrolux Professional in the southeastern United States or an operator on the receiving end of a shipment. The company’s new regional distribution center in Fairburn, Ga., is slated to open this month. The manufacturer says the location optimizes service for customers…