BASKIN-ROBBINS has expanded its international marketing and operations team. Paul Reynish, a veteran of Subway and Burger King, is the new chief marketing officer for Baskin-Robbins Int’l. In additional to global marketing, he will oversee the brand in Korea and Japan. Another multi-chain vet, Ian Martin, has been named g.m.-Australia/New Zealand. Jo-Ming Tung takes the…

Five appointments at CRES COR’s executive offices: Jim Miller has been named business development manager for educational sales. Heather Baggott Stewart has been named marketing manager for educational sales. Bill Klan has expanded his responsibilities from managing Eastern U.S. sales; he’ll also oversee national accounts and new business development. Greg Baggott has joined the sales…

VIKING RANGE CORP. has promoted Eric Deng to general manager of the Viking Commercial division in Fullerton, Calif. Deng joined Viking Commercial in 2007 as director of operations. Prior to that, he served as director of engineering at Jade Range and was previously v.p. of engineering at DCS/Fisher & Paykel.

UNIFIED BRANDS has promoted Tom Donovan to v.p.-sales. He’ll manage dealer, national chain, retail and international business for the manufacturer’s A la Cart, Avtec, Groen and Randell brands. Donovan spent the past five years managing Unified Brands’ national chain, retail and international business. The Jackson, Miss., company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dover Corp.

Cooper-Atkins has announced its reassessment to ISO 9001:2008. The Middlefield, Conn., company has been an ISO 9001 manufacturing facility since 1999. The reassessment certifies them to the current 2008 revision of the international quality-management system, which utilizes a customer-focused process approach for continual improvement in products, services and customer satisfaction.

Vulcan, Baltimore, Md., will be expanding its product line with the TEC Searmaster Charbroiler line. Vulcan’s parent, ITW Food Equipment Group North America, has acquired parts of the commercial business of Thermal Engineering Corp. As part of the acquisition, Vulcan will own the exclusive rights to TEC’s infrared cooking technology and a license to sell…

Hooters of America will answer to a new parent. In a transaction ending nearly three decades of family ownership, a group of private investors has bought the Atlanta-based restaurant chain from the estate of Robert Brooks. The transaction gives a consortium of private investors headed by Chanticleer Holdings ownership of nearly half of domestic Hooters…

Gordon Oates Sr., one of the founding fathers of the modern foodservice equipment industry and a 38-year veteran of Vulcan-Hart Corp., has died. He was 86. Oates, a cofounder of the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers, spent his industry career dedicated to Vulcan-Hart. He joined the manufacturer in 1955 as sales manager and…

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group is exploring strategic alternatives, including possible sale, for the 3,700-unit Arby’s chain. The Atlanta-based company says that selling the Arby’s chain would help provide capital for reinvestments at Wendy’s, including new breakfast and burger lines, restaurant remodels, a new store prototype and international growth. On that point, the company hopes to expand Wendy’s…

In its first international expansion, The Cheesecake Factory has inked an exclusive licensing agreement with the Alshaya group of companies to build and operate restaurants in the Middle East. The agreement with the Kuwait company covers the development of 22 restaurants over the next five years in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United…