Paul Haviland has been named COO for WINSTON INDUSTRIES, with responsibilities spanning the strategic and operational leadership of the company’s worldwide organization. Haviland joined the Louisville, Ky., manufacturer 27 years ago and previously served as manager-administration.
Environmental factors such as energy and water use, lighting and ventilation are shaping 21st century restaurant design. Noise might be the next frontier, if a former restaurateur and retired chief building inspector for San Francisco has his way. Citing the newly adopted state code that will control decibel levels in school classrooms, Richard Skaff recently…
More than 7,300 restaurants and other small businesses in San Bernadino County, Calif., can breathe a sigh of relief. As of Nov. 1, they are exempt from a month-old state regulation on compressed gas, including the carbon dioxide used in soda dispensers. The law in question, Assembly Bill 408, addressed hazardous-material compliance issues and stated…
FRANKLIN MACHINE PRODUCTS, Lumberton, N.J., has added J.C. Carletti to its sales and marketing team as a business development manager. Carletti had held a similar post for the last decade at San Jamar/Chef Revival. He will work with key FMP accounts in the chain, supermarket, healthcare and dealer segments.
Last week, Quebec restaurant operators turned on a new piece of equipment: government-mandated devices aimed at preventing the use of zappers, or software that enables illegal cash-skimming at the point of sale to reduce the sales amounts on official records. The sales-recording devices, connected to a cash register or POS system, provide receipts with a…
Smashburger has inked its first international development deals. Georgetown Advisors will open six Smashburger shops in Kuwait and three in Bahrain. In a separate agreement, Al Musbah Group will open eight airport locations throughout Saudi Arabia. The first overseas locations will open in 2012. Denver-based Smashburger operates 120 restaurants across the United States. smashburger.com
With steakhouses thriving again, Sizzler USA is planning to return to Illinois. The Culver City, Calif., chain expects to open 18 Chicago-area restaurants over the next five years, and hopes to recycle as many vacant units as possible. Only 179 of Sizzler’s original 700 outlets remain open. Chicago, once home to 15 stores, has been…
McDonald’s Corp. is pumping millions into renovating its 1,400 Canadian restaurants. The Oak Brook, Ill., burger chain, already revamping the look in 800 of its 14,000 U.S. outlets this year, is moving quickly to upgrade more than half of its Canadian locations by the end of the year. The remaining Canadian units will be renovated…
The nation’s biggest Japanese quick-service chain has opened its first three restaurants in the Colombia. Under a multiyear franchise deal with Frisby S.A., another five Sarku Japan units will open in the South American country by the end of 2011. At least 20 more units are expected to open during the next 10 years. Sarku…