VANCO, a 40-year-old provider of parts and repairs for commercial foodservice and refrigeration equipment, has been acquired by service industry veteran Gary Allen and his son, Jeremy. The Indianapolis-based company provides operators with complete facility maintenance; including HVAC repair. Allen previously spent 27 years as an owner of Commercial Parts & Service.

LOLO, Byram, Miss., has added several new distributors for its line of steamers, kettles, tilting skillets and cooking equipment. The new distributors and their territories include Chernoff Sales in Florida; Don Stevens Inc. in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin; Salt Marsh Distributing in New England; Silver Eagle Marketing in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.; and…

COOPER-ATKINS CORP. has six new appointments in its sales and marketing team. Bill Eggers has been appointed to the newly created position of v.p.-marketing and key accounts; Jeff Yeager has been promoted to v.p.-sales East; and Scott D’Aniello has been promoted to v.p.-industrial sales. The Middlefield, Conn., company also has added two new healthcare regional…

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…