It was another big, big year for Hotelex/FineFood Shanghai Expo. The annual show, held March 29-April 1 at Shanghai New Int’l. Expo Centre, marked its 25th year with record attendance. More than 120,000 visitors journeyed to Shanghai from 116 countries and regions, as did close to 2,800 exhibitors—up from 101,500 visitors and 2,082 exhibitors in…

A second global foodservice exhibition also marked an anniversary with record attendance. The biennial Alimentaria Barcelona welcomed professionals from 157 countries (16 more than in 2014) to its 40th anniversary edition April 25-28 in Barcelona. Registration logs show more than 4,000 exhibitors from 78 countries and 140,000 visitors, nearly one-third from outside Spain. Half of…

Heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration professionals take note: AHR Expo-Mexico, the most important event in Latin America for those keeping up with technologies and trends in HVAC & R, is slated to take place September 20-22 in Monterrey, the industrial capital of Mexico. The show had last been held there in 2012. More than…

London is a busy place for business and industry, politics and tourism. And come October, hospitality professionals will descend on the city for the three-day event known as The Restaurant Show. The show, October 3-5 at the Olympia Grand Hall London, will again showcase foodservice/catering equipment and supplies, smallwares, dishware and servingware, interior design and…

There’s another year until HOST 2017 – Fiera Milano, but more than 800 companies have already reserved exhibit space for the October 20-24, 2017 event. When the 40th International Hospitality Exhibition opens its doors, it will occupy 16 pavilions, two more than the previous edition, to cover the entire ground floor of the exhibition center.…

Two weeks ago, we wrote about dealer consolidation and growing internet sales of equipment and supplies, and how they might affect smaller dealers, buying groups, and the entire distribution landscape. If you missed it, it’s here. That column prompted several of you to write us with your thoughts, and we want to share some of…

Houston-based Sysco Corp. has acquired Supplies on the Fly, the e-commerce platform providing restaurant supplies and equipment exclusively to Sysco customers. Financial terms were not disclosed. In 2009, Sysco entered into an agreement with Instawares Holding, the owner of Kennesaw, Ga.-based Supplies on the Fly, to develop an internet sales platform, suppliesonthefly.com. At that time,…

Milton Schwartz, the second-generation family member and driving force behind the success of Advance Tabco from 1975 through 2002, passed away July 9. He was 85. Schwartz started his career with the company in the 1950’s and walked out half a century later, passing it on—without any regrets—to the next generation. In 1976, halfway through…

Bizerba North America has announced a new Foodservice Division that will place emphasis on consultants and dealers, and offer continued customer support of corporate and franchise chains. The changes are designed to meet consumer-driven trends in foodservice and transform how Bizerba interacts with the North American foodservice industry. “The organizational change will drive innovative solutions…

More than a year after The Boelter Cos. acquired the Gainesville, Ga., dealer, Boelter Direct South has officially changed its name to simply Boelter. The change was announced to employees and suppliers by the companies’ presidents, Nick Adams and Eric Boelter. The two companies have worked closely together under the Boelter umbrella since the April…