Kelly Cain has joined SEFA as the buying group’s new Chief Financial Officer. She joins SEFA from Matrix Systems Holding in Miamisburg, Ohio, where she was CFO. Her 20-year finance career also encompasses strategic planning, human resources, project management, budgeting, and staff development with Fortune 500 and entrepreneurial companies; she also has buying group experience…

Winners of the 2016 Foodservice Pioneering Concept competition will be on display next month in New York in Booth #1900 at HX: The Hotel Experience. First-place winner Foodesign Associates, of Charlotte, N.C., will show off a working model of its ReFresh-Eatery and Market. The concept provides a retail component for take-home meals, along with a…

Reggie Daniel, Director of Design for Camacho Associates, died unexpectedly September 28. He was 68 years old. A Charlotte, N.C., native, Daniel served in the U.S. Air Force before going on to a long career as a foodservice consultant. He was recognized as an industry leader and innovator in the foodservice equipment and design world,…

La Cima Restaurants, the Twin Peaks franchisee founded by former executives of the rival Hooters chain, is acquiring a majority interest in the casual-dining sports bar chain. Dallas-based Twin Peaks owns or franchises 78 restaurants in 25 states. Atlanta-based La Cima owns and operates 15 Twin Peaks locations across six states. Terms of the deal,…

The South African-Portuguese concept will open three more Chicago-area locations in the next two months. The Skokie, Oak Brook and Hyde Park stores will take the chain to 11 locations in area. Nando’s, which operates restaurants in 23 nations from Australia to Zimbabwe, debuted in the United States in 2008 with a store in Washington,…

Vulcan/ITW FEG has promoted Roxanne Holt to Business Development Manager for Medium and Heavy Duty Ranges and appointed Anthony Colant as Business Development Manager for Fryers, Griddles and Charbroilers. Holt brings a decade of experience as a material technician with Vulcan, as well as a track record of managing relationships with field sales personnel, dealers…

It’s been 20 years since the doors of the last remaining Naugles location closed, but the QSR chain is making a comeback. After winning back rights to the Naugles trademark from Del Taco, a new unit opened in Fountain Valley, Calif., in August 2015. Now the chain, which had operated from 1970 to 1995, is…

On the heels of winning Wisconsin Manufacturer of the Year honors, Alto-Shaam has achieved a global high point by reaching ISO 9001:2015 certification. The Menomonee Falls, Wis., company undertook the initiative two years ago to advance its processes in order to meet an increasingly demanding economy. It began by creating a quality management system (QMS),…

In the second quarter of 2016, restaurant traffic counts were strongest in the United Kingdom, even as it was voting to leave the European Union, and weakest in Brazil, despite the impending Summer Olympics, according to the latest CREST data from The NPD Group. Traffic in the other 10 major foodservice markets tracked by the…

Restaurant sales and traffic have been showing signs of weakness, but two of the key drivers of foodservice sales reported positive gains in September. The U.S. economy added another 156,000 jobs during the month and both major services tracking consumer attitudes said confidence rose. Even with a slight downward revision in jobs growth in July…