The new test kitchen unveiled in St. Louis last week by Heartland Reps is primed for cooking demos and testing on the equipment lines repped by the Missouri firm.“This new test kitchen facility will provide us a place to bring our dealers, consultants, chains and end-users for equipment testing and menu development,” said Rocky Brock,…

Last month’s 97th annual National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago saw a record set for exhibit space and a 6% uptick in total registration—including a 9% jump in dealer/distributor attendance. The May 21-24 show brought together a diverse range of industry segments, including 98 of the top 100 restaurant brands. The more than 67,000 total…

The most interesting thing I heard someone say during the recently concluded National Restaurant Association Show came from Hubertus Muehlhaeuser, the CEO of newly independent Manitowoc Foodservice, “Rising foodservice labor costs are a gift from the gods to the equipment industry,” he told a group of financial analysts at breakfast during the show on May…

Anticipating that the economic fundamentals that drive foodservice sales will remain positive, Technomic Inc., the Chicago-based foodservice research firm, forecasts that total industry sales will grow 4.9% in current dollars and 2.3% after menu price inflation of 2.7% is factored out in 2017. The firm released its revised forecast for 2016 and its preliminary forecast…

The Canadian economy has been sputtering since the crash in oil and other commodities prices began in mid- 2014. Real gross domestic product rose only 1.2% in 2015, down from 2.5% the year prior.  Employment and consumer confidence fell through most of 2015. But in spite of the slowdown, restaurant operators have continued to see…

Breakfast continues to be the fastest growing daypart at restaurants and at home, the NPD Group reported last week. And in a separate release a day later, the firm said its SupplyTrack research shows an increase in spending by independent restaurants in both 2014 and 2015. NPD’s CREST and other consumer research have charted a…

Taco Bell is testing four restaurant designs in preparation for an expansion plan that includes 2,000 new restaurants by 2022. The new designs, which tilt the Yum! Brands chain from quick-service to fast-casual ambience, will be unveiled in Orange County, Calif., this summer; another four stores are planned by the end of 2016. With design…

The North American sales team at RAK Porcelain USA has been strengthened with the additions of Central District Sales Manager Grace (Peczkowicz) Oliversen as Central District Sales Manager and Pete Dukas as Southeast Sales Manager. Since the Miller Place, N.Y., company established its own U.S. subsidiary in January, RAK has expanded its product range, increased…

The Food Safety Summit hosted in Rosemont, Ill., earlier this month by NSF International included the presentations of the group’s 2016 Food Safety Leadership Awards. The awards, now in their 13th year, recognize individuals and organizations for real and lasting improvements in food safety. An independent panel of food safety experts from academia, industry and…

Roy Seibert, the founder of Procam Controls in Plano, Texas, died May 18 after a brief illness. He was 59. The company was acquired last November by Aquion Inc. At the time of his death, Seibert led the Procam Controls division as Business Unit President and General Manager. He built Procam to become a leading…