After a decade of legal battles, a small Utah town outside Zion National Park has repealed a ban on chain restaurants, clearing the way for one of the country’s restaurant chains to open its doors.A franchisee group has been trying to open a Subway sandwich shop in Springdale, Utah, since 2006. But they’ve been fighting…

The announcement last week of a plan to raise the minimum wage for chain restaurant workers in New York to $15 over the next six years is the latest thrust in an ongoing campaign to raise the minimum wage for low-wage workers in the U.S. economy. But the various minimum-wage initiatives throughout the country during…

Average wholesale food prices increased only slightly again in August, according to Producer Price Index data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released Sept. 11. A surge in egg prices helped move the index for foods at the final demand stage up 0.3%, while prices for processed foods and feeds at the intermediate demand…

Consensus forecasts for macroeconomic indicators that drive foodservice remain positive for the rest of 2015 and 2016, according to the September tallies in Blue Chip Economic Indicators. But 2015 forecasts of real gross domestic product growth fell for Canada and Mexico and were off sharply in Brazil and Russia. Most leading developed and developing markets…

The board at Lone Star Restaurant Supply has appointed Darren Anderson as President and Chief Operating Officer. Anderson, who previously held the same posts at Dallas-based PrimeSource FoodService Equipment, will take over the reins to lead the strategic direction and positioning of the Austin, Texas, equipment and supplies dealer. Steve Schaefer, previously Lone Star’s v.p./general…

This summer, Nemco Food Equipment named Michelle Wibel as its new president. Now, as autumn begins, the Hicksville, Ohio, company has promoted Joe Carcione, CFSP, to Director-Sales. Carcione moves to the role after eight years as sales manager-Midwest/West. He’ll continue managing the Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania territories and assume additional large…

Carpigiani/Ali Group has tapped Penny Klingler as Senior V.P.-Key Accounts for its North America division. Klingler has an extensive background in the commercial foodservice equipment industry, including four years with Alco Standard’s Dispensing division leading its beverage-dispensing product support teams and three years with Sweden Freezer as v.p.-customer services. She joins Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Carpigiani after…

Tristate reps Pecinka Ferri Associates have moved to a new, expanded facility in Fairfield, N.J. The new building at 3 Spielman Road offers a “Gastro-Lab,” an enhanced version of the test kitchen operated by the firm for the last 15 years in Little Falls, N.J. The new digs also include a conference center and training…

An important measure of restaurant operators’ capital spending activity hit a record in July, according to the National Restaurant Association. And the record was set not by a little, but by a lot. The percentage of operators that made a capital purchase for equipment or facilities improvements during the past three months reached 72% in…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly employment report last Friday, Sept. 4. The U.S. economy created another 173,000 jobs in August. It was a bit below the average of the last year, but still decent. And combined with an upward revision of 44,000 jobs for June and July, jobs growth averaged 221,000…