Growth of foodservice equipment and supplies sales should accelerate in 2015, reaching 4.8% in current dollars, according to Foodservice Equipment Reports. The new forecast was presented during FER‘s annual President’s Preview E&S Market Forecast meeting, held July 29 at the Westin O’Hare in Rosemont, Ill. Growth is forecast at 4.4% for the current year following…

Ace Mart Restaurant Supply recently unveiled its annual Factory Representative of the Year Award. The winners, DJ Marketing’s David Miller, Jeff Miller and Ryan Miller, and True Mfg.’s Randy Bates and Lee Elliott, were honored during a Houston event. They were selected by Ace Mart associates from each of the San Antonio dealer’s 15 Superstore…

There is a new Internet-based source for operator’s most frequently needed foodservice equipment parts: Popular Restaurant Parts, which specializes in stocking only the top 1,000 parts used in foodservice kitchen equipment and selling them to service companies and equipment dealers. The Wyoming-based company was founded by industry veteran Dave Morris, who also serves as v.p.-sales.…

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I’ve spent a great deal of time the past few weeks trying to explain the market for foodservice equipment and supplies to private equity and research companies. Some big deal must be brewing or maybe there are several deals in the works because the focus of their probing is different. Such companies come to us…

Anthony Short, CFSP, has joined The Boelter Cos. as leader of its new Mid-Atlantic division in Baltimore. He brings two decades of industry experience to the post. Boelter, which ranks fifth in FER’s 2014 Top Dealers listings, reported sales of $239 million in 2013. The Milwaukee-based firm has offices throughout the Midwest, including Chicago, Minneapolis…

Service agent and former CFESA board member Keith Johnson died July 6 at age 85 after a 10-month battle with cancer. Johnson founded Jackson Service Co. with partner Elden Hubbard to provide equipment repairs and chemicals for dishmachines. The family-owned Commerce City, Mich., company has provided parts and service for foodservice equipment around the state…

Advance Tabco recently opened a new manufacturing and distribution center in Dawson Springs, Ky., which provides the Edgewood, N.Y., manufacturer the ability to offer same-day shipping to the Midwest and surrounding states. It is the firm’s eighth location in the U.S. “Our multistate family of employees is each dedicated to supporting the Advance Tabco brand,…

One of the questions people often ask me is, “How many equipment and supplies dealers are there?” In light of the consolidation of dealer sales that is clear from an analysis of our FER Top Dealers listings, I thought I’d take a look at the number of E&S dealers in the E&S marketplace. We’ve been…

Bill Gilmore, 90, one of the three founders of Robot Coupe U.S.A., died June 15 at his home in Raymond, Miss. He started his 50-year career in the foodservice industry with Durnin-Rentzel, a manufacturer’s rep firm in Oklahoma City. In 1960, he became a founding partner in Marketing Agents South in Jackson, Miss., where he…