Tom Szafranski, a 30-year veteran of Hobart and ITW Food Equipment Group, will retire June 30 from his post as president-sales for ITW FEG North America. In the March 24 announcement, ITW FEG Exec. V.P. Chris O’Herlihy stated: “Tom has been a highly respected leader in our business, and indeed our industry, who throughout his…

Although the Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association staff has decamped to California this week for its annual convention, the association is assuring members that its phones will be answered and messages relayed until the staff returns to its offices next week. FEDA members who did not make the trip to Indian Wells, Calif., for the March…

Two members of Supply & Equipment Foodservice Alliance have earned top status in the buying group’s SEFAPro Program. Jeff Dellon, director of sales and marketing at H. Weiss in Armonk, N.Y., and Cheryl Fichera, equipment specialist at Jordano’s in Santa Barbara, Calif., have earned SEFAPro Level 7 status, the highest achievable level in the training…

No fooling around with the date: Survey forms for Foodservice Equipment Reports’ annual Top Dealer listing, e-mailed earlier this month to past participants and other dealers, are due April 1. FER’s unique survey requires participating dealers to have a certified public accountant or other independent source verify their sales volumes. This procedure is necessary because…

Frances Gustafson, the matriarch of San Antonio’s family-owned Ace Mart Restaurant Supply empire, died Feb. 27. She was 85. She was preceded in death by her best friend and husband of 58 years, Norm “Gus” Gustafson. Ace Mart was founded in 1975, and currently is run by the three Gustafson children, Carl, Norma and Paul.…

A number of executive moves have been announced at Atlanta Fixture & Sales Co. The E&S dealer has appointed CFO Ron Bruck as its new president. Bruck, a CPA, is a 10-year veteran of Atlanta Fixture. The company also has promoted Marty Levenstiem from v.p.-purchasing to executive v.p. and elevated Bill Watson from v.p.-engineering to…

FEDA’s annual convention is in two weeks. It’s time for any procrastinators to register for the March 26-30 meeting at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, Calif. Register and learn more at feda.com/convention.

A few weeks after FEDA returns to Chicago after its annual convention, the dealer association will host an inventory-management seminar that it says guarantees attendees will walk away with at least 30 ways to earn a better ROI. The April 24-25 program, moderated by Jason Bader of The Distribution Team, provides dealers the chance to…

We knew the brutal winter in most parts of the U.S. was hurting restaurant and other foodservice sales. But we had no idea it was this bad. Technomic launched a new open webinar series last week (more on that in a moment) and the first topic was “The Wicked Winter of 2014.” To cut to…

As we note above, forms for this year’s Foodservice Equipment Reports Top Dealer survey will be sent out this week. While we e-mail the forms and reminders to many of you, we want to emphasize that any dealer can participate in the survey and be listed as a Top Dealer in FER’s annual Top Dealer…