We just finished our seventh biennial Multiunit Foodservice Equipment Symposium, held in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. More than 150 attendees, including 68 chain and multiunit operators, leading manufacturer and dealer suppliers, spent three days together discussing the changing operator environment, technical and process topics. It was the largest MUFES we’ve staged since 2008—a sign…

Excell Marketing & Procurement Group’s foodservice equipment dealer network has added Matthew Arthur to its team as director of vendor relations. Arthur comes to Excell with more than 22 years of experience in the E&S industry; his career encompasses both wholesale and retail procurement and distribution. At Denver-based Excell, he’ll serve as the primary relationship…

Beverage-Air, founded in 1944 by John Buffington in Punxsutawney, Pa., is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The refrigeration maker then was known as The Punxsutawney Co. It carried the trade name “Beverage-Air” and introduced the industry’s first horizontal, forced-air cooler. In 1950, the firm expanded its product line beyond deep-well models to include shallow…

Longtime manufacturer’s rep John Bridgins died suddenly on Jan. 19. He was 62. Bridgins was president and CEO of J.H. Bridgins & Associates, the firm founded by his father, Jim. He spent his entire career there, first in the company’s original Philadelphia office, before establishing their Alexandria, Va., branch. An active and longtime member of…

We’re nearing the end of January, and it’s cold and snowy across three-quarters of the U.S. But there are a few warm places in the lower 48, and one of them is hosting an event just for dealers. The Foodservice Equipment Distributors Association’s Annual Convention is set for March 26-30 at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort…

Major funding for research and education by the Nutrition & Foodservice Education Foundation has been taken up by Reinhart Foodservice. The company is the first participant and thus a founding member in the association’s new corporate-partner program, which aims to build financial support for researchers and educators helping advance innovation and excellence in foodservice and…

I tell you, you can make money selling energy- and water-efficient equipment. I can prove it. I spent last week in California, presenting our latest market forecast update at Pacific Gas & Electric’s Food Service Technology Center and at Southern California Edison. Richard Young, senior engineer and director of education at the FSTC, and I…

The Middleby Corp. announced Jan. 7 that it has acquired the assets of Market Forge Industries, the 118-year-old manufacturer of steam cooking equipment, including countertop steamers, kettles and braising pans. Everett, Mass.-based Market Forge has annual revenues of approximately $15 million. “The steam cooking category is a large and growing sector in the commercial foodservice…

Mark Ottenheimer, president of Baltimore-based Ottenheimer Equipment, died Dec. 12, 2013, after a long illness. He was the fifth generation of Ottenheimers on the Baltimore foodservice scene; the family began in the 1880s as butchers to what was then called the restaurant trade. They evolved into commercial millwork manufacturers; during World War I, their expertise…

Carter-Hoffmann has enhanced its sales team. The Mundelein, Ill., company has promoted Jeff Erber to global v.p.-sales and hired Jacqui Gustafson as area v.p.-sales. Erber will expand his sales management responsibilities to include the global marketplace and will be responsible for all of Carter-Hoffmann sales worldwide. “Jeff has done a great job growing Carter-Hoffmann domestically,…