After a successful IPO in October, the Chicago-based Potbelly Sandwich Shop chain continued humming along in its fiscal third quarter when nine new shops opened, including eight company-operated units and one franchised store. Overall, 29 new Potbelly’s—all but four company-operated—opened during the first three fiscal quarters of 2013. The Chicago chain anticipates revving up its…

Two regional posts have been filled at Unified Brands. The Jackson, Miss., company has promoted Dan Monfort to regional sales manager-northeast, and hired Bryan Spencer for the same post, overseeing the southeast. Both Monfort and Spencer will manage the local representatives for Unified’s core business in the eastern United States and maintain and develop relationships…

Moffat US Convection Ovens has appointed Danielle Brach as its westernregional sales manager. She joins the company after serving as a senior marketing and communications coordinator for Ice-O-Matic. Moffat US is a division of Milan, Italy-based Ali Group; its North American operations are based in Winston-Salem, N.C., with sister brand Champion Industries. The Ali Group…

The National Restaurant Association has released the 2013-14 edition of its Restaurant Operations Report. The report, produced in collaboration with Deloitte & Touche LLP, offers restaurateurs operational comparisons to better detect potential problems, manage costs and become more efficient. The report, based on financial data from more than 630 restaurants, provides data on cost of…

NSF Int’l. has expanded its global role in public health and water and food safety across Latin America. The Ann Arbor, Mich., firm has acquired Bioensaios Analysis and Environmental Consulting Laboratory Ltd., based in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It will become known as NSF Bioensaios. Founded in 1990, Bioensaios is a leading analytical laboratory that provides…

McDonald’s Corp. has told investors that it plans to spend $3 billion opening as many as 1,600 new restaurants in the next year while revamping 1,000 locations. Also on deck for new and rebuilt restaurants, the world’s biggest restaurant chain will implement what it calls a Fast Forward Drive-Thru, which will allow customers whose orders…

Just a week remains for foodservice equipment manufacturers to submit entries for the 2014 Kitchen Innovations Awards. Award applications for the decade-old awards program are accepted through Dec. 6 by the National Restaurant Association. The KI Awards recognize and celebrate cutting-edge equipment and technology that specifically improve the back of the house and benefit foodservice…

ITW Food Equipment Group has named Richard Manson as business development manager for its Cooking-Chain and Retail Division. He’ll be responsible for business development and supporting growth initiatives for the fryer and griddle/charbroiler business units. Manson assumes his new job after playing a major role in new product development with Vulcan’s PowerFry product line. Prior…

Lewis Burns, whose career with Dover Corp. spanned more than 40 years, died Nov. 17. He was 75. Burns joined the Downers Grove, Ill., company as a staff accountant and served as president and CEO of Dover Industries. He retired in 2003 but continued to serve as a director of Dover Industries for two more…

Yum! Brands, parent of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, is reorganizing its business into separate reporting divisions by brand, with China and India remaining as individual divisions. On Jan. 1, 2014, Yum!’s three major restaurant brands will combine their U.S. systems with the former Yum Restaurants Int’l. division (YRI) and have individual global business…