The MAFSI Business Barometer unexpectedly improved in the third quarter, as overall sales for manufacturers’ reps climbed to 4.3% in the quarter versus sales in the same quarter last year. The number beat advances of 4% in the first quarter and 3.6% in the second quarter and was the best performance since a 4.7% gain…

There are a few days left to submit products, technologies and equipment for the National Restaurant Association’s Kitchen Innovations Awards. While next year’s NRA Show is still months away (May 18-21 at Chicago’s McCormick Place), the association needs manufacturers to submit cutting-edge equipment, technologies and supplies for the 2013 edition of the KIAs. Award recipients…

The time has come again to recognize commercial and noncommercial operators who drive innovation and excellence in the restaurant industry. The National Restaurant Association is accepting nominations for its 2013 Operator Innovations Awards, which celebrate “operators who are transforming the industry with extraordinary creativity and commitment to innovation and excellence in execution.” Self-nominations are welcomed.…

Burkett Restaurant Equipment recently received a top honor at the University of Toledo. At the school’s annual Entrepreneurial and Business Excellence Hall of Fame ceremony on Nov. 8, Burkett received the Business Excellence Award for its substantial growth and contributions to the local economy. Company Pres. Jameel Burkett accepted the award, and summed up the…

Seventeen dealers can boast about hardworking employees who have earned scholarships from the FEDA Education Foundation. The foundation recently awarded 33 scholarships to help cover some of the costs associated with attending the University of Industrial Distribution program, March 10-13, 2013 at the JW Marriott Indianapolis.        Participants create their own curriculum to help them earn…

Foodservice Equipment Reports has trimmed its forecasts of foodservice equipment and supplies sales growth for 2012 and ’13. A clear trend of slowing growth in 2012, as charted by publicly reporting E&S companies and the Business Barometer maintained by the Manufacturers’ Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry, has led the magazine to cut its forecasted…

The 2012 version of “Size & Shape of the Industry,” which details dollar sales for more than 350 categories of foodservice equipment, supplies, tabletop and furnishings, has been released by the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers. The new release updates the study, which has been conducted by NAFEM every other year since 2002.…

Nearly everyone expects big jumps in food prices, especially for proteins, over the next year or so, thanks to the ongoing drought in the United States. October’s wholesale food-price data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index make it clear the increases have already begun. The PPI charts food prices at three levels…

American consumers have seemed oblivious to the potential negative impact on them of the  so-called “fiscal cliff,” the combination of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2013, unless Congress and the Obama Administration can work out a deal. But the Thomson/Reuters University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers began to…

It’s back to the future for San Jamar. The maker of foodservice, janitorial and sanitation products, supplies and clothing is now carrying all of its brands and products under its original name: San Jamar. The company had been known as San Jamar-Chef Revival since its acquisition of Chef Revival in 2006. “This move to position…