Both wholesale food prices and menu prices rose again in July according to data from the Producer and Consumer Price Indexes maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall wholesale food prices, as computed by the National Restaurant Association, rose 0.1% while menu prices were up 0.2% for the fourth time in the past five…

The outlooks for growth of real gross domestic product the rest of this year and next fell again in the latest survey of 50 major economic forecasting groups published by Blue Chip Economic Indicators in early August. The forecast for growth on income and consumer spending next year also fell. The 2012 real GDP forecast…

The National Restaurant Association has partnered in China with Ecolab to share best practices for food-safety training. Representatives from the two organizations recently traveled to China, where they met with representatives from the State Food and Drug Administration, China’s regulatory body for restaurants and food safety, and the Institute of Executive Development, which oversees the…

Word spreads fast in the age of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Information about a restaurant’s menu and its latest health-department inspection moves quickly, and a good word is critical to success. Following the lead of other major cities, including Dallas, Los Angeles and New York, Baltimore is heading down the path of transparency. The city…

Add Hermosa Beach to the list of more than 60 California cities that ban some form of polystyrene. Earlier this month, the Hermosa Beach City Council voted to ban polystyrene takeout containers. The city of nearly 20,000 is in Los Angeles County. The ban affects about 25 restaurants, grocery stores and food vendors that distribute…

Read about the latest solution to ice safety for ice machines, a new digital ingredient scale, an eco-friendly warewasher and more!

We lost a good friend a couple of weeks ago. Pat Murray was the second great patriarch of the Murray family to earn a living from foodservice and to pass that legacy on to his children. His father, Art, started a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis in 1933, during the depth of the Great Depression. It…

Gaylord Industries has made three appointments to its sales and service department. Leading off is the promotion of Bruce Lukens to director of sales and marketing; he’ll guide the sales, sales engineering and marketing departments. The veteran of more than 30 years at the company most recently served as director of engineering. The Tualatin, Ore.-based…

Meiko Inc., enjoying what it calls a boom sales year, is beefing up its customer-service department. The Nashville, Tenn., company has added Danielle Mason as its sales and customer-service operations manager for the U.S. and Canada. Mason, most recently a senior financial analyst at Unified Brands, brings more than a decade of marketing, business development…

Robin Crispin, who spent a lifetime in the E&S industry, passed away Aug. 6 at the age of 79. He recently retired from Best Restaurant Equipment & Design Co. Crispin grew up to serve as president and owner of his parents’ Columbus, Ohio, dealership, General Hotel Supply Corp. The firm specialized in bid work, and…