Have you saved the date for FER‘s evening honoring 17 organizations and individuals?The new industry awards event Friday evening, Feb. 8, during The NAFEM `13 Show, includes dinner and awards presentations at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, Fla. Among the winners are operators Subway and the foodservice operations at the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio…

The looming fiscal cliff appears to have given restaurant operators a case of vertigo. The prospect of rapidly rising prices for key proteins may be adding to the swoon. For the first time in 14 months, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index fell below the 100 level the index uses to separate industry expansion…

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…