Pioneers in innovation and leadership were honored with the inaugural Operator Innovations Awards at last week’s NRA Show. Selected by an independent panel of judges, the winners in each award category, plus an Innovator of the Year, were revealed live during the show. The 2012 Operator Innovations Award winners are: Innovator of the Year and…

Technomic Inc., the Chicago-based foodservice research firm, often revises its current-year forecast of operator sales around the time of the National Restaurant Association Show. It did so again this year, but added a significant wrinkle: It offered a preliminary forecast for 2013. The forecasts are quite positive, with both ’12 and ’13 expected to be…

It was less than forecast, but the MAFSI Business Barometer, which tracks manufacturers’ reps’ sales trends, was up 4% in the first quarter 2012 versus the prior year’s first quarter. It was the measure’s sixth consecutive quarter of gains following three years of declining sales. The quarterly survey is fielded by the Manufacturers’ Agents Association…

Seven publicly traded equipment and supplies companies reported blended sales rose 4.9% in the first quarter 2012 versus the same quarter in ’11. It was the eighth consecutive quarter of combined revenue gains for the seven, which include five equipment-oriented and two supplies-oriented companies. The increase was an improvement over a moderate 3.1% gain in…

Though average same-store sales rose a mere 0.6% in the first quarter this year compared with the same quarter last year, restaurant operators surveyed by the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association are significantly more optimistic about sales growth during the next six months than they were fourth quarter 2011. Nearly 38% of those responding expect…

Foodservice Equipment Reports will stage a new awards event at The NAFEM Show the evening of Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando, Fla. The magazine will recognize winners of a series of awards including new “Management Excellence Awards” for commercial and noncommercial operators, dealers and consulting firms; “Young Lion” awards that…

Reforming the tax code would have a huge impact on the way foodservice businesses operate, according to accounting experts who spoke May 7 at the 2012 NRA Show in Chicago. Bob Carroll, of Ernst and Young’s quantitative economics and statistics division, said the restaurant industry would be affected by any proposed changes to the tax…

Foodservice Equipment Reports’ annual President’s Preview 2013 E&S Market Forecast meeting will be held Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at the Westin O’Hare Hotel in Rosemont, Ill. This one-day, comprehensive look at data and trends in foodservice and the foodservice equipment and supplies markets includes the magazine’s hard-number forecasts of E&S market growth for ’13 and…