MAFSI member Joseph Lawrence Bruno, president and owner of Dealers Choice, died March 20. He was 68. Bruno ran the Larchmont, N.Y., manufacturers’ representative firm for 30 years. The Vietnam War veteran is survived by his wife of 45 years, Laura; two daughters; and eight grandchildren.  Services have been held. Thomas Bryan, whose career in the…

Buffalo Hotel Supply, owned and managed by the Bedard family for 74 years, recently was feted by the Western New York Council of Food Services Associations at its annual awards dinner. The dealership was presented with the 2012 Gold Medal, a top award for longtime contributions to the foodservice industry, which has been awarded by…

It’s not just the seminars, workshops, business meetings and golf scores that will garner attention at this week’s

Non-profit organizations that have a kitchen can learn ways to save money next week. On Thursday, April 5, event will be held at SoCal’s Food Service Equipmentt Center in Downey, Calif. It includes breakfast and lunch. Attendees must register by this Friday, March 30.

The here. NAFEM is a trade association of more than 550 foodservice equipment and supplies manufacturers providing products for food preparation, cooking, storage and table service.

The 500 largest restaurant-chain concepts grew nearly twice as fast in 2011 as in ’10, according to Technomic Inc., the Chicago foodservice research firm. The 500 chains rang up sales of $242 billion last year, up $8 billion from the prior year. “It is certainly encouraging to see overall industry growth rates nearly double in…

Independent restaurants continued to shed units last year—a net decline of 6,863 units—even as the Great Foodservice Recession began to moderate. The tally is part of the latest data from The NPD Group’s biannual ReCount census of restaurants in the United States. Chains, meanwhile, managed a slight increase of 380 net units in the same…

Wholesale food prices fell again in February, the third consecutive month prices have moved lower. This trend, in turn, apparently slowed the pace of menu-price increases in February from those seen in recent months. Average wholesale food prices fell 0.3% in February, compared to January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National…

Prices for nearly all metals used widely in foodservice equipment and supplies have begun to move higher, after a brief decline in prices late last year. Stainless steel prices are moving higher after bottoming out in December and January. The MEPS Int’l. North American All Products Stainless Steel Index rose to 171.9 in February, a…