Middleby Adds Group President-India And Sales Director For Star Group

Weeks after announcing its acquisition of Celfrost Innovations Pvt. Ltd., a Gurgaon, India-based firm with $20 million in annual sales of commercial refrigerators, ice machines, freezers and walk-ins, Middleby Corp. has appointed Partha Biswas as group president of Middleby India.

Biswas will have full responsibilities in the country, overseeing multiple operations, including sales and service of Celfrost and all Middleby brands in India. Biswas also will manage the recently established shared-service engineering team there. Prior to his promotion, Biswas was group president of Star brands; earlier in his career, he helmed Carter-Hoffmann, Nu-Vu, Doyon and CookTek. Dave Brewer will replace Biswas on an interim basis as group president of Star brands and continue leading Middleby’s national accounts team.

Elgin, Ill.-based Middleby also has hired Chris Yungbluth for a post at Star Mfg. As the new director of sales for the Star Group, Yungbluth will be responsible for leading sales initiatives and strategy in the Midwest for the Star, Holman and Toastmaster brands.

Yungbluth joins Star from Vulcan Food Equipment, where he’d been sales and marketing manager for the griddle/charbroiler division on a national level; he also served as a senior engineer with Vulcan, where he led a team in developing and launching patented countertop cooking products. “Chris’ past experience in the industry will benefit all of the brands in the Star Group,” said Mark Easterday, the group’s v.p.-sales and marketing. “His track record speaks for itself with expertise in management, engineering, sales, marketing and value creation.”