Like many of you, we’re just back from the whirlwind week that is The NAFEM Show. NAFEM was even more intense than usual for us, as we hosted more than 400 of our closest friends for our Industry Awards event on Friday, Feb. 8. We had an absolutely wonderful time.Congratulations again to Management Excellence Award…

The Manitowoc Co. announced on Jan. 28 that it has sold its Jackson MSC warewashing business to Hoshizaki USA Holdings. Specific terms of the asset sale were not disclosed. Jackson, based in Barbourville, Ky., manufactures a broad line of warewashing equipment systems, including conveyor, flight-type and undercounter units. Hoshizaki makes it headquarters in Peachtree City,…

Pack up your plane tickets, comfortable shoes, Parrothead gear, FER Exhibitor Pocket Guide, and notes on who to see and what to see at The NAFEM Show. It’s only a week away. The North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers’ biennial show, Feb. 7-9, at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla., will unroll the…

Ronald Snyder has joined Robot Coupe U.S.A as the Jackson, Miss., company’s market solutions adviser. Snyder, a degreed culinary chef, has spent the last 11 years working as a regional sales manager or manufacturer sales representative for Rational USA, Jay Mark Group and Mirkovich & Associates. At Robot, he’ll focus on expanding multiunit business—including in…

Hillcrest Capital Partners, a Minneapolis-based private investment group, is pleased to announce it has made an investment in Premier Restaurant Equipment. Minneapolis-based Premier is a full-service foodservice design and equipment firm specializing in casinos, health care, specialty restaurants, hotels/lodging, multiunit operations, sports bars, entertainment facilities and cafeterias. It was founded in 1989 by Jim Hara…

We’ve been very busy the past three months getting ready for The NAFEM Show Feb. 7-9. We produced three big issues for December, January and February, featuring our redesign of the magazine. We re-launched our new digital edition. We produced special product editions in print and, as you saw earlier this week, electronically. And not…

Time is running out to pay membership dues to the

Ace Mart Restaurant Supply has named employee Bud Herrmann as recipient of its second annual Gus Award. Hermann received the award at a presentation ceremony during the annual Kitchen Equipment & New Technology Expo in Flower Mound, Texas. The show’s sponsors, Forbes, Hever & Wallace, a rep firm and longtime business associate of Ace Mart,…

I’ve had two really interesting interviews in the past couple weeks. One was with Phil Dei Dolori and Dean Landeche at Manitowoc Foodservice and another with Selim Bassoul at Middleby. While the original topics were totally different—Manitowoc’s manufacturing strategy and Viking’s acquisition of Viking Range—both interviews came around to what operators in the current U.S.…

The brokers and investment bankers that help equipment and supplies companies buy and sell other companies had a very busy 2012. Foodservice Equipment Reports and our forecasting partner John Muldowney, v.p.-marketing at Alto-Shaam, counted 22 transactions completed or announced during the year, more than double the 10 recorded in ’11. A number of factors drove…