NSF Int’l. has expanded its global role in public health and water and food safety across Latin America. The Ann Arbor, Mich., firm has acquired Bioensaios Analysis and Environmental Consulting Laboratory Ltd., based in Porto Alegre, Brazil. It will become known as NSF Bioensaios.Founded in 1990, Bioensaios is a leading analytical laboratory that provides GLP…

McDonald’s Corp. has told investors that it plans to spend $3 billion opening as many as 1,600 new restaurants in the next year while revamping 1,000 locations. Also on deck for new and rebuilt restaurants, the world’s biggest restaurant chain will implement what it calls a Fast Forward Drive-Thru, which will allow customers whose orders…

Just a week remains for foodservice equipment manufacturers to submit entries for the 2014 Kitchen Innovations Awards. Award applications for the decade-old awards program are accepted through Dec. 6 by the National Restaurant Association. The KI Awards recognize and celebrate cutting-edge equipment and technology that specifically improve the back of the house and benefit foodservice…

ITW Food Equipment Group has named Richard Manson as business development manager for its Cooking-Chain and Retail Division. He’ll be responsible for business development and supporting growth initiatives for the fryer and griddle/charbroiler business units. Manson assumes his new job after playing a major role in new product development with Vulcan’s PowerFry product line. Prior…

Lewis Burns, whose career with Dover Corp. spanned more than 40 years, died Nov. 17. He was 75. Burns joined the Downers Grove, Ill., company as a staff accountant and served as president and CEO of Dover Industries. He retired in 2003 but continued to serve as a director of Dover Industries for two more…

Yum! Brands, parent of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, is reorganizing its business into separate reporting divisions by brand, with China and India remaining as individual divisions. On Jan. 1, 2014, Yum!’s three major restaurant brands will combine their U.S. systems with the former Yum Restaurants Int’l. division (YRI) and have individual global business…

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Roark Capital Group has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in CKE Inc. Senior management at the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s chains will retain a minority stake. Currently, CKE is majority-owned and controlled by affiliates of Apollo Global Management. Terms of the transaction, expected to close in the…

Taylor Precision Products, the Chicago-based company maker of thermometers, timer and scales, has added Metrokane Inc., a maker of barware and wine accessories, to its brand portfolio. Metrokane, which manufactures wine accessories and barware, is the parent company of Rabbit and Houdini brands. Its founder, Riki Kane, will remain with the company for a long…

Two of the largest broadline distributors in the country will be joining forces. On Dec. 9, Sysco agreed to buy rival US Foods for about $3.5 billion in stock and cash. Under the terms of the agreement announced Monday, Houston-based Sysco will pay $3 billion in common stock and $500 million in cash. It also…