Manitowoc Foodservice is consolidating its manufacturing and operating functions for its Americas Ovens division in a new, expanded facility in Cleveland. When the transition is completed later this year, the Ohio facility will produce Cleveland Steamers, Garland convection ovens, Convotherm combi ovens and Lincoln conveyor ovens, as well as market and distribute Manitowoc’s Merrychef  brand…

Stricter food safety guidelines that went into effect Sept. 1 in North Carolina will be a boon for safer food handling, not to mention sales of gloves and refrigeration equipment. The new rules issued by the state’s public health department cover everything from holding temperatures to nail polish to posting inspection notices. Back-of-the-house changes include…

September brings us National Food Safety Month. Now in its 18th year, NFSM creates a heightened awareness of, and for some newer industry members, an introduction to food safety. The National Restaurant Association is sharing best practices through free training materials and resources at

Remember the mom who journeyed around the country’s quick-service restaurant playgrounds, testing them for cleanliness? Fortnightly reported the story a year ago. A California assemblyman was so concerned about the discoveries of high levels of bacteria that he wrote a bill requiring these play spaces meet strict cleaning standards. California’s restaurant playgrounds are currently unregulated.…

Weak results from Europe undercut overall sales growth for the big public foodservice equipment companies, leading to the slowest overall revenue growth for the publics since their combined sales went positive in the second quarter of 2010. Combined second-quarter revenues for the seven companies rose only 0.9%, compared with a 4.8% gain in the first…

Pushed lower by strong declines in same-store sales and traffic, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance fell 1.1 points in July, which left the index just barely in expansion territory at 100.2. All eight of the index indicators were down, and it was the lowest reading since last October. The index has been positive for…

The two leading measures of consumer confidence moved in opposite directions again in August, as consumer expectations and spending plans remain quite negative. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index rose slightly while the Consumer Confidence Index maintained by The Conference Board fell. The expectation measures from both research groups were lower. Uncertainty about…

The numbers on first quarter 2012 restaurant traffic in the leading economies from The NPD Group tell a tale of economic disparities. Traffic soared in China, rose strongly in Canada and Japan and sputtered in nearly all of Europe. “The first quarter of the year brought a mix of good and bad news for the…

Big news from Foodservice Consultants Society Int’l: The association has relocated its world headquarters to Louisville, Ky., and for the first time, its Americas Division will be offering free design and management advisory services to operators attending the International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show. Through its “Ask the Experts” service, FCSI-The Americas will offer free…

Long-time manufacturers’ rep Don Camacho Sr., of Don Camacho & Associates, died Aug. 27 at age 83. He founded the Zion, Ill., firm more than 45 years ago. Camacho was a longtime member of the Manufacturers’ Agents Association for the Foodservice Industry and served as the organization’s president in 1982. He received both the Tony…