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Wayne Martin, whose career in sales spanned half a dozen prominent E&S manufacturers, died June 22. He was 66. Martin’s 43-year foodservice career began at General Electric Commercial Food Service, and spanned Hobart, Hussmann, BIH Food Service and W.A. Brown before he joined Muskegon, Mich.-based Structural Concepts. He retired from his self-described “dream job” there…

Days after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the proposed $3.5 billion Sysco Corp.-US Foods merger, Sysco terminated the merger agreement. The action also terminated an agreement with Performance Food Group to purchase US Foods facilities in 11 markets. Under…

Sometimes, my job as unofficial historian of the foodservice equipment and supplies business really, really sucks. In the past two weeks, we’ve heard about the passing of four men, all of whom were major industry figures: Henry Coletti, Jim Little, Paul DeLorenzo and Wayne Martin. I won’t repeat what Jan has written in the obits…

The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index was off slightly in May, with five of the index’s eight components softening. Current same-store sales and traffic fell 0.9 and 0.8 point respectively in May. While the overall index was down 0.4 point, the reading of 102.3 marks the 27th consecutive month the index has been above…

The Legacy Companies, the owner of brands including Blakeslee and Kold-Draft, has acquired Bevles, the Allen, Texas-based maker of proofers, cabinets and racks, from Standex Int’l. The sale was effective June 30. Bevles equipment is found in chains including Taco Bell, Cinnabon, and Tim Hortons. According to Neal Asbury, President/CEO of The Legacy Companies, “We…

German warewashing maker MEIKO has tapped Markus Braun as the new president of MEIKO USA. Braun joined MEIKO Germany in 1998 as a sales and marketing manager and led the company’s cleaning and disinfection division. Most recently, he oversaw global sales and marketing for cleaning and disinfection appliances, MEIKO’s product line for the healthcare industry.…

Foodservice industry entrepreneur Paul DeLorenzo passed away June 7 at the age of 87. Born in Lorenzago, Italy, DeLorenzo moved to Detroit at age 18. Seven years later, in 1953, he founded The Delfield Company. After selling Delfield to Clark Equipment in 1969 (it’s now a brand of Manitowoc Foodservice), he went on in 1975…