The Montague Company expressed thanks to its customers who remained loyal during the recent factory workers strike. Said company spokesperson Daniel Garvin, “we truly recognize the difficult position many of you experienced as a result of the strike and understand that some of you had to look elsewhere. Your business is highly valued and your support and encouragement has been most appreciated. We are glad to be back to the business of manufacturing our excellent equipment.” ...

Winston Industries is pleased to announce the addition of Priscillia Chen to their international sales team. She has been chosen to lead Winston's new China office in Shanghai. Her professional background includes service in an international hotel chain and a major foodservice equipment manufacturer. "We look forward to Priscillia doing great things," said Shaun Tanner, Winston's VP of International Distribution and Sales. "We've opened our China office to expand our share of China's hotel and restaurant chain business. In Priscillia, we've found a talented individual who will aggressively pursue those opportunities." The China office is Winston's second international office. It opened its first in Singapore in 2002. ...

MasterFoodServices™ announced the company’s grand platinum sponsorship of the Bocuse d’Or National Selection United States, the elite competition that decides which talented young chef will represent the United States at the prestigious Bocuse d’Or World Cuisine Contest in Lyon, France. “This partnership is representative of MasterFoodServices’ commitment to culinary excellence. Bocuse d’Or is the pinnacle of achievement in gourmet creation across the globe—we are proud to have the UNCLE BEN’S® brand name and products associated with such an exceptional competition,” said Phaedra Ruffalo, marketing manager for MasterFoodServices. Ruffalo was on hand to recognize Gavin Kaysen as the United States representative and winner of the National Selection following the final competition held May 20 in Chicago at the 2006 National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Show ...

Gearing for growth in the global market, Fortessa, Inc., has expanded its warehouse operations with the addition of a 90,000-squarefoot facility for its wide range of tabletop collections. Based in Sterling, Virginia, Fortessa is the designer, developer, and marketer of trendsetting, high-quality tableware products and accessories for the commercial foodservice and consumer markets. The new warehouse, located nearby in Winchester, also will have the distinction of being the first activated Free Trade Zone in Northern Virginia. Fortessa also maintains a warehouse/showroom in Las Vegas, opened in January, 2005, as well as space at its Sterling headquarters ...

Noble, a multinational advertising agency specializing in food has restructured its business to more effectively deliver and measure communications programs. The company’s Integrated Communications Group (ICG) includes traditional and new media, public relations, interactive, and one-to-one marketing. Industry veteran Linda Bortis has been hired as the vice president responsible for leading the group. For the past 25 years, Bortis has built an extensive communications background, including database marketing, interactive strategy development, online advertising, account management, fulfillment, field marketing, direct marketing and public relations. Most recently she was partner and general manager for iMarlin, a fullservice interactive agency. Prior to that, she ran a target marketing consultancy, MarketWorks ...

Leaders with the Schwan Food Company recently announced they have reorganized the company’s food-service divisions to intensify the focus on customers within the industry. The changes include several leadership moves. Calvin Brink was named president of Schwan’s Global Food Service, Inc. He is responsible for three of the company’s operating businesses, including: Schwan’s Food Service, Inc., Schwan’s Bakery, Inc., and Schwan’s Food International, Inc. Brink previously served as the president of Schwan’s Home Service, Inc. He has been with Schwan for nearly 25 years, serving businesses that focus both on retail grocery and home delivery ...

Southern Aluminum announced that its Copper Swirl design was honored with the 2006 Platinum ADEX (Award for Design Excellence). ADEX, sponsored by Design Journal, is the largest and most prestigious awards competition for product design of furnishings marketed through the design community. These awards are judged on form and function.The Copper Swirl was among 1,505 other product designs ...

Libbey Foodservice, a leading provider of commercial glassware and other tableware products for the foodservice industry has a new website. Libbey Inc. developed the new corporate site internally with an emphasis on improving user friendliness and a commitment to new product information in all market areas. With an updated look designed to reinforce the Libbey brand, www.libbey.com was greatly improved and simplified. From the home page, visitors can navigate to six sections, including one for foodservice operators. Here, visitors will find a new products section as well as a link where catalogs, print literature, and calls from sales representatives may be requested. For visitors who want to view the full line of available products, Libbey Glassware, Syracuse China, World Tableware, and Traex catalogs are easy to view and print in pdf format. Operators and distributors can find important information quickly and easily ...

Milliken & Co. announced the launch of the company’s updated website at www.millikentablelinen.com. The company added helpful tools and updated the look and content of the site to better meet the needs of current and potential customers. The website’s overall graphic refresh incorporates copy and graphics to support the new Genuine Milliken Table Linen branding platform with new photography throughout the site. Other features of the new website include: launch of the Project Green/Signature Plus Savings Calculator to help customers estimate their savings with Milliken, additional napkin folds and instructions, new washing instructions, added color grouping charts, new troubleshooting guides, and an E-newsletter sign-up area ...

Shoes For Crews, LLC, announced it will roll out a mobile services division that will perform customized fittings aboard shoemobiles at the customer’s facility. The service will kick off late summer with initial test markets in Las Vegas and Orlando. Matthew K. Smith, president/COO of SFC, said Las Vegas is an excellent market to introduce the company’s mobile delivery services given that nearly 300,000 hospitality and foodservice employees work in a 10-square-mile area. And, Orlando is an equally important city with its high concentration of hotels, resorts, and theme parks. The steel-toe work boot industry, he says, has done this for years, but this is new for SFC. Over 57 styles can be available for immediate delivery. The shoe mobiles will be “fully stocked showrooms on wheels.” The vehicles will park in the employee parking lot, facility loading dock, or other areas within walking distance of the facility. It is estimated that the shoe mobile will be able to service 15 to 20 shoppers per hour. Each is also equipped with an automated POS system to expedite transactions and minimize disruption to their client’s productivity ...

The Cleveland culinary team is proud to announce more than 25 foodservice professionals have been trained in the Convotherm® by Cleveland CombiPro training program. The curriculum, led by Executive Chef Joe Cash, Chef Davis Ash, and Chef Kim Portman, ensures participants are trained and certified to handle all culinary applications of the Convotherm by Cleveland line of combi ovensteamers. The members of the CombiPro network were trained on cooking and product features/benefit demonstrations, in-service startups, operation, sizing the right unit for the application, and providing ongoing customer support in their regional markets. For more information, visit www.clevelandrange.com or email steam@clevelandrange.com ...

Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc., a global leader in premium spirits, walked away with the highly acclaimed “Distiller of the Year” award from the 2006 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and received 29 medals, 13 of which are coveted Gold and Double Gold medals. The company earned the second highest number of Gold and Double Gold medals in the competition ...

Pierre Szersnovicz, cellar master and director of liquid quality for Courvoisier® cognac, embarked on a multi-city education tour meeting with distributors, retailers, wait staff, bartenders, and consumers. Szersnovicz began his tour in Philadelphia on May 15, and visited other core markets for the cognac brand including Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Atlanta, where the tour came to a close on May 27 ...

The Food Group’s 11th annual networking party at Niketown Chicago proved once again to be the “must attend” event of this year’s NRA Show. The invitation-only party on Monday, May 22, attracted more than 600 attendees over a four hour period. At the event, select operators were treated to an allout net-working extravaganza featuring football legend Mike Singletary as the guest celebrity. “The entire Beef O’ Brady’s team thoroughly enjoyed the Niketown event this year. What a great venue, ideal for meeting old friends and making new ones,” says Nick Voinovich, President of Beef O’ Brady’s. The party at Niketown was sponsored by nine of the top manufacturers in the foodservice industry, Cadbury Schweppes, Schwan’s Food Service, Mission Foods, Rich Seapak, Pierre Foods, J.R. Simplot Co., Ruiz Foods, Dannon, and French’s Foodservice. ...

Foster Farms is excited to announce the launch of a new Foodservice Website in September. Visitors can access the site at fosterfarms.com by clicking on “Foodservice.” The new site will include information about products, preparation, menu ideas developed by top chefs, sales brochures, photos and logos. It also features a broker locator search engine.