S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Natural Mineral Water demonstrates support for its restaurant partners and the dining community with the launch of its 6th Annual S.Pellegrino™ Dine Out program benefiting Share Our Strength, one of the nation’s leading organizations working to end childhood hunger. The program has added New Orleans to past years’ markets, which include Chicago; Fairfield County, Connecticut; Westchester County, New York; Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Orange County, California. The program presents restaurateurs with the opportunity to gain new customers and build on existing loyalty by offering guests a chance to support their community while sampling a three-course prix fix menu ($25 for lunch and $35 for dinner). During August 19–23 and August 26–30, patrons of participating restaurants may dine on exclusive menus selected for the program and will receive a complimentary bottle of S.Pellegrino® Sparkling Natural Mineral Water or Acqua Panna® Natural Spring Water. Nestlé Waters North America will donate $1 to Share Our Strength for each Dine Out meal served. For more information on the 2007 S.Pellegrino Dine Out program, visit www.usadineout.com ...

Cres Cor announced the appointment of Dave Vuicich to the position of director of international sales and marketing. Vuicich has been the director of engineering since 1994 and has also managed the international business since 2003. He is a former member of the NAFEM Technical Liaison Committee and is a current member of the International Committee and the Northern Ohio District Export Council ...

Alto-Shaam promoted Tom Marino to the position of southeast regional sales manager, where he will be responsible for sales development of retail and foodservice business segments in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Eastern Tennessee. Marino's experience includes sales positions with Cuno, Inc. and Samsung Electronics. Most recently, he served as VP of sales and marketing with Selecto Scientific. Alto-Shaam also announces the addition of Corporate Executive Chef Andrew Mayeshiba. In the last 12 years, Chef Andy, a former musician, has worked in nearly every sector of the industry, ranging from catering to fine dining. As a corporate executive chef, he will educate customers about the advantages of Alto-Shaam products and also contribute his culinary expertise to the process of product development ...

New information from American consumers and foodservice operators identifies Butterball® as one of the most powerful U.S. foodservice brands. The findings suggest that foodservice operators using the Butterball name on turkey menu items can increase their average ticket. Conducted by Greenfield Research Center in April 2007, the independent research organization asked 1,000 U.S. consumers about their preference among a variety of turkey brands. The research found that 55 percent of American consumers are more likely to order a turkey menu item if the menu description includes the Butterball brand name. Likewise, 37 percent said they would pay more and be more willing to frequent a restaurant with a branded Butterball menu item ...

Nestlé Waters’ new information vehicle, SellBottledWater.com, provides operators with tools to help achieve maximum results with bottled water programs. Operators have access to many levels of support, including segment-specific information on bottled water trends, brands, pack-size recommendations, product placement, staff training, and profitability models. The portion of the website focused on fine dining helps restaurateurs identify and leverage bottled water sales opportunities. Also, training programs and information on wine and bottled water pairing are available ...

S&D Coffee executives recently toured coffee-growing regions of Nicaragua to see the educational and micro-enterprise programs their financial support helps maintain as part of their support of Coffee Kids®, an organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life for children and families living in coffeegrowing communities around the world. The Coffee Kids® programs S&D supports through sales of Buffalo & Spring™ Coffees of Distinction include a women’s microcredit program and student scholarship program. The microcredit program encourages women to save money and provides them an opportunity to borrow at low interest rates while allowing them a chance at financial independence. Donated funds supporting the student scholarship program provide transportation and supplies to students in need enrolled in schools and universities throughout the region ...

DayMark® Safety Systems launched “CertifiedSafer, Certified Safety Training,” an online food safety certification and continuing education program. The program provides a convenient and cost-effective way for foodservice workers to earn the food and alcoholic beverage certifications required to work in the industry. Eight courses are currently offered: Alcohol Seller/Server Certification; Food Handler’s Safety; Food Safety Manager Certification Prep Course; Food Safety Manager Certification Examination; General Safety and Health Provisions: Advanced; HACCP: The State-of-the- Art Approach to Food Safety; Texas “TABC” Alcohol Seller/Server; and Walking and Working Surfaces: Basic. DayMark also offers an accredited online testing preparation program for the National Environmental Health Association’s (NEHA) Food Manager Certification. CONTACT: www.daymarksafety.com

Milliken & Company’s napery fabrics business has added David Eskew and Andy Miller to its hospitality service team. Eskew will manage the eastern region of the United States and Canada, while Miller will manage the western and central regions ...

InfoGenesis has announced the release of InfoGenesis Analytics, a new business intelligence solution that is highly integrated with InfoGenesis Point-of-Sale (POS). InfoGenesis Analytics addresses the growing need for hospitality and foodservice operators to consolidate data from multiple systems to make better business decisions. CONTACT: www.infogenesis.com ...

Maywood Furniture Corp.® introduced a website dedicated to its line of conference tables. The site features five unique series: Stationary, Deluxe, C-Leg, Training, and Calm Series®. These tables are ideal for meeting rooms and conference areas, as well as convention, symposium, and seminar locations. CONTACT: www.maywood.com ...

MTS Seating introduced a website designed with the hospitality professional in mind. Some of the new features include a home page spotlighting what’s new at MTS, like upcoming tradeshows and events. It also provides a link to the MTS SynerGreen environmental policy statement; a simplified product presentation, which lets you view all side chair models by category; downloadable catalog literature; product specification sheets; a virtual tour of the MTS manufacturing facilities; and an enhanced installation gallery section with client reference sheets. CONTACT: www.mtsseating.com ...

Professional chefs are invited to make a splash with their best Mediterranean-inspired recipes for a chance to win $10,000 in the 2007 TABASCO® Brand Hottest Chef Contest™. The contest, sponsored by McIlhenny Company, maker of world-famous TABASCO® Brand Pepper Sauce, will award one chef a $10,000 grand prize, an assortment of TABASCO® brand merchandise, and recognition as one of the hottest chefs internationally. The contest is open to residents of the United States and Canada, and also includes a culinary student category, awarding $2,500 in cash and merchandise to the winning chef-in-training. Contest entries must incorporate fresh, easily sourced ingredients in original recipes and must include at least one of the following five flavors of the TABASCO® Family of Flavors: Original TABASCO® Brand Pepper Sauce, TABASCO® Brand Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce, TABASCO® Brand Garlic Pepper Sauce, TABASCO® Brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce, or TABASCO® Brand Habanero Sauce. For details and to obtain an official entry form and contest rules, post a request on the TABASCO® foodservice website at www.TABASCOfoodservice.com, call 888-HOT-DASH or 504-523-7370 ...

NOBLE, an advertising agency specializing in food, home, and building products and service industry expertise, announces that Kevin Beauseigneur was promoted to president of the agency’s Chicago office. Beauseigneur was most recently senior VP, executive creative director. He is responsible for all aspects of agency management, including strategic business direction, fiscal planning, and client services. Prior to joining NOBLE, Beauseigneur was creative director for the Chicago office of The Food Group. Before that, he spent many years as senior VP, creative director, at Ketchum-Chicago ...

Citing aggressive growth in its U.S. operation, RATIONAL USA announced its new headquarters location at 895 American Way in Schaumburg, Illinois. The 23,000-squarefoot headquarters location will accommodate additional staff and provide a larger, more efficient warehousing operation. Central to the facility is a state-of-the-art cooking demonstration and education center that will house the company's renowned, hands-on training and certification program for service partners and chefs ...

Schulstad Royal Danish Pastry is now operating under the Lantmännen Unibake USA name. Their offices will remain headquartered in Lisle, Illinois. Lantmännen Unibake USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lantmännen, which operates 28 bakeries in 16 European countries and is the largest frozen bakery goods supplier in Denmark. Lantmännen Unibake USA has its own test kitchens, professional bakers, and strategically positioned warehouses throughout North America ...

Tyson Foods, Inc. has completed the conversion to zero trans fat oils in the production of virtually all of the company’s foodservice breaded poultry products. The accomplishment is part of Tyson’s strategic transition to zero trans fats, which began in 2004 with fully cooked breaded poultry retail products and “child nutrition” school foodservice products. Research conducted by Tyson revealed no taste, texture, or visual differences between the newly formulated products and the company’s current product lines. For more information regarding zero grams trans fat foodservice breaded poultry products from Tyson Foods, contact John Scroggins at john.scroggins@noble.net, or call 417-875-5118.

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