Manitowoc Foodservice Ovens and Advanced Cooking recently broke ground on its new 30,000-sq-ft ( 2,787-sqm ) Ovens expansion project in Cleveland , Ohio .

When the US $ 8 million project is complete later this year , it will produce Cleveland steamers , Garland convection ovens , Convotherm combi ovens and Lincoln conveyor ovens along with managing marketing and distribution of Manitowoc ’ s Merrychef speed ovens . The building also will include a commercial kitchen for customer support such as menu development , equipment testing and sales training .

Lodging Econometrics ( LE ) has launched a new website ( lodgingeconometrics . com ) that combines analytical tools , industry support services and customized business development programs .

Meanwhile , LE ’ s new Real Estate Intelligence programs and analytical products are designed to support franchise sales teams looking to expand their brand distribution , management companies looking to add management contracts , ownership groups looking to acquire additional assets , analysts responsible for monitoring trends and vendors looking to expand their distribution .

Meiko Offenburg recorded a consolidated turnover of € 260 million ( US $ 348.5 million ) in 2012 – an increase of € 10 million ( US $ 13.4 million ) over the previous year and a record in the company ’ s 85-year history .

The Offenburg site , home to the company ’ s head office and primary production facilities , reported an order intake of € 164 million ( US $ 219.8 million ) and a turnover of € 166 million ( US $ 222.5 million ). Domestic orders for commercial dishwashing systems rose almost € 2 million ( US $ 2.7 million ) to more than € 46 million ( US $ 61.7 million ), while exports of cleaning and disinfection machines jumped more than 40 %. More than 1,000 employees contributed to these results .

The Blanco Professional Group , Oberderdingen , Germany , says it achieved a consolidated turnover in fiscal year 2012 of € 114 million ( US $ 152.8 million ). As a result , the corporate group says it increased its turnover by 3.2 % compared to the previous year . With a share of 38.6 %, export sales showed a slight decrease , while domestic sales were expanded .

“ In view of the euro crisis , we have achieved satisfactory performance ,” says CEO Friedrich Schock . “ We are firmly committed to the location and have invested just under € 4.7 million ( US $ 6.3 million ) to make production even faster and more flexible .”

64 HOTELS July / August 2013 www . hotelsmag . com