Perhaps the only aspect of the recent New York International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show more pleasing to Victory Refrigeration President Mark Whalen than the volume and quality of event attendees was the recognition given to his company's products.

    "This was the best show for exhibitors since 9-11, as attendance and booth traffic was as strong as I've ever seen them on both of the event's main days," remarked Whalen, who leads the Aga Foodservice Equipment division, as well as Victory. "What I liked best, though, was the interest show-goers demonstrated in Victory's product line, especially our blast chillers, and our V2E commitment to energy savings, reliable performance and competitively lower life-cycle costs."

    Whalen also credited the appeal of live cooking demonstrations performed by AFE corporate chefs with Eloma combi ovens and Victory blast chillers for generating heavy foot traffic at the AFE booth throughout the show. "Once specifiers and end-users have a chance to see Victory, Eloma, Infinity and Stellar Steam models in action, they recognize the benefits and savings our equipment provides," Whalen stressed. "We will continue and expand our live cooking programs at shows and education programs throughout 2007."

    Making the efforts expended at the New York Show especially gratifying for Victory executives were booth visits by every important New York-area specifying consultant, many local dealers and personnel from a variety of multi-unit restaurant companies. "These channel partners spent a lot of quality time in the booth reviewing Victory's products and our other advanced technology, energy-saving lines," Whalen noted. "These visits translated into a considerable number of new sales leads for us, which is one of the ways we judge the return we receive from our investments at different shows."

    Based on the reception Victory products received in the Big Apple, and the company's ongoing sales growth, plans are continuing to expand its range of equipment offerings, with new back bar units and refrigerated merchandising cases most likely to be brought to market during the opening half of 2007. AFE eNews will bring readers definitive information first once Victory's intentions are finalized.

For more information on ENERGY STAR-qualified Victory models, visit Victory's web site at www.victory-refrig.com