Middleby Earns Yum!’s Supplier Awards

The Middleby Corp. has been named 2009 Supplier of the Year by Yum! Brands. It marks the first time Yum! has selected an equipment manufacturer for the honor.

"We are honored and humbled by this top recognition from Yum! Brands," said Selim A. Bassoul, Middleby’s chairman and CEO. "Yum! is a very innovative company, a game changer. They have always challenged Middleby to develop cooking equipment that will revolutionize and disrupt the quick-service restaurant industry.”

Two individual Middleby companies also received awards from Yum! chains. Conveyor-oven maker Middleby Marshall received the 2009 Equipment Supplier of the Year Award from Pizza Hut. And fryer manufacturer Pitco was selected as the 2009 Equipment Supplier of the Year by Taco Bell.

In addition to Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, Yum! is the parent company of KFC, Long John Silver’s, A&W and WingStreet. It has more than 37,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries.