The Middleby Corporation announced the acquisition of Crown Food Service Equipment, Ltd., a leading design and manufacturer of steam cooking equipment for the commercial foodservice industry. The Toronto, Canada based company was founded by the late Mr. Josef Stritzl nearly forty years ago and has approximately $20m in annual revenues. “The Crown acquisition complements other recent strategic investments in the steam cooking category, including the acquisitions of Firex and Market Forge. With this collection of brands and products, the Middleby steam platform is positioned with industry leading innovations and customer solutions including unique offerings that address customer demands for labor savings, menu flexibility and automation, while also supporting growing foodservice trends of sous vide-cooking, organic, and health awareness. With this acquisition, I am also pleased to announce Group President John Perruccio will oversee the Middleby steam group, in addition to continuing responsibilities for the Southbend and Star brands. John will lead a unified and focused strategy to bring this complement of brands and product offerings to the marketplace, which we believe will allow us to capture significant growth opportunities in the steam cooking category.” said Selim A. Bassoul, Chairman and CEO of The Middleby Corporation.