Mar 20, 1996

Cucina! Presto!

Cucina! Cucina!, Inc. will open a new restaurant concept, Cucina! Presto!, offering eat-in or take-home Italian food. The restaurant will be located on the top of Queen Anne Hill and is scheduled to open for lunch and dinner on Monday, March 25. This will be the first restaurant in what is planned to be a rapid expansion, with a second lease signed for space on Elliott Avenue and future locations to be announced soon in Seattle and on the Eastside. Most of the locations will be between 1,500-2,200 square feet with a seating capacity of between 40-70 guests. Some locations will be free standing with a drive-through window. The new concept is an evolution of the smaller supermarket Cucina! Presto! outlets, which opened several years ago. Peter Kehayes is senior vice president for Cucina! Cucina!, Inc., the parent company of Cucina! Presto! restaurants. He will direct the openings of Cucina! Presto! restaurants in addition to overseeing operations and growth for the 10 existing Cucina! Cucina! Italian Cafe restaurants, including the planned expansion outside of the Pacific Northwest. Warren Howard is the general manager of Cucina! Presto! on Queen Anne.

Mar 18, 1996

Pacific North Equipment wins distributer award

KENT -- Pacific North Equipment Co. was presented with the "Parts Pro Distributor Excellence Award" by Komatsu America International Co., manufacturer of heavy equipment for the construction, mining and forest products industries. This is the third year in a row that Pacific North has won the award in competition with Komatsu distributors throughout the nation. The award is based on the distributor's performance in meeting sales goals, product support staff training, employee test results, parts availability, order efficiency and participation in customer training seminars. Pacific North Equipment Co. sells, leases and services heavy equipment for the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and serves the construction, mining and forest products industries. Major product lines include Komatsu, Dresser, Timberjack, Haulpak, Galion, Champion, Terex, PPM-P&H, Esco and Detroit Diesel-allison. Pacific North, headquartered in Kent, has branches in Chehalis, Yakima, Portland, Eugene, Fairbanks, Anchorage, Ketchikan and Magadan, Alaska.

Mar 12, 1996

Noble House Hotels & Resorts

Phil Brown has been named president of Noble House Hotels and Resorts. Brown has served as chief financial officer for Noble House for the past eight years. Prior to that, he was controller for the Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers in Seattle. Kirkland-based Noble House owns and operates hotels throughout the United States. The company presently manages over 1,700 hotel rooms in eight hotel and resort properties.

Puget Sound Chapter of Public Relations Society of

Laurel Ruelos, marketing coordinator for Seattle Market Center (SMC), has been named the 1995 Outstanding New Member of the Year by the Puget Sound Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Ruelos currently serves as editor of the Puget Sound Chapter's PRSA newsletter. During 1995, she served as a member of the chapter's Membership Committee, coordinating hospitality ambassadors for the monthly PRSA luncheon meetings. Ruelos also served as a volunteer at the National PRSA Conference, which was held in Seattle last October. As marketing coordinator for SMC, Ruelos supports the marketing efforts of the Seattle Design Center and the Seattle Gift Center, two properties leased, managed and marketed by SMC. Ruelos' experience includes internships at SMC and the Washington Chapter of the March of Dimes. She received her bachelor's degree in communications for the University of Washington in 1991.

Mar 11, 1996

Itron

Spokane-headquartered Itron, a supplier of energy information and communications solutions to the utility industry, has named David G. Remington to the position of chief financial officer. Remington was most recently a managing director of Dean Witter Realty Inc. and Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. He joined Dean Witter Reynolds' San Francisco office in 1988 as a investment banker.

Mar 05, 1996

Alexis Hotel

The Alexis Hotel, a Seattle facility, is one of five properties in the state of Washington to earn the Four-Star Award of the Mobil Travel Guide. The Alexis is also one of 22 properties in the state to receive the AAA Four Diamond Award for 1996.

Mar 04, 1996

Westin Hotels and Resorts

Westin Hotels and Resorts has announced a partnership agreement with Demeure Hotels in Europe, effective April 1. Demeure Hotels is comprised of seven luxury hotels -- one in London, one in Amsterdam, one in Geneva, and four in Paris -- ranging in size from 45 to 182 rooms. They will be renamed Westin Demeure Hotels and will function as a sub-brand of Westin Hotels and Resorts. In addition to the seven Westin Demeure Hotels, the hotel chain also announced it will establish 12 new or existing hotels in 1995 including two properties in the Caribbean, four in Hawaii, four in the United States and two in Asia.