"The show [which was held in Atlanta from October 11 to October 13] was extremely busy for us. We had a lot of attendees in the booth interested in all of our lines. There were lots of consultants, dealers and representatives from chains and other large end-users," he said. Almost all of these visitors were high-quality contacts, Cohen added, with the authority to either specify, sell or purchase equipment.

Such heavy traffic, Cohen said, directly supported Infinity's goal of increasing its brand recognition, especially among casual-dining chain and QSR customers. Infinity received a number of leads from such customers during the show -- perhaps more than any other AFE company -- and Cohen anticipates sealing commitments from several smaller chains over the next weeks.

Chain customers, he noted, were drawn by Infinity's energy-efficient ENERGY STAR®-certified operation and its paper- and powder-free filtration system, which allows kitchen staff to filter a unit's oil in under four minutes without coming into contact with the frying medium.

Cohen will be working to translate additional leads generated at NAFEM into sales for Infinity, though doing so often takes several months, if not longer.

"It's hard to measure your success at a show like NAFEM," he pointed out. "A lot depends on how well we follow up. Many sales that might come out of the show may happen six months or a year down the road. We'll just have to follow up on these leads every day."