Activities

Aramark Limited, the UK subsidiary of Aramark Corporation of the USA, has grown into the UK’s third largest contract caterer since its formation in 1972. It has also become the leading player in the Republic of Ireland after building up a majority stake in Campbell Catering since 2000.

Its core business lies in food service and facilities management but it has followed its Philadelphia-based parent into the work uniforms sector. It works in the business and industry, defence, education, healthcare, judicial services, offshore and remote sites, sports and entertainment, and refreshment services sectors.

It is active in business dining, employee restaurants, retail facilities, and coffee outlets. Activities also encompass grounds maintenance, reception duties and cleaning.

Timeline

• 1936: Davre Davidson begins the Los Angeles company that becomes Aramark, selling peanuts from the back seat of a Dodge. His vision is to put vending machines into offices and factories.
• 1939: Davre Davidson joins forces with his brother Henry to found Davidson Brothers. It grows into the largest independent vending operator in the USA.
• 1959: The Davidson brothers create ARA (Automatic Retailers of America) by combining their business with Chicago-based vending operator Automatic Merchandising Company, which was founded by William Fishman in 1940.
• 1960: ARA becomes a public company. By the year end, the company is operating in 19 states and generating revenues of $37m.
• 1961: The group buys the USA’s largest manual foodservice firm, the Slater Company in Philiadelphia.
• Mid-1960s: ARA enters the leisure services market as air travel booms and sporting events attract record crowds.
• 1967: The group acquires an equity investment in Versafood Services, Canada’s leading foodservice operator.
• 1968: ARA wins its first international contract to cater at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico. It also moves into magazine and book publishing, a business it offloaded in 1998.
• 1969: The company changes its name to ARA Services.
• 1971:  ARA Services moves into Europe.
• 1972:  The group enters the UK through the acquisition of Eurovending Industries, Glen Automatic Refreshment Services and Cadbury Schweppes Vending Operation.
• 1973: ARA Services moves into the UK foodservice market with the purchase of West Riding Caterers and Lancashire Catering Services.
• 1976: The group expands to the Far East and enters the uniform rental and career apparel industry.
• 1977: Following more acquisitions in the UK, ARA reorganises under the ARA Food Services name. 
• 1980: ARA Services buys the National Child Care Centres in the USA, but exits from the business in 2003.
• 1984: A management buy-out  led by chairman Joseph Neubauer to deflect a hostile takeover bid leaves the management with a 40% stake in the business.
• 1993: ARA UK buys Stuart Cabeldu Catering.
• 1994: The group changes its name to Aramark to reflect its shift from service to partnership..
• November 2000: Aramark UK moves into Ireland through a joint venture with Campbell Bewley to become the UK’s third largest contract caterer and the largest in Ireland. Campbell Catering has a turnover of £110m (£60m in the UK) while Aramark’s £200m turnover comes solely from the UK. It buys a 92% stake in Campbell Catering’s UK business for £17.2m (renaming the company Aramark Catering) and buys a 45% share in the Irish business for £13m. In August 2003, Aramark buys the remaining 8% in the UK joint venture. It boosts its stake in the Irish business to 63% in April 2004 and to 90% in April 2005.
• 2001:  Aramark Corporation boosts its facilities service business with the November acquisition of ServiceMaster Management Services. It returns to the New York Stock Exchange in December after 17 years as a private company.
• 2001: Aramark UK joins forces with restaurateur Roy Ackerman to set up Parallel, its hotels and leisure division. Parallel links with chef Brian Turner to open restaurants in the Crowne Plaza NEC Birmingham (in 2001) and the Millennium Hotel London Mayfair (in 2003).
• 2004: Aramark opens the Refettorio restaurant at the Crowne Plaza – City of London hotel (in concert with Giorgio Locatelli) and Nippon Tuk at the London Hilton Metropole.
• January 2004: Aramark UK buys Midlands-based contract caterer Catering Alliance, the UK’s sixth largest contract caterer, which holds 200 contracts in the Midlands and North of England, mostly in business and industry. Catering Alliance, which has a turnover in excess of £50m, retains its name and management staff.  
• July 2005: Parallel’s deal with Locatelli and the Crowne Plaza – City of London over Refettorio is terminated.
• 2006: A group of investors led by Joseph Neubauer proposes the acquisition of all outstanding shares to return the company to private operation.
• January 2007: The company returns to private ownership after the acquisition of its outstanding shares is completed.

Financial snapshot

Total sales in 2007: $12.4b
Adjusted EBITDA in 2007: $1.03b
Operating income in 2007: $665m
Total assets in 2007: $10.6b

Operating data

Aramark Corporation

Number of employees worldwide: more than 250,000
Number of meals served worldwide per year: 2 billion
Number of Olympic Games contracts: 14, from Mexico City in 1968 to Beijing in 2008.

Aramark Limited

Number of UK client locations: more than 1,000
Number of UK employees: more than 12,500
Annual revenue: around £400m

Strategy

"Aramark's model for growth is based on building long-term relationships with its clients. The key driver of this growth is the company’s entrepreneurial culture in which managers who run the front-line operations own a significant part of the company's shares and so, have a direct stake in growing the business. These managers work to expand relationships with clients by continuously finding new and better ways to solve clients’ problems and create economic value with a broad range of managed outsourcing services. This process enables Aramark to turn transactions into long-term business relationships and ultimately into what it calls "unlimited partnerships" with its clients."

Source: Aramark Corporation website

Chief executive

Andrew Main

Key directors

Chief financial officer: Nicholas Boston
Human resources director: Robbie Wheeler
Managing director, business & industry: Dean Lindsay
Retail development director: Morag McCay

Contact

Millbank Tower
21-24 Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP

Tel: 020 7963 0000
Fax: 020 7963 0525

E-mail:
Website: http://www.aramark.co.uk