While times have undoubtedly been tough in the broad U.S. economy over the past year, onsite foodservice's contract management company sector found ways to add about $2 billion in revenues over the period. Indeed, most of the companies in the 2008 Top 50 showed some growth — in some cases even spectacular growth — in their latest fiscal numbers.

Aramark's regaining of the top slot in the listing is the most prominent change in the 2008 Top 50, but perhaps more significant for the industry as a whole is the fact that a number of major regional companies heavily invested in the B&I segment seemed to find ways to grow. They include #7 Guckenheimer, #16 CulinArt, #18 Lackmann and #19 Parkhurst. That's on top of reported organic increases in B&I business among the “Big Three.”

The Top 50 is confined to firms that operate significant manual foodservice operations, whatever else they may do. For this reason, companies that are, for example, exclusively vending specialists or caterers are not included.

While the Top 50 is an excellent resource for determining the major national and regional players in the contract foodservice sector, caution should be exercised before drawing larger conclusions about a company's market position simply from its nominal standing on the list.

Onsite foodservice is a remarkably varied industry encompassing operations in a wide variety of environments, from school lunchrooms to football stadium skyboxes. Given this diversity, one should review the business summaries for each company to get a more accurate picture of its market activity.

Another complicating factor: contract terms that affect the revenue a contractor derives from a particular operation may obscure the scope of what is being managed. For instance, a contractor may get more top-line revenue from a modest-sized P&L operation than from a straight fee arrangement that actually feeds many more customers.

In the Top 50, we use the gross revenue number that reflects the dollars companies put on their top line rather than a managed volume number because in the end, a company's size is most accurately indicated by its gross revenues.

Click and read about the Top 50 Management Companies