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Guckenheimer was acquired by the Danish outsource services firm ISS two years ago and now operates as that company’s dining services provider in the U.S., primarily to business accounts. Growth has come in part from adding dining services to other managed services the company already provides to established clients.
Fast-growing Thomas Cuisine broke into the top 20 of the FM Top 50 two years ago and has more than doubled annual revenues in the past five years. Recently, the company has focused on increasing customer service and satisfaction through technology solutions, staff training and more scratch cooking using local and seasonal ingredients, part of its REAL (Robust flavors/Exceptional ingredients/Avoiding additives/Loaded with nutrients) initiative.
After growing impressively over the last several years in part due to an emphasis on sustainability and local sourcing, Parkhurst last year launched an initiative called Forged Partners that allies the company with carefully selected, family-owned businesses such as Enrico Biscotti, Mouth Party Caramels and Lush Gourmet, which share Parkhurst’s values and are producing unique, high-quality goods. In many cases, they were small companies limited to opportunities in their local communities but the relationship with Parkhurst has provided access to markets across the management company’s geography.
Gourmet Services is one of the country’s largest minority-owned businesses and serves a core market of historically black colleges with dining management. It also operates in other segments like K-12, business dining and airport concessions.
This past year, Whitsons was one of 23 organizations to join the U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions initiative, which calls for a 50 percent reduction in food loss and waste by 2013. It also launched the Meatless Monday health initiative that encourages people to enjoy meat-free meals on Mondays, which complements the company’s Simply Rooted philosophy, a commitment to helping people live healthier lives by moving food in a more wholesome and natural direction.
Lessings put a focus on growth in subsidized business in the past year where it sought to partner with B&I clients to supply them with the best foodservice operation possible and in turn receive adequate financial support in return. It also has emphasized meatless dishes, such as with a hot line full meal that rotates daily with all vegan/vegetarian options and a cold station that offers lettuce wraps and bowls instead of bread or wraps.
In 2018 CK upgraded its Food 4 Life education program by including functional foods In addition to showcasing and educating diners about lesser-known and highly nutritious foods and it introduced new CK 3 kiosk technology that merges micro market and café sales and allows customers to see café menus and order via the CK App or online. At units with micro markets, customers can use their phone as a kiosk and their personal device for mobile purchases. Also, across all newly branded concepts, CK chefs were encouraged to focus more on vegetables and plant-based proteins as main dish options while the company entered a national partnership with Beyond Meat to offer their burgers at its cafes as either a sandwich or a part of the Burger Bowl offering.
The numbers cited are only for ABM’s dining services operations, which are just a fraction of the Support Services unit’s offerings, but they have been growing thanks to factors like a continuing partnership with the Beryl Institute, the additions of several new business development and development/strategic planning executives and the further development the company’s Your Choice brand, which includes additional graphic design, a coordinated retail approach and an enhanced Well Being (consumer-friendly approach to selecting a healthy meal) program. The culinary team also has developed new plant-based recipes, the digital menu and nutrition information partnership has expanded to include an app that allows customers to access nutrition, allergen and ingredient information a partnership with Caribou Coffee has been expanded.
This past year, Pomptonian achieved 100 percent customer retention in the very competitive New Jersey K-12 market. It also in 2018 expanded its Farm to Tray initiative, which in part provides a large selection of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables that are featured on its award-winning Farm Stand station, where they accompany every complete meal.
Recent growth may not look like much for this division of hotel/resort operator MMI Hospitality Group, which has brand partnerships with major chains like Hilton, IHG and Marriott, and for which the dining unit operates F&B services in addition to serving outside clients in segments like K-12, colleges and senior dining. However, a recent initiative to expand beyond the company’s traditional Southeastern market, with an emphasis on winning higher education accounts, primarily among smaller private colleges and universities, promises to put a charge in revenue enhancement in coming years.
In the past year, LPM has adopted and/or expanded its plant-based diet, fresh & organic ingredient, ethnic/worldwide cuisine, sustainable/local sourcing and action station/custom cooking programs and initiated various online preorder programs, a sophisticated cash register POS system, a cloud-based health and wellness customer resource portal, 24-hour micro market solutions and cashless cafés.
Epicurean recently introduced several new retail concepts such as Izakaya, a Japanese tapas program, and Route 66, a “culinary adventure across the United States,” while its Iron Chef program continuous to be a corporate pleaser. These concepts have helped increase daily sales in all café and restaurant locations both in corporate and academic settings.
Among concepts introduced in the past year by FMG is a cupcake bar where customers can purchase a four-inch iced cupcake in a choice of four flavors and then top it at a décor bar with their choice of flavored drizzles, sprinkles, coconut, chocolate chips, nuts, mini M&Ms, crushed cookies and mini marshmallows.
Mazzone/PRIME is now part of a partnership with the Restaurant Associates unit of Compass Group and serves primarily business and government clients in the New York state market.
Sterling Spoon operates both a commercial restaurant and foodservice management business split almost evenly in terms of revenue generation. In 2018, a slight brand revision was made to elevate its position as a boutique high-end corporate dining platform differentiated from its competition as an onsite restaurant company that actually owns and operates full-service restaurants.
In the past year, Fresh Ideas deployed new kiosk ordering technology with order status screens, unattended retail merchandisers, digital signage, a proprietary text-to-order system and a customer response F.A.N. button to boost customer service and response time.
FFT put a focus on pop-up concepts in the past year so as to keep menus fresh in its dining services venues. It also added an executive chef and a supply chain manager to work with vendors to execute better pricing and lock contracts for high-use items. It also now has a dedicated team that is in charge of RFPs for dining services contracts that encompasses finance, marketing, operations, business development and creative functions.
LCS is the contract foodservice division of Luby’s Fuddruckers Restaurants and manages foodservice in onsite segments like hospitals, corporate dining and, increasingly, senior dining. The unit has recently been testing an enhanced menu management system that would encompass touchscreen order and delivery for patients and residents and a mobile solution for retail order, pay and pickup. It is also focused on developing more plant-based options for patients and residents utilizing grains, fresh herbs and other healthier alternatives such as cauliflower in place of complex starches like rice and potatoes. It has also partnered with Beyond Burger for a vegetarian burger option also used at the Fuddrucker’s concept.
A new presence on the Top 50, SLA is a K-12 specialist to the private, charter and public school markets that offers almost exclusively scratch-prepared entrees augmented by daily fresh fruit and vegetable selections, including complete a la carte programs. In the past year, it completely eliminated the use of Styrofoam in its school meal programs.
Plum is primarily an operator of retail gourmet grocery stores, with total company revenues of $132 million. It also operates in select onsite markets, primarily private K-12 schools and corporate dining, but has also recently been growing in the college market with contracts with Oakland University in Michigan and Northwestern University in Chicago. It also operates a highly successful retail/prepared foods hybrid store in the Detroit Airport.
